Activities 1.5 Involvement of the Austrian Ombudsman Board in handling petitions and citizens’ initiatives directed toward the National Council (Art. 148a para. 3 B-VG (Bundesverfassungsgesetz - Austrian Federal Constitution)) During the reporting period, the Ombudsman Board was assigned 7 citizens’ initiatives and 19 petitions by the Petition Committee. In respect of the citizens’ initiative no. 3 regarding 'More safety in the school bus – the right to a seat for each child in school transport' / petition no. 3 regarding 'Safely to school - a seat and a safety belt for each child in kindergarten and school bus', the Ombudsman Board issued the following statement: Pupils, who have not yet reached the age of 26 and for whom family allowance is received, have the opportunity of taking part in the free transport for pupils, subject to the fulfilment of all other preconditions. If no suitable public transport should be available, municipalities and school keepers may apply for the establishment of occasional transport for pupils. Already since 1980, the Ombudsman Board has been pointing out that in terms of traffic safety aspects, the transport conditions for children in school buses should be improved. This recommendation to the legislator also remains upheld (cf. 4th, 25th and 29th Activity Report to the National Council). Originally, two children between the ages of 6 and 12 were counted as one person, within the context of free pupil transport. In 1991, the disputed counting rule was changed from 2:1 to 3:2 and remains decisive until today, in the Motor Vehicles Act. Article 106 para. 1 last sentence KFG (Kraftfahrgesetz - Motor Vehicles Act) 1967, in its valid version, states: With the calculation of the number of persons being transported by bus or bus trailer in regular motor vehicle service or in daily, occasional service, from and to school or a kindergarten, three children under the age of 14 are to be counted as two persons and children under the age of six are not to be counted. This rule has the effect of increasing risk of injury, for example, with emergency braking, as within the context of transporting pupils with a bus, which is admitted for 50 seats and 45 standing places, it is completely legal to transport an unlimited number of children under the age of 6 and up to 142 older children, under the age of 14, to and from schools and kindergartens, on a daily basis. Surveys by the Catholic Association of Families in 2004 at 112 schools in 7 federal states (6,752 questionnaires were evaluated), resulted in 47 per cent of the parents seeing problems with transporting pupils, in that school buses are, in fact, so overfilled, that the children are no longer able to move in them. The AUVA (Austrian Social Insurance for Occupational Risks) reached similar results with pupil surveys. The consequence: Bigger and faster children push ahead when getting in and out, for too few seats, while the others need to stand in the aisle/near the bus doors with their school bags, without child-friendly hand grips, which, in addition to the slippery 14