THE EVENT TESTED BUS DRIVERS' SAFETY AND DRIVING SKILLS.

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The event tested bus drivers' safety and driving skills.

By SEAN BARRON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

CHAMPION — Even though she's been a bus driver for about 30 years, Linda Lichty is anything but complacent regarding basic safety and the need to keep her skills sharp.

That was the driving force behind her desire to compete in Saturday's annual School Bus Safety Road-E-O regional competition at the Trumbull Career & Technical Center, off state Route 45 here. The event has been going on in early May for more than 25 years, a few organizers said.

Lichty, of Southington, works for Community Busing Co. of Youngstown. She transports youngsters with special needs. She was one of an estimated 68 drivers from the Northeast Ohio Division A Chapter who participated in the event, set up mainly to test drivers' safety and driving skills.

"It's keeping my focus and skills sharp," Lichty explained. "We love kids or we wouldn't be here."

Obstacle course

The career center's rear parking lot resembled an obstacle course as drivers from several counties got behind the wheel to take part in six events, all of which required a series of verbal and physical tasks as well as accuracy and timing.

Drivers had 12 minutes to finish all six and could score up to a total of 750 points, with points deducted for failing a task or striking a barrier, for example.

Also, on each bus was a person with a stopwatch who timed the driver. The Road-E-O had a head judge and two or three assistants for each event, Morrow noted.

Two of the six events were the offset street and forward-line stop, both of which tested the driver's ability to avoid coming in contact with cones and barriers, noted Sherry Morrow, chairwoman of the competition.

The forward-line stop also requires drivers to be within eight inches of a forward line that represented a set of railroad tracks or school crosswalk, Morrow explained.

The other four events were the student drop-off and pick-up, diminished clearance, turnaround and railroad crossing, Morrow said.

Navigation

In the diminished-clearance portion, drivers navigate their vehicles between five sets of barriers, each set of which is gradually narrower than the previous one.

The turnaround featured three barriers, two of which drivers had to back their buses between; they also had to stop within 18 inches of the rear barrier, Morrow continued.

Competitors had to follow a series of steps, including asking for passengers' silence and using hazard lights to successfully complete the railroad crossing event.

Other tasks were stopping within 15 to 20 feet of a crossing, opening the door, checking for traffic and looking and listening twice, she added.

Before taking to the course, drivers had to compete a two-part written test, which had 100 multiple-choice and true/false questions. The written part also was part of the competition, Morrow noted.

The top 18 regional finishers qualify for the state competition May 19 in Columbus, noted Bob Hamed, the event's state area coordinator. The state's top finishers will be eligible to compete in the national competition, Hamed added.

Sunday, May 6, 2007