"Is it safe?" Every parent asks this on a nearly daily basis, and understandably so. Parents need to be reassured that their child will be protected when out of their care, such as when riding the school bus. Since any school bus crash tends to make big headlines, that tends to make people worry about school bus safety.

However, in this case, there's no reason for parents to fear: School buses are incredibly safe. In fact, they are among the safest activities of any sort that a child could engage in, and certainly the safest way for a child to get to school. This is information that parents need to know, so we wanted to discuss the topic a bit in this article.

Have you reminded your district's parents and guardians about why riding the school bus is important?

School buses have been part of American school life even before the invention of the motor engine, with the earliest "buses" being horse-drawn. It's easy for people to take them for granted. Unfortunately, sometimes this attitude is detrimental to districts - particularly if they need funds to upgrade their school bus fleet, and the community doesn't want to pitch in.

As we start the new school year, one of the most important issues on the mind of every transportation director should be school bus safety. Even though school buses are already by far the safest vehicles on the road, they can always be made safer.

We've made a list of suggestions, ranging from the simple to the more complicated, that a district might consider implementing in the name of bus safety.