Local bus driver wins international, state awards for safety
Many contests are won by inches. But few involve things as large as a school bus. So when George Soverns Jr. of Vanderbilt entered this summer’s National School Bus Road-e-o in Lake Tahoe, Calif., he knew he would have to employ all the ability he has learned in his 14-year driving career.
His reward for his skill and hard work was second place in the international contest.
Representing Rittenhouse Bus Lines in Smock, where Soverns has driven students since 1992, it was his second major win of the year.
On Oct. 16, PennDOT will honor Soverns in Harrisburg for placing first in the Pennsylvania State School Bus Driver Safety Competition.
A veteran competitor, Soverns has won first place in the state contest five out of 10 years; four of those in consecutive years.
“As a company that has been in business in Fayette County for more than 55 years, we are extremely happy for George and want to share the recognition he received with the community in which we live and do business,’ Carole Rittenhouse, one of the principals in Rittenhouse Bus Lines, said.
“I’m really very proud of who I work for,’ Soverns said. “I know they are proud of me.’
Soverns spends about six hours each day driving grade and high school students for Rittenhouse.
A Uniontown Area High School graduate, Soverns said he plans on driving “as long as the company is here.’
“We have been here for 55 years and have no plans on going anywhere,’ Rittenhouse said.
“If you don’t like what you are doing, it just makes your job much worse. But I love driving,’ Soverns said.
And while he and his wife have no children, Soverns is quick to respond that he has “lots of kids, most of them really great kids’ who he drives each day to and from local schools.
Competition events include such things as general knowledge and vehicle inspection written tests and then driving a special course where there are such things as mock train crossings, a back up alley, parallel parking, elementary student loading, diminishing clearance and others, many that are measured to within inches of barricades.
Soverns explained there is only a two-week preparation period to go to the international contest. The company, he said, paid for plane fare, lodging and other expenses for he and his wife to attend.
“I competed with the best of the best,’ Soverns said, adding that some drivers came from Canada.
“You meet a lot of new people at the competition and make a lot of friends.’
The contests are a kind of validation for what he does every day.
“You go out there and do the best you can do and be very cautious. You got a lot of lives in your hands.
“The competition enhances your ability to be out there every day and better your skills. Every year I try to do better than I did the year before. When you go, you don’t compete in the bus you drive every day but you take what they have.’
Soverns was also featured in articles about the competitions in “NEA Today,’ the National Education Association magazine, and “School Transportation,’ a trade publication for school bus companies.
Rittenhouse explained that this summer, U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution 498 honoring the goals and ideals of School Bus Safety Week, which is being observed this month.
Pennsylvania will celebrate School Bus Safety Week at a ceremony on Oct. 16 at the Keystone Building in Harrisburg.
This ceremony will honor the students that have submitted posters for the School Bus Safety Week poster contest. During the ceremony the top three drivers that competed at the 2006 School Bus Drivers Safety Competition in each class (transit style and conventional school bus) will also be honored.