Pa. school bus driver safety competition results

Chester County to be represented at international meet

Professional school bus drivers from across Pennsylvania competed in the 41st Annual Pennsylvania School Bus Driver Safety Competition on June 23 and 24 at the Mount Nittany Middle School in State College. A total of 90 drivers from across Pennsylvania competed in this year’s competition (73 conventional and 17 transit drivers). The top public and private driver in each category earned invitations to compete in the International Competition in Indianapolis on July 15.

The drivers had an orientation, a written examination and then competed in the skills competition which included physical and verbal bus inspection, height judgement, diminishing clearance, simulated bus stop, railroad crossings, backing up and curb line parking. When the scores were tallied, the results showed that the following drivers would represent Pennsylvania at the International School Bus Safety Competition:

Conventional Bus: Shanon O’Brien of Downingtown, Chester County, drives for Krapf School Bus, West Chester. She is a repeat champion having finished first in last year’s competition.

Conventional Bus: Larry Hannon Sr. of Hartsville, Bucks County, is a driver for the Centennial School District, Warminster, Bucks County. He has finished first in numerous state safety competitions and is a nine-time champion of the international competitions.

Transit Bus: Cheryl Vogelsang of Downingtown, Chester County, drives for Eagle Wolfington in Exton, Chester County. She finished in second place in the transit category moving up three spots from 2016 to earn a trip to Indianapolis.

Transit Bus: Ted Dubbs of Collingdale, Delaware County, is a driver for the Lower Merion School District, Montgomery County. He finished with the top transit score this year and placed third in last year’s state competition.

All four Pennsylvania drivers finished among the top 10 in this year’s School Bus Driver International Safety Competition. In the conventional category, Larry Hannon drove to a second place finish and Shanon O’Brien finished in ninth place. In the transit category, Ted Dubbs placed third with Cheryl Vogelsang close behind in a tie for fourth place.

SUBMITTED BY PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL BUS ASSOCIATION Left to right: Ted Dubbs, Lower Merion School District; Cheryl Vogelsang, Eagle Wolfington; Larry Hannon Sr., Centennial School District; Shanon O’Brien, Krapf School Bus.