COUNTYWIDE : Bus Drivers Take On Obstacle Course

Eleven Ventura County bus drivers maneuvered their 35-foot-long vehicles through an obstacle course of traffic cones, barrels and tennis balls in South Coast Area Transit’s sixth annual Bus Roadeo Sunday at San Buenaventura State Beach.

During the competition, the participants, who are all SCAT bus drivers, had seven minutes to wind their buses through snakelike lanes of traffic cones, between rows of barrels and around tennis balls placed on the ground, said Maureen Hooper Lopez, SCAT’s director of planning and marketing.

The purpose of the annual event “is to recognize drivers for their driving skills and, hopefully, to make the public more aware that there are skills in driving a 35-foot, 35,000-pound vehicle,” she said.

In addition to the obstacle course, the competition included a contest in which drivers get seven minutes to inspect and decide what is wrong with a bus, which has mechanical and other problems such as low air pressure in the tires, Lopez said.

The uniformed participants also are judged on who is the best-groomed, and must take a written test on driving regulations.

The scores in all four categories are combined to name an overall winner, who then represents the agency in an international competition.

This year’s winner was Oxnard resident Lester Miller, who has driven a bus for SCAT for 14 years, Lopez said.

Miller has also dominated past SCAT competitions, winning last year and twice before that.

Although the contest does not include prizes, Miller and his wife will get a trip to San Diego in September at SCAT’s expense for the international competition.

He will compete against hundreds of bus drivers for other public agencies from throughout the U. S. and Canada.