Bumpless Busser

Last week Ernest R. ("Pop") Haselwood looked like a good bet against the field. Bus Transportation, McGraw-Hill trade journal, was tabulating returns in its contest, not to be decided until late this year, to discover who is the safest bus driver in the U. S. Owen Meredith of Enid. Okla. drove 976,800 miles without scratching a fender. Ancel Mistier of Sedalia, Mo. turned up with a no-accident record of 950,000 miles. But "Pop" Haselwood of Chappell, Neb. in 20 years had driven 1,772,651 miles without a ''chargeable" accident. Driver Haselwood's formula: "Drive like the other guy is crazy."

"Pop" Haselwood, 44. started out as a Northwest farmer and lumberjack, bought a Ford in 1916, put it in tip-top shape, ran a one-man, one-car busline. After two years he sold out, drove for a half-dozen bus companies. Since 1929 he has driven for Omaha's Interstate Transit Lines, now makes the 21g-mile run between North Platte. Neb. and Cheyenne. Wyo.. one way or the other, six days a week. When passing an oncoming car he sights the road edge over his radiator cap. gets his right-hand tires on the brink of the paving. Three times automobiles or trucks have bumped him. In every case his bus was standing stock-still.

"Pop" is not so called because of his age but because that is a favorite nickname for a stolid driver. There are five other "Pops" in his division. Most Interstate drivers look like wrestlers because the company's minimum weight limit is 160 Ib. Haselwood is just over the line with 164. He is married, childless, makes about $225 per month. The one time he ever drove "like hell" was when a woman in his bus bore a baby.

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