China has launched a one-month security inspection of the country's school buses following Monday's deadly accident leaving 14 students dead.

A senior official with the Ministry of Public Security (MPC) said Thursday that the inspection is being jointly conducted by the MPC and the Ministry of Education.

The two ministries will inspect how traffic safety measures have been implemented and ask local governments to ensure students in rural areas are safe while traveling to and from school.

The MPC will also work with transportation and work safety authorities to closely monitor roads with potential safety risks and intensify the supervision of transport companies and commercial vehicles, in a move to ensure traffic safety during the upcoming New Year's day and Spring Festival, China's most important holiday of family reunion.

The MPC has ordered traffic police across the country to discuss safety awareness issues with drivers of passenger vehicles, school buses and vehicles transporting dangerous goods.

Among other measures to beef up road safety, checkpoints will be set up on provincial, municipal and county borders beginning January 1, and also the ongoing crackdown on drunk driving is to be intensified.

Monday's deadly accident happened when a three-wheeler carrying primary school children plunged into a creek in a village in Hengyang City, Hunan Province.

After the accident, the Ministry of Education urged all education departments and schools to take steps to ensure schoolchildren are safe while traveling to and from school and stressed that vehicles in poor condition should not be used as school buses.

Traffic accidents are the largest cause of accidental deaths among Chinese schoolchildren, according to Ministry of Education spokeswoman Xu Mei.

(Xinhua News Agency December 31 2010)