The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), the Northwest Chapter of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association (PMTA), and several community safety partners today held a Teen Driver Safety Competition in Erie County.
This is the 18th time Erie County hosted the contest. This year nearly 30 students from various Erie County high schools competed for $1,800 in prizes.
The competition included a combination of a slow-drive obstacle course at the Grace Church in McKean, a pre-trip vehicle assessment, and written tests to determine the county’s top teen driver.
Local law enforcement officers, professional truck drivers, and other driving experts were on hand today to administer the exams.
Nicholas Hodas of Fort LeBoeuf High School earned the top spot in the competition and was awarded $1,000. Second place and $500 went to John Sank of North East High School. The third-place prize of $300 was awarded to Drake Limnick of Fort LeBoeuf High School.
The two-person team of Sank and Willie Shunk from North East High School had the highest group score and were awarded $500 for their student council. The participants’ names will be added to the county’s traveling trophy, which will be displayed at the winning school for the next year.
The cash prizes were donated by local Allstate representative Matt Barczyk and Great Lakes Insurance Services Group, LLC.
In additional to the businesses already listed, partners for the Erie County competition included Vorzik Transport, McKissick Trucking, Lorie’s Wildridge Restaurant, Curtze Food Service, Transportation Solutions, Barnhart, Plyler Entry Systems, Sunnyside Farm Transit, Inc., ServiceMaster Restore, Seneca Mineral, Klapec Trucking, and C.R. Campbell Trucking, Inc.
For more information on teen driving safety, visit www.pa.gov/DOTSafety.
MEDIA CONTACT: Saxon Daugherty, 814-678-7095 or sadaughert@pa.gov
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