China toughens school bus rules

BEIJING -- The national school bus safety management assembly has demanded guarantees about school bus safety after two recent accidents, according to a statement on the website of the Ministry of Education on Saturday.

The assembly, composed of the ministry and 19 other departments responsible for school bus safety, said that those with duties of care should be severely punished for leaving children to die on school buses in Henan and Guangdong provinces in late August and mid September.

As of July, 2013, the rates of death and injuries caused by school bus accidents dropped by 13 percent and 21.2 percent perspectively. However, some local governments have not yet come out with local school bus regulations, with farm trucks and overloaded vehicles still being used to pick up children.

The assembly urged detailed provisions in terms of school bus permissions, school bus drivers' qualifications and legal responsibilities, and the imposition of tighter supervision and punishment for those who break the regulations.