In this new series, the kickerblog will be interviewing professional drivers to answer some of your burning questions, which seem to fit in two main groups. The first is what it would be like to work as a driver in that field and the second is why do you do what we see you doing when we encounter you on the roads?
We’ve also tried to focus on fairly new drivers as being a little new to something often means the answers to the kinds of questions we’ll ask are a little fresher and top of mind. Another thing to note is that we’ve made the decision to keep all these interviews annonymous. It’s not likely to be scandelous as interviews go, but as the series goes on we anticipate that our interviewees will feel more free to respond candidly.
We’re truly excited and honored to start with a bus drivers as most of us encounter them often, and find them ANNOYING! It might surprise you to know that they’re keenly aware of this and do everything they can to minimize their impact on traffic. They also have their own bone to pick with the rest of us “civilion” drivers, as you’ll soon see.
Kicker Editor: We’re so honored to have you clear things up for us, we promise not to throw you too many curve balls.
Bus Driver: I’m happy to be here.
Kicker Editor: First off, how long have you been driving bus?
Bus Driver: Well, I trained through the school district last fall and got my licence in October. So I’ve been driving officially for about four months. I still don’t have a regular route, but even as a fill in driver I get pretty much full time hours.
Kicker Editor: What is the scariest thing about driving a school bus?
Bus Driver: Jump right in then, I see…LOL. Well, honestly the bus is pretty safe so I’m not worried about harm to myself or the kids. Obviously I don’t want to hit anyone, but one thing we have going for us is that everyone has that same goal. If I got in an accident I would feel personally like I failed, and of course I don’t want to injure another driver. Unlike a lot of other jobs though, my boss is never presurring me to push the envelop and get more done. They’re not joking when they say safety first–that’s litterally everyone’s to priority.
Editor: That’s good to hear.
Driver: Right. So…really the scariest thing is the sound of a pre-schooler saying, “bus driver, hey bus driver.” Repeatedly. Because it could be anything from, “what’s your name?” to “I just peed my pants.”
Kicker Editor: What usually goes wrong when driving a bus?
Bus Driver: Well, nothing mechanically. They maintain the busses really well, at least in my district. So I’d say…making a wrong turn. That’s annoying. We’re not allowed to back a bus up without another adult outside the bus directing so you’re at the mercy of one-way streets and alleys too narrow to get through. Also it makes you late. Getting the kids to school on time is important, but it’s surprisingly far down the list of objectives. When you consider everything else that takes priority.
Kicker Editor: What is something you wish other drivers knew who encounter you on the road?
Bus Driver: Oh man, there’s several things. For one thing, when the light turns green and we’re slow off the line…that driver has his foot to the floor. There is a supercharger on the engine too, but it’s a good 30,000 lbs fully loaded. It’s just going to have slow acceleration.
Kicker: 30K that is a lot.
Driver: Yep, 8 feet wide, 10 feet tall and generally 40 feet long.
Kicker Editor: What’s the thing you witness most while driving around?
Bus Driver: Driving with their phone in their hand. They’re on the internet, texting, watching videos. It’s almost four out of five cars. It’s strange to say it, because in theory we’re all driving defensively, but bus drivers have to be extra safe. We’re trying to predict how someone else might mess up far ahead of time. For example, a car can realize it’s in trouble and slam on their break or speed out of a tight spot. We don’t have acceleration and if we anchor our breaks the kids will all slide into the floor. I mean it’s better than hitting a car but it should never come to that. I understand that other drivers aren’t aware of just what we can and can’t do, or they’d drive a little kinder when they’re near a bus. Probably most drivers are. BUT at the end of the day they can get out of situations that we can’t, which means our only option is predicting what might go wrong and then hoping for the best.
Kicker Editor: Do people just not see a big yellow bus?
Bus Driver: All the time. In my personal vehicle I don’t have the same problem and I mean my cars are brown, tan, and white. People see that. For some reason a giant yellow bus is invisible. I’ll watch a car enter an intersection to make a left turn. I can see the driver’s head turn, they look in all directions, then they cut right in front of me. Suddenly they see the bus and then slam on their brakes. They always have the same expression on their face, “where did you come from?”
Kicker Editor: You say drivers try to be extra safe around buses. Is that ever a source of problems? Like unhelpful help?
Bus Driver: Yes, all the time. For example, and this is a tough one, no one really knows what the rules are about stopping when the lights are flashing. I’ve seen two lanes of oncoming traffic stop when its a divided highway. And it’s tough because every state is different. Here in Washington State, if there is more than 18 inches between my lane and yours you can proceed. I’m not allowed to drop children off to the right hand curb and let them cross a street if there is more than 18 inches. I have to turn the bus around and drop them off on the way back up that street.
Kicker Editor: I gotta be honest, it feels like a lot of bus drivers are trying to be jerks. I mean, its probably not the case, but it feels like they could pull off to the side of the road and let those 25 cars pass them. I thought they needed to pull off if their was more than 5 cars behind them.
Bus Driver: No. There’s no rule about that. We have to just stay on course. In fact, here’s an example. If say our headlight goes out, we radio it in, but we just put on our brights and finish the route. The bus goes out of commission as soon as we get to the bus barn, but it’s not practical to stop the route. The most efficiant thing is to finish and then get it fixed.
Kicker: That probably doesn’t win you any friends.
Driver: Right. It’s that sort of thing. We have dozens of rules we have to follow, all the time, it’s doable, but it often forces our hand when it comes to ‘being nice.’ Another example, if there is an accident we can’t move the bus until we’re released to. So when there’s a fender bender in the middle of an intersection and we’re blocking everything in every direction–there’s no pulling it out of the way. Not unless state patrol says to move it. That’s just the law and we have to abide by it.
Driver: Oh and another thing people think is rude, we end up changing lanes a lot. We’re required to travel in the right hand lane–all commercial vehicles are. But we’re not allowed to leave our lane to make a turn. We’ll except for in a cirtain circumstances like in a round about, where we’re expected to take up both lanes. Anyway, basically what happens when there are two turn lanes, we’re going to use the left one because it minimizes the amount of tale swing outside our lane. Then after the turn we’re immediately trying to get back in the right lane to travel.
Kicker: Is there a lot of tale swing?
Driver: Oh yes, the back tires are six feet forward of the back bumper. It’s a lot. Also on a flat nose bus, the front tires are five feet behind the drive so you can imagine steering takes some getting used to.
Kicker Editor: Well, one final topic, before I let you go. This is the big one, the one on everyone’s mind. Maybe you can put us all at ease finally by solving a giant mystery.
Bus Driver: Oh you mean why are they’re no seatbealts on a bus? Right?
Kicker: Exactly!
Driver: Well, that’s interesting. First you need to understand that they spend millions of dollars figuring out how to make busses safe. They examine every accident. They create scenarios and test them. The experts have come up with a set of things that work together to make the bus as safe as it can be.
For example: the bus is way up in the air. This not only helps the bus be seen, in theory, and the driver be able to see, which is true. But the real reason they do it is because having any impact from an accident happen below the seat level provides the least chance of injury to a passenger. Between the weight of the bus and the position of the riders only large trucks and semis pose a serious threat.
That means unlike passenger vehicles the real risk is fire. Instead of basically four seats with four doors, you have more than a dozen seats to two doors. One of those doors might be blocked by flames.
Kicker: So how do seatbelts play into things?
Driver: You’ve got often one, or maybe two, adults trying to get all those kids out a door in smoke and confusion. It takes a good two minutes. So…they lit a bus on fire to test, empty of course, and within 90 seconds that bus is over 1,200 degrees. Seatbelts aren’t only of limited benefit in a crash they’re a liability in a fire.
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