Wednesday, May 14th marks the 20th anniversary of the Carrollton bus crash, which remains one of the deadliest in Kentucky history.

27 people perished in that crash.

So what are school systems doing to protect your kids once you put them on the bus?

"There's just a massive amount of training we do now probably compared to what they did 20 years ago," says Warren County Schools Transportation Director, John Odom.

It was a horrific wake-up call that changed everything.

"The Carrollton incident of may of '88, it drove the complete change in our industry," says Odom.

Now, drivers must master the basics before hitting the road.

"We're talking 3 weeks to a month of training before we put a driver on the road. Even then, if we don't feel comfortable with putting a driver on the road, they don't go," says Odom.

Drivers will have to put in some serious hours if they want to get behind the wheel of a bus, close to 100 hours of driving training before they can solo.

"They get a lot of experience of driving the county, country roads cause we have a lot of hills and drop-offs on roads that is very dangerous, " says Warren County Schools Transportation Training and Safety Manager, Sandy Duvall.

Emergency procedures and critical response topics are also simulated for drivers.

"They could have to evacuate the bus in case someone hits them and there's going to be a fire. We tell them the distance to get and we have evacuations," says Duvall.

Not to mention these buses are being built stronger and are well equipped to ensure maximum safety.

"More emergency doors, a cage around the gas tank, it changed the gas to diesel that's not nearly as flammable," notes Odom.

The upgrades as well as the rigorous training are a small price to pay to ensure young passengers arrive at their destination as safely as possible.

"14,000 miles a day, 2.3 million miles a year, 216 buses, 185 are on the roads every single day and out of that school year you have 21 accidents. I'd say we're doing a pretty good job," says Odom.

Odom says while they are happy with the current safety measures they have in place, they are always looking for even better ways to keep your child safe whenever they board the school bus.