Car competition steers teens toward safe driving
Trinity High School student Olivia King drives through an obstacle course during a youth traffic safety driving competition to promote driving safety at North Franklin Township Fire Department Thursday.
Jefferson-Morgan High School student Jamie Lawrence avoids hitting cones as she drives through a obstacle course during a youth traffic safety driving competition to promote driving safety at North Franklin Township Fire Department Thursday.
Nick Pryor was first behind the wheel, and he felt as if he was on the hotseat.
“I was very nervous because I thought I’d embarrass myself in front of everyone,” said the Bethlehem-Center High School senior. Thursday morning was a bit chilly, though, so most of the competition watched from behind glass doors at the North Franklin Township fire hall entrance.
“It wasn’t that bad because they didn’t come out,” Pryor said. “It was a good challenge, but I got zero points on the curb parking. My front bumper was touching the line.”
He was one of 12 area students vying in the Youth Traffic Safety Driving Competition, which is open to teens with clean driving records.
Four each from Trinity, Jefferson-Morgan and Beth-Center participated in the three-pronged event: a serpentine driving test, a written test and a perceptual test off a slide show. Competitors earned scores in each category, which were added to determine placement.
And personal pride wasn’t the only palpable reward Thursday. There were cash prizes of $500 for first place, $250 for second and $150 for third – with an opportunity for further benefit.
There are 17 such events across the state, with the top two finishers at each qualifying for the state championships May 9 in Camp Hill. (Third-place drivers are alternates.) The top three at states earn scholarships worth $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000.
Aaron Mylan and Jamie Lawrence of Jefferson-Morgan are a little wealthier and Camp Hill-bound after taking first and second, respectively, Thursday. Bobby Proudfit of Trinity was third.
Jefferson-Morgan, not surprisingly, was the team champ, which also benefited Shannon Corbett. All championship team advisers get $100, and Corbett, a Jeff-Morgan math teacher, serves in that capacity, as well. Drivers education, he said, is a semesterlong online course at J-M.
Reinforcing the concept of safe driving among teens, of course, is the message behind these statewide events, which have been conducted for more than a quarter-century. The North Franklin competition was coordinated by AAA East Central along with the Southwest Regional Highway Safety Network, the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association and the state Department of Transportation.
Driving was the first test Thursday. Keith Overcash of the Motor Truck Association had earlier described the serpentine course, where operators were to be in continuous motion and lost points if they hit a cone and acquired them if they didn’t.
At one spot, they had to pull as close as possible to a marker symbolizing a mailbox without hitting anything. A device measured the proximity to the marker; the closer, the better points-wise, At the end, they had to stop between two lines – the curb parking to which Pryor referred. Points were awarded according to the bumper’s closeness to the front line.
Trinity senior Olivia King watched the initial drivers intently. She would be the third to go out.
“I’m very excited, but a little nervous,” said King, who is involved in the Youth Traffic Safety program at her school.
Eli Rafail was not navigating the course Thursday, but did last year and was cheering on his Jefferson-Morgan buddies. He smiled and admitted, “I didn’t do well driving, but I did well on the other tests.”
Rafail, a senior who plans to study engineering at West Virginia University, said, “I liked it a lot. It taught me the importance of being precise behind the wheel.”
That is the purpose.