When I heard that one of our fellow bus driver’s school bus had been hit by an SUV traveling on the wrong side of the road near Sublimity School, cold chills ran up and down my spine. All of us who drive buses encounter wreckless drivers nearly every day on our 8,000 mile trek in a 30,000-pound bus to and from school — on narrow roads that surely must have been designed for horse and wagon. It’s rough! I always give thanks that we make it safely another day.

I was proud of the female driver who was in the wreck on Hwy 1006 last week. I know that her excellent bus driver training kept the accident from being a worst-case scenario. And she handled herself with mature calmness for the benefit of the children, I’m sure. Her experience probably kept the accident from being worse and kept the children safe. For that, we can all give thanks.

And my sympathy goes out to the person who hit the school bus. What happened; what was he thinking?

It was nearly 21 years ago that I decided to take bus driver training after I retired from the newspaper business. There have been many lessons to be learned in the meanwhile. One of which is the amount of criticism we receive from the public each day. All I can say is that they should drive a mile in our seats on roads too narrow for two vehicles as large as school buses. And in some places where the roads have been barely widened, the blacktop can break off and wreck the bus. It has happened.

It was my desire to eventually drive a special needs bus, but was required to learn to drive all kinds of school buses before I got a permanent bus assignment. Since I have a handicapped child, I hoped to somehow be able to “pay it forward.”

Many people in the Laurel County School system have been instrumental in my son Dana’s success as an adult, now a 911 dispatcher near Nashville, along with some wonderful Laurel County Shriners who sponsored him to Shriner’s Hospital in Lexington.

Having been a newspaper reporter for several years and editor/publisher of some, I was curious about the bus driver training in Laurel County. I was a bit nervous about trying out for my commercial driver’s license.

Roland Mooney was director of transportation at that time and he had confidence in me since my husband Jeff and I had been working with the school system for nearly 20 years. He said with a laugh, “You mean you want to drive a school bus; have you lost your mind?” I knew it was an awesome responsibility. Narrow roads are hazardous and sometimes the public can be rude or wreckless.

Claude Maggard was the bus driver trainer at that time and I was sure that by the time we finished our classes, I would know how to drive a bus. And if the training had not been up to par, it would make quite a story. Soon I realized that there was no story there. We’ve had and have other good bus driver trainers: Donna Baker, assistant director, Mike Broughton, and now the very efficient, Glen Knauer.

The bus driver training was and is second to none and I soon learned that all Laurel County school bus drivers have excellent training. I’m sorry I can’t say as much for some of the vehicles we meet on the road each day. And I understand that some cars on the road do not understand why school bus drivers do certain things.

We try to follow the state laws. When we meet another vehicle on a narrow road, we are not allowed to get our wheels off the pavement for fear of rolling over. The heavy bus could sink down in the dirt and cause an accident. We would rather be safe than sorry.

Most cars will back into a driveway and let us pass. Some are not so courteous and throw their hands up in the air and swear we don’t know how to drive. We are required to stop and let the smaller vehicle negotiate the problem. Our main concern is the safety of the children.

I have enjoyed Laurel County’s children for all these years. I have made some good friends with the parents and I have become a more patient person. I never lose patience with the children and have been able to get along with the most difficult children — and parents. I have less patience with drivers who show no consideration for school buses.

Driving a school bus has been one of my most rewarding experiences in life — and I have done many things and been many places. I have stayed at home and driven a bus for all these years when I could have been traveling and spending time with my children and grandchildren who all live in other places.

Driving school buses has been very rewarding but oftentimes frustrating — but well worth it. You have to really be dedicated to children to stick with driving a bus for more than two decades. The children are not the problem.

Laurel County’s children overall are much better on the buses than they were 20 years ago. With proper direction, the children have learned that we all need to follow the rules — and we don’t make the rules — but the rules are for our own good; ours and theirs.

For twenty-something years, I have watched the sun rise on the eastern horizon and watched the sun go down in the west from my little school bus window. When I retire, I will miss it, I’m sure because I don’t think I ever saw a sunrise until I started driving a school bus.

For years, I have watched mommies walking little ones to the school bus and kiss them goodbye with little cats and dogs standing nearby. It has been my pleasure to drive through Laurel County and watch autumn’s leaves falling in the Daniel Boone Forest and snow blowing across roadways. I have enjoyed watching springtimes flourish with beautiful flowers and summertimes come in all their glory. But nothing is so wonderful as the beautiful faces of Laurel County’s children.

Thanks for sharing them with me...

Shirley Caudill of London is a former newspaper editor/publisher and longtime freelance columnist. She is a Nashville native who has lived in Kentucky 40 years. She has six children, 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren and is married to a retired Army First Sergeant. She can be reached at gunnstar4912@gmail.com