If you look up 'burnt-out' in the dictionary you might find a picture of Otto. And if you don't find it there, try 'poor hygiene,' 'motorhead,' 'lowlife,' and/or 'road hazard.'
Though frequently involved in random collisions, Otto remains true to the Bus Driver's Pledge: 'Never crash the bus on purpose,' and stands proudly by his record of fifteen crashes without a single fatality.
But Otto is not just a schoolbus driver. His wide-ranging career includes stints as the Springfield Bloodmobile driver, Springfield Seniors Gambling Junket Bus driver, and operator of the Springfield Poolmobile.
Otto dreams of one day customizing the bus: to 'chop the top, jack it up, put mag wheels on it, and a psychedelic paint job from hell, then jam the kids to school at 150 mph.'
Otto has trouble with authority, beginning with his father, 'the Admiral,' and continuing to this day. Otto doesn't flout authority so much as unwittingly bump into it, which results in his feeling constantly hassled by 'the man.'
Yet Otto has a warm rapport with school kids. It's not so much that he understands them, he's just had more kid experience, even once spending three years in the fourth grade. It was there that he mastered his true love, the guitar, and he occasionally will tie up traffic for miles as he serenades the school kids with blazing riffs on his pal Bart- dude's cherry 'ax.'
