While students and educators were on vacation, the Boothbay Region High School parking lot hosted a regional “Bus Roadeo,” a joint venture between the Maine Transit Association and the Maine Department of Transportation to teach safety, control and precision driving for school bus drivers. Although no steers were roped or clowns chased into barrels by runaway yellow buses, the April 20 event was a crucial demonstration for those who carry precious cargo, namely our children.

According to Cathy Dumais, skills coordinator for Maine Association of Pupil Transport, the Boothbay event is one of six held statewide throughout the year. On this day, the event brought together over two dozen bus drivers, officials from the Maine State Police, and members of MDOT. The event is both informative and fun. The goal is to educate new drivers and hone the skills of seasoned veterans.

“It's a multi-faceted effort. The drivers learn how to do a bus evacuation, brush up on laws and regulations, and learn how do deal with student behaviors who may have autism or ADHD,” said Dumais. “In the parking lot, it's a fun event. We hand out trophies for driving skills.”

One of the challenges, a friendly competition according to organizers, involved using the front right and duel wheels of the bus to drive on the offside of carefully placed tennis balls without knocking them over. The skills test mirrors those that drivers must pass on their initial examination, but a refresher course is never a bad thing, said Dumais.

While Maine has an excellent record of school bus safety, nationally an average of 20 people are killed yearly in school bus-related accidents, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Board. Closer to home, six Boothbay elementary and high school students were injured in a crash on March 31 after an SUV crossed the center line on Back Narrows Road. While drivers can only control so much, Maine State Police motor vehicle inspector Bill Ackerson feels any additional training only helps to prevent catastrophe.

“The training is thorough, the drivers are given a lot of information, some of which is new every year,” said Ackerson, who was on hand for the event.

The real beneficiaries of the bus roadeos are the drivers themselves who face a daunting task in the daily chore of busing children safely and expediently from schools to home. In addition to keeping their eyes on the road and hands upon the wheel, the occasional wild child can throw a monkey wrench into any ordinary trip. For SAD 75 bus driver Roberta Anderson, the bus roadeo serves the real purpose of keeping children safe.

“They prepare us for challenges we can't see that maybe around the corner,” said Anderson.