• There are several national programs intended to boost the safety of students on school buses.school bus arriving image by Jacque Stengel from Fotolia.com
  
  Students traveling by school bus are using the safest form of transportation available. According to the National Association for Pupil Travel (NAPT), school buses are safer than passenger cars, airplanes, and trains, based on comparing deaths per 100 million miles. As the largest mass transit program in the United States, school buses are entrusted with the physical well-being of millions of children daily. Several national programs provide kids, parents, school administrators and government institutions with information to promote school bus safety.
  
  

Seat Back Program

• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will implement an initiative to increase the safety of all school buses. According to their regulations, all school buses produced after October of 2011 must have seats with the backs at least 24 inches high. This increases the stability of all seats in the bus, and drastically reduces the risk of head trauma and whiplash in the event of a crash. The Department of Transportation already has a program that requires buses under 10,000 pounds to provide shoulder or lap belts in all seats.
  
  

National School Bus Safety Week

• National School Bus Safety Week is a national program sponsored by several government institutions. The public education program is designed to promote school-bus safety. The program is utilized by thousands of school districts in more than 40 states, and includes several activities over the entire week. For the students, the week includes a poster contest for grades K to 8. Every year, Safety Week has a special theme that coincides with that year. Every poster submitted must have images and slogans that harmonize with that theme. High school students can participate in the speech contest. The speech must be related to school-bus safety, and be spoken without the use of notes or other written guides. Safety Week also provides a template for any school district to follow. Visiting its website provides a free book on tips and resources to help any local district execute Safety Week in its location.
  
  

School Bus Information Clearinghouse

• As a service for the NAPT, School Bus Information Clearinghouse is a website that collects a variety of factual information about the benefits of riding in a school bus in comparison to other means of transportation. Designed especially with parents in mind, the site lists several ways parents can get involved to drastically reduce the number of children who die each year (800) from walking, riding a bike or traveling in vehicles other than a school bus. The site also provides several other websites and documents for research to promote the use of a school bus. The site provides a detailed list of the safety equipment on all school buses.