W.Va. Bus Rodeo
Elkins High hosts statewide competition
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A Randolph County bus driver attempts to drive without knocking over tennis balls in the WV School Bus Safety Road-e-o at Elkins High School Friday morning.
ELKINS -- The annual WV School Bus Safety Road-e-o returned Thursday and Friday to Elkins High School with 43 contestants from 12 counties.
Randolph County hosted the 46th annual Road-e-o this year at Elkins High School and received a wide range of participants spanning 12 counties. The counties in the competition this year included Cabell, Grant, Kanawha, Lincoln, Marshall, Randolph, Summers, Tyler, Upshur, Wood, Boone and Hardy.
The two-day event began Thursday with a safety inspection of the buses entered in the competition. The driving and obstacle competition took place Friday.
"The Road-e-o is a skills competition for the drivers," said Jimmy Lacy, chairman of the Road-e-o Committee. "It shows off their talents and abilities for the tight spots that they get on a day-to-day basis for keeping our kids safe."
According to the West Virginia Association for Pupil Transportation website, "The School Bus Safety Road-e-o is an important part of WVDE Policy 4336. It is our responsibility as school transportation administrators to provide, as part of our school bus operator in-service training, some type of skill development exercise in bus handling."
Lacy, who is also the Kanawha County Schools Transportation Supervisor and President of the West Virginia Association of People Transportation, said, "It's an obstacle course that they have to drive through with different events that they have to do to showcase their skills."
Drivers have to do tasks such as maneuvering through narrow paths, performing a routine train track stop, a routine drop-off stop, and more.
The competition is broken up into four different classifications: large conventional buses, transit flat nose buses, small conventional buses and substitute drivers.
First-, second-, and third-place awards are presented in the four classifications, and the overall award of Grand Champion is presented to the driver with the highest score from the course. There is also the Novice Award, which is given to the first-time competitor with the best score. There were 15 new competitors this year.
To learn more about the Road-e-o visit wvapt.org.