School bus transportation is one of the safest forms of transportation in the United States. Every day, our nation's 440,000 public school buses transport more than 23.5 million children to and from school and school-related activities.

The safety record is impressive:​ American students are nearly eight times safer riding in a school bus than with their own parents and guardians in cars. The fatality rate for school buses is only 0.2 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) compared to 1.5 fatalities per 100 million VMT for cars.[1]

School buses have annually averaged about 26,000 crashes resulting in 10 deaths – 25 percent were drivers;​ 75 percent were passengers. Frontal crashes account for about two passenger deaths each year.

This paper describes past, present and near-term school bus research efforts.