Jeremy Klung doesn’t just love driving a school bus, he’s good at it.
Scratch that, he’s great at it — particularly when it comes to the precision required to steer a 35-to-40 foot long vehicle through construction zones and along snowy roads with the goal of safely getting dozens of children to and from school each day.
Not only did Klung take first place in Utah’s 2024 Bus Roadeo Competition — earning him bragging rights as the Beehive State’s best bus driver — he came in third at this year’s international school bus driver competition.
“It’s nerve wracking because it’s not just national, it’s international,” said Klung before traveling to Texas to compete against the world’s best drivers. “At the Canyons bus rodeo, we had about 30 drivers competing, but at the international level they cap it at 100. So, there’s a lot of pressure.”
Bragging rights aside. These contests are really about promoting safety.
“It puts drivers under stress that they wouldn’t otherwise feel,” said Canyons District’s Director of Transportation, Jeremy Wardle. “If they can perform these tasks under pressure, then they certainly can do it with a full load of kids being loud and cars all around them.”
For Klung, and all of the other drivers in Canyons, safety comes first. The international competition consists of more than just parallel parking or being timed as you navigate a narrow ally. Drivers must also excel at written tests: a general knowledge test as well as a mechanical test.
“My primary job is getting these kids from point A to point B,” said Klung who has been a professional driver for 13 years. “I’ve always loved transit anything, planes, trains, and automobiles. I like driving. I just like being behind the wheel. If I could do this all day, every day, I would.”
That’s reward enough. But what really keeps Klung clocking in each day as early as 4 a.m. are the smiles he gets from students.
“There will be little kids out walking with their moms and they will just stop and stare, like it’s the first time they’ve ever seen a bus and it’s the greatest thing,” Klung said. “These big yellow buses, in my mind, are the greatest things on Earth.”
For many students, their bus driver is the first person they see outside their homes in the morning and the last person they see at the end of their school day. They play a vital role in, not only keeping students safe, but making them feel welcome and safe.
Bus drivers aren’t the only ones keeping our students safe. In the past year, Canyons has invested in new safety measures for all buses in the District. Drivers are consistently going through refresher training courses and each of CSD’s 185 buses have been equipped with state-of-the-art GPS and Artificial Intelligence-powered safe-driving systems. The system can immediately detect if a driver is ill, injured or distracted, and within seconds will alert district officials if irregular driving patterns are detected.
“The safety of our students is something we consider each and every day here at Canyons,” said Canyons Superintendent Dr. Rick Robins. “It’s something we know our bus drivers take to heart, and we see them show up for work each day, ready to provide the highest level of safety possible for our students.”
