Broward County Transit 2025 Bus Safety Roadeo: A Celebration Of Community And Skill At This Family-Friendly Event

A highlight of the day was the live bus operator competition showcasing driving precision and safety skills. BCT's highly skilled bus operators navigated many challenging obstacle courses.

​​​​​​​​The Roadeo course was designed to test every aspect of operation that a Bus Operator may encounter in daily driving situations. The course contained 11 obstacles that test a driver’s ability to negotiate:

• Left Turn
• Right Turn
• Passenger Stops
• Overall Judgement situations

Each obstacle was assigned a specific point total, and a missed or imperfect operation of a maneuver resulted in points being deducted from this total.

During the contestants’ time on the course, a judge also evaluated their safety habits (25 points). This included use of:

• Turn Signals
• Horn
• Flashers
• Mirrors
• Hands
• Feet
• Overall posture

The contestant was also judged on other factors:

• Their ability to deliver a smooth ride. This includes when they are stopping, turning and starting. (25 points)
• Professional appearance, including their uniform (50 points)
• A penalty of 1 point per second for every second over a 7 minute running time.

OBSTACLES:

OBSTACLE 1: SERPENTINE PROBLEM - ​This maneuver tests a driver’s ability to negotiate tight turns. The driver is required to enter a gate, weave in and out through three cones, and exit through another gate.

OBSTACLE 2: OFFSET STREET - In this maneuver the driver is required to drive through the separate narrow lanes that are offset one full lane’s width from each other.

OBSTACLE 3: 1ST PASSENGER STOP - The driver makes a maneuver at a bus stop made of simulated curbing. To make the bus stop properly, the front tires of the bus must be six inches or less from the curb while the rear tires are 15 inches or less. The stop must be made without touching the curb with the tires. The operator must also announce the stop to his onboard passengers as he/she pulls in.

OBSTACLE 4: RIGHT HAND REVERSE - This maneuver is designed to simulate a bus turn around, requiring a bus to back up to the right and is scored identically to the left hand reverse.

OBSTACLE 5: LEFT TURN PROBLEM - This maneuver tests a driver’s ability to make a tight left turn in a close situation. The driver is required to swing the bus into a 90 degree turn and not touch any of the cones outlining the problem even though he/she will lose sight of some of the cones.

OBSTACLE 6: REAR DUALS CLEARANCE - This is an obstacle where the driver must drive through a lane with his or her right dual tires. The lane is only slightly wider than the total outside width of the pair of rear duals and is marked by rows of tennis balls.

OBSTACLE 7: 2ND PASSENGER STOP - The driver makes a maneuver at a bus stop made of simulated curbing. To make the bus stop properly, the front tires of the bus must be six inches or less from the curb while the rear tires are 15 inches or less. The stop must be made without touching the curb with the tires. The operator must also announce the stop to their onboard passengers as he/she pulls in. This stop is scored identically to the first passenger stop.

OBSTACLE 8: RIGHT TURN PROBLEM - This maneuver tests a driver’s ability to negotiate a tight 90 degree turn. The corner is marked with cones and the rear tire of the bus must pass within six inches of the corner.

OBSTACLE 9: LEFT HAND REVERSE - ​This maneuver is designed to simulate a bus turn around, requiring a bus to back up to the left. It measures a driver’s skill, accuracy, and safety consciousness when backing up a bus. The bus must stop within 36 inches of a rear cone without touching the cone.

OBSTACLE 10: DIMINISHING CLEARANCE - This is an obstacle that tests the driver’s ability to judge position and speed of the bus. The driver is required to drive through a narrowing V-shape channel outlined with barrels, while maintaining a minimum speed of 20 miles per hour.

OBSTACLE 11: JUDGMENT STOP - This obstacle tests the driver’s ability to judge closing distances between the bus and a small object directly ahead. A cone is placed on the finish line and the bus must stop with the front bumper within six inches of the cone without hitting it.
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After the competition, an awards ceremony recognizing the top-performing operators was held. These top performers will advance to the Florida Triple Crown Roadeo in Gainesville.

In addition to the competition there were family-friendly activities, including games, crafts, giveaways, and food trucks offering a variety of delicious options, plus live entertainment featuring a live DJ and Mariachi Band!

For more information, visit:
www.Broward.org/BCT/ROADEO
Or follow BCT on social media at BrowardCountyTransit.

Find all event photos at:
https://issuu.com/suntimesnewspaper/docs/sun_times_issue_02_06_25/12?fr=sODU4ZjgyMTEzMDQ