Lin Yueh-chin, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Jing Chuan Child Safety Foundation (JCCSF), made the criticism at a press conference held to mark the first 515 National Safety Day.

The foundation was founded to promote child safety in the country in 1993, one year after kindergarten teacher Lin Jing-chuan gave her life to save her students in a school bus fire in Taipei.

Lin said that over the past 15 years, the government's annual budget for promoting child safety averages at NT$311 per child, translating into less than NT$1 per day. The incredibly low budget can hardly improve child safety effectively.

The CEO chastized the Legislative Yuan for loosening the management of school buses, as the draft statute governing buses for young school children that was up for screening by lawmakers yesterday allows kindergartens to buy, rent, borrow, or contract vehicles for regular or temporary transportation of the students.

Lin said that the regulation virtually allows any kind of vehicles to be used to transport young boys and girls. "This loosened rule may make child safety move backward two decades," she said.

The JCCSF yesterday also released the findings of a survey concerning child safety, showing that elementary school children between grade 4 and grade 6 are most concerned about traffic safety in their everyday lives.

Of the six major places where school children are usually exposed to -- home, campus, public places, playground, road, and study environment -- road safety was listed by the 1,415 students surveyed as the biggest threat to them, followed by safety in playgrounds and on campus.

Traffic accidents remain a major cause of child fatalities in Taiwan. There is currently no law requiring children to wear seatbelts in the back seat of vehicles and it is not uncommon to see a parent driving his or her scooter with two children squeezed onto the seat.

As for the 1,216 parents and 529 elementary school teachers surveyed, however, a majority of them felt that public places, such as escalators in department stores, pose a greater risk to children's safety. Children's shoes and clothing can get caught in the escalators.

"We must seriously examine the current policies on children's safety," Lin said. "The general public should also work together to supervise the administration with the hope of safeguarding children's lives."

The foundation has launched a campaign to raise funds for the improvement of children's safety, and Lin expressed hopes that "all people can join in the campaign to create a safer and pleasant environment for children."

Lin noted that politicians, such as President Chen Shui-bian, Vice President Annette Lu, and President-elect Ma Ying-jeou have donated one day's worth of their salaries to show support.

Lin further urged the Ma administration, which will take office on May 20, to make more efforts to improve children's safety.

In the school bus fire in 1992, 20 kindergarten children burned to death along with their teacher Lin who sacrificed herself by staying in the burning bus in an attempt to rescue the children. In addition to the 20 kids and Lin, two parents were also killed.