Statistics from the Ministry of Education show that road accidents have become a major killer of primary and secondary school students. There are an average 18,000 reported abnormal student deaths annually, with road accidents being a major culprit.

“I cannot guarantee to what rate the chances of accidents can be reduced, but I am confident to say that every part of our bus is well designed and tested,” Luo said.

The drivers of these buses also undergo a strict selection process. They must have at least three years of driving experience , no record of drunk driving or mental disease history in the family. They are also preferably patient and kind.

“It’s all very detailed, but nothing is small when it comes to a bus that will carry 50 students,” Luo said. Luo’s plan has also inspired many schools and educational policy makers in big cities to follow suit. He said that more than 50 cities and counties have come to him asking about school bus project, including officials in Tianjin and Wuhan.

 Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang and a half hour’s ride from Deqing, is one of the followers. Its education department announced earlier this month that in the next semester, several schools in the downtown area will receive some new school buses for students. And if they work well, the authority will promoted them throughout the whole city.

“For bigger cities like Hangzhou, the advantages may be even more obvious. School buses will have priority on the road, and it will also ease traffic congestion with less parents driving their children to school every day,” Luo said.

While government officials are pinning high hopes on these new buses, bus manufacturers are also seeing a lucrative market. Tang Yuxiang, president of Yutong Bus Company, one of the world’s largest bus producers and the manufacturer of the new buses ordered by Deqing county, believes the market has a lot of potential.

“There are 90 million primary and secondary school students in China now. And the need for school buses will exceed one million if the market is fully activated,” said Tang, during an interview with the National Business Daily.

 Every year 100,000 to 150,000 new buses will be needed for upgrades, and that will create an industry of 40 billion yuan. Statistics from the company show that in 2009, it sold less than 100 school buses in China.

Last year, the number climbed up to about 1,000, and this year, it is likely to hit 3,000, Tang said. Tang also noted the need for the government to introduce more regulations and legislation so that the industry can see a healthy development.