STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The Pennsylvania School Bus Association (PSBA) named the winners in its 42nd Annual State School Bus Driver Safety Competition, held here on June 22 and 23.

A total of 78 drivers competed in this year’s competition (66 conventional and 12 transit drivers), which took place on the grounds of the Mount Nittany Middle School.

For the Pennsylvania competition, school bus drivers and judges arrived on the evening of Friday, June 22, for an orientation and the driver’s written examination. On Saturday morning, the drivers got behind the wheel to compete in the skills portion of the competition, which included a physical and verbal bus inspection; height judgment; diminishing clearance; a simulated bus stop; railroad crossings; backing up; and curb line parking.

The following drivers will represent Pennsylvania at the School Bus Driver International Safety Competition, which will be held in Philadelphia on July 22.

Conventional Bus Category

•    Shanon O’Brien — O’Brien drives for Krapf School Bus in West Chester. She is a “three-peat” champion, having also finished first in the state competition in 2016 and 2017.
•   Larry Hannon Sr. — Hannon, who took second place, is a driver for the Centennial School District in Warminster. This year marked his 40th state competition. Hannon has finished first 11 times at the state level and is a nine-time champion at the international level.

Transit Bus Category

•    Mike Webster — Webster, who took first place, drives for Brightbill Transportation in Lebanon. He has seen success in previous state competitions, finishing in the top spot in 2015 and in second place in 2016.
•    Beth McGowan — McGowan, a driver for the Lower Merion School District, took third place. Over the past three years, she has been moving up in the state competition. In 2016, McGowan finished sixth in the state competition and then finished fourth in the 2017 event.

“We are proud of all of these drivers who trained hard for the competition,” said Dallas Krapf, chair of the safety competition committee. “We look forward to the International Competition in Philadelphia and wish our state representatives good luck. I want to also thank all our volunteers and event sponsors who help make this event such a success.”

The complete results of this year’s competition can be found on the PSBA website.