By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM—Five bus drivers in Shelby County were recognized for their dedication to their work at the seventh annual Love the Bus Feb. 11 at the Transportation South building in Pelham.

Belinda Oden of Alabaster City Schools, Brittany Hammonds of Hoover City Schools and Amy Golden of Pelham City Schools were all nominated for the Driver of the Year award by the students, parents and teachers they serve.

Rhonda Holman, a driver for Hoover City Schools, won the title of Love the Bus Driver of the Year at the celebration.

“It’s been a blessing to be able to do this for seven years for these drivers because, really, they are kind of the unsung heroes of an education department,” said Bucky Law, president of Transportation South. “It’s a great day to (recognize) them. They consider it high praise.”

Bus drivers from all across the state gathered together for a lunch catered by Jim ‘n Nick’s and a presentation by Alabama State Program Coordinator Kevin Snowden, who discussed the state of the school bus industry in Alabama.

Snowden told the drivers that in Alabama, the buses travel an average of 85,115,880 route miles in a year. That number does not include the miles travelled during extra curricular and special activities.

The buses carry 66,490,920 passengers each year, which Snowden said is about 1.5 of the nation’s population as far as transportation.

He added that bus drivers are the most important safety feature of a school bus, spending countless hours training even before they have children on the buses. Once they get the children, Snowden said they do an “excellent job making sure the children are tended to.”

Love the Bus was founded by the American School Bus Council in 2007 and is celebrated on Valentine’s Day and throughout the month of February as a way to raise awareness and appreciation for all the school bus drivers around the country.

“School bus drivers play a critical role in the lives and education of the nation’s students, and the ‘Love the Bus’ program is a fun way for us to recognize their dedication,” Law said.