SCHOOL BUSES \ Staying safe

Each year, the third week of October is recognized nationally as School Bus Safety Week, created to educate parents, students and the public and enhance the safety of the country’s youngsters who are taken to school via buses. Some facts and figures:

Roughly 480,000 buses nationwide take an estimated 26 million pupils to and from school.

The typical bus replaces an average of 36 cars, each of which would have to travel 3,600 miles annually transporting children to school.

Each bus on average uses 1,700 gallons of gasoline each year, compared with the 36 individual vehicles each bus replaces that would collectively use 6,500 gallons for the same trip to and from school, creating a total savings of 2.3 billion gallons and more than $6 billion annually.

A teenager who lives five miles from school and drives a 2008 Honda Civic emits 1.27 tons of carbon dioxide by driving to school; taking a bus, by contrast, will reduce emissions to 0.12 tons.

Modern diesel engine standards make today’s buses 98 percent less polluting than buses made 20 years ago.

Many older buses now use high-tech filters and catalysts to decrease emissions by up to 90 percent.

Source: The National School Transportation Association