What makes a good driver? Deb Spruytte knows. The First Student driver and Teamsters Local 838 member from Olathe, Kansas, recently competed in the NSTA School Bus Driver International Safety Competition. Here’s what she had to say:
“I’ve competed in the Kansas State Road-e-o since 1994 and I do it every year. I’ve won grand champion twice at the state level. I’ve been to the international level five times now.
There are many different events I’ve competed in. There’s a written test that covers a wide array of topics. You have to know the CDL front to back, all student loading and unloading procedures, First Aid through the Red Cross, all your CPR skills. You’ve got to know all the things that go into any kind of terrorism, Hazmat type of situation. You’ve got to know a lot to take the written test.
We have a defect bus, a bus that’s purposely been set up as defective, and we have six minutes to find six defects on that bus to get points. There’s also a surprise test worth 25 points that could be about anything. We also drive the course and there are about 11 different events that are all precision driving categories. We are tested on parallel parking, diminishing clearance and more.
Not all states have done this, but Kansas events are the same as those at the international level, so we’re already primed for competing at the international level.
The international competition improves your skills dramatically. The competition itself is just fun to go to. You meet all kinds of different drivers that you’d never meet. You learn about things you’d never learn about just within the normal realms of your job.
I absolutely believe that I have stayed accident free at least the last 10 years because of what I have learned through competing and the skills I’ve acquired.
To be a good driver, have patience with yourself and everyone around you. If you don’t, someone will lose in the end—they will or you will.
I think years of experience will make you a better driver, not to say someone driving 25 years does a better job than someone brand new at doing it, but I think you have to learn from your mistakes and your close calls. I think good driving is more of an awareness than necessarily just a skill.”
We will feature more of the Teamster drivers who competed in this event in the weeks to come. In the meantime, what lessons have you learned since you first became a driver? Share your thoughts in our Worker Discussion Forum.
