Confessions of a student bus driver

I don't drive with my right hand resting on the gear shift knob for one very good reason -- Trooper S.C. Moseley.

In the 1960s, when I went to high school, the Palmetto State used student school bus drivers.

Believe it or not, all you had to do to qualify was be 16 years old, have a valid driver's license and take a week-long course under the tutelage of a South Carolina Highway Patrolman.

The reason behind what sounds like a ridiculous idea was simple economics. Student bus drivers earned a whopping $35 a month, which was enough for a kid back then.

The program also aimed to build character and responsibility among young boys on their way to becoming men.

And, for the most part, it worked.

Lazy shifting

Every day after school we would report to the big yellow bus parked behind the gymnasium and take turns driving it around the parking lot.

Trooper Moseley, a bear of a man, sat in the right-hand front seat barking instructions about stopping at railroad crossings, opening the door, and swinging out the stop sign on the side of the bus.

The worst thing you could do, however, was leave your right hand on the shifter between gears. Trooper Moseley expected you to return both hands to the steering wheel between each gear change.

If you did not follow his specific orders, Trooper Moseley used a wooden yard stick to reach over and rap the back of your right hand sharply as a reminder.

By the time the week was over, the back of my right hand was red from being hit so many times for what the trooper consider lazy shifting.

Norman Rockwell

I look back on those days with amazement. That our state leaders thought a bunch of 16-year-olds could handle the responsibility of driving school buses loaded with our most precious cargo seems quite preposterous in hindsight.

But truthfully, most were responsible citizens who did their duty with dignity, considered it an honor and had something they could put on their resume under "extracurricular activities" when applying for college.

Granted, it wasn't a perfect system. There were times when we drag-raced big yellow school buses on deserted country roads, even though they would only do 35 mph.

And I stuck one up to the axles in a soybean field one rainy winter day.

But this Norman Rockwell notion of rural America was sure to fade sooner or later.

Read more columns by Ken Burger

By 1986 the federal government demanded that the last three states using student bus drivers -- South Carolina, North Carolina and Alabama -- abandon the practice and transition to adult profession- als.

I just hope they had somebody like Trooper Moseley who taught them to keep both hands on the wheel, or else ...

Reach Ken Burger at kburger@postandcourier.com or 937-5598.