Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Novice Sweet Home school bus driver Marvin Taylor finished second among more than 110 competitors in a statewide bus drivers contest in May.
He and Adam Hetrick each finished third in a regional contest at the end of the month.
Hetrick competed in conventional novice and was 53rd overall.
Taylor competed in novice transit (flat-nosed bus) and was 45th overall at the regional competition.
Both started driving for Sweet Home this school year.
“We’re really proud of Marvin,” driver trainer Deborah Maskal said. “We’re proud of all of them.”
Following the state competition, as awards were given, “we looked at Marvin and said this one’s for you,” Maskal said. “And they called his name. I couldn’t believe. Neither could he.”
Also competing were Dawn Hilburn, who finished ninth in general conventional, and Angela Olsen-Goodwin, who competed in general mini-bus.
The contest is organized by Oregon Pupil Transportation Association, Maskal said. Usually, Sweet Home sends as many as a dozen drivers, but schedules were so busy that many drivers didn’t have the time this year.
The competition covers a variety of bus driving skills, and as they practice, drivers “polish their skills,” Maskal said. It makes them better drivers, giving them more confidence handling the big buses, something many new drivers need to develop, she said.
“It’s fun,” she said. “It just really sharpens their skills.”
The contest includes a number of parts. Among them are student loading; diminishing clearance, where they must negotiate a bus along a narrowing lane of travel; offset alleys, such as the alley paralleling Long and Main streets, where it crosses 13th Avenue between those streets; right turns; railroad crossing; curb line, where they get as close as possible to a curb while moving forward; backing up in an alley; wheel track, where contestants drive between tennis balls set just an inch wider than the bus’s rear wheels without hitting the balls; serpentine; stop line; and parallel parking.
The contest also includes a written test and pre-trip inspection with a surprise question.
At the regional event, the contestants were asked to identify which tire of a bus had low pressure by thumping on the tire, Maskal said.