The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), the Northwest Regional Highway Safety Network, the Northwest Chapter of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, and local law enforcement today held a safety contest to teenagers in Erie.
This is the 14th time Erie County has hosted the pageant, which had to be canceled for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The contest returned in 2022 for 10 students from various high schools in Erie County to compete for over $900 in prizes.
The contest included a combination of a slow-driving obstacle course at Transportation Solutions’ commercial driver’s license office, a pre-trip vehicle evaluation, and written tests to determine the county’s top teen driver.
Pennsylvania State Police, local law enforcement officers, professional truck drivers and other driving experts were on hand Monday to administer the exams.
Union City High School’s Joesph Anaya won first place in the contest and was awarded $500. Second place and $300 went to Matt Bennett, also from Union City High School. Third prize of $100 was awarded to Abigail Slawter of McDowell High School.
The three-person team of Anaya, Bennett and Tyler Parkhurst from Union City High School earned the highest group score. The names of the participants will be added to the traveling county trophy, which will be displayed at the winning school next year.
Cash prizes were donated by local Allstate representative, Matt Barczyk’s agency.
In addition to the companies already listed, Erie County driving contest partners included Vorzik Transport, AAA East Central, Edgar Snyder & Associates, Cross Paving, LLC., UPS Freight, Lorie’s Wildridge Restaurant, Curtze Food Service, UPMC Hamot , Dave Hallman Chevrolet, Inc., NEA Cross of NY, Inc. and Bonnell’s Auto Group.
For more information on teen driving safety, visit www.penndot.pa.gov/safety.
MEDIA CONTACT: Saxon Daugherty, 814-678-7095.
(Left to right) Abigail Slawter of McDowell High School, along with Joseph Anaya and Matt Bennett of Union City High School were the top three students in the 2022 Erie County Teen Safety Contest.
# # #
