A purchase with many advantages

For me, a yellow school bus used to conjure up joyful memories of trips to and from school, journeys filled with warmth, laughter and safety.

But not anymore. A series of school bus accidents in China mean that whenever I see a school bus now, it brings to mind only sadness and tears. In the latest tragedy earlier this month, 19 preschoolers died when their 9-seat van, which was crammed with more than 60 children - try and imagine that - crashed head-on into a truck in Zhengning, Gansu province.

There is no official death toll for children killed on their way to school each year in China. But according to professor Yuan Guilin, a member of the Chinese Society of Education, more children have died in school bus accidents in the past year than miners have been killed in accidents in illegal coalmines. To put that in perspective, he is saying a dozen children die each day on their rides to and from schools.