PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

The Pyramid Lake Police Department (PLPD), consisting of seven sworn officers, serves a population of 1,600 residents living in the three communities of Sutcliffe, Nixon, and Wadsworth. Residents are mostly members of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Native Americans, but others live on the reservation as well. The reservation covers an area of 742 miles with over 1,400 miles of roadways. This is the largest American Indian reservation in Nevada, and the PLPD has authority over everyone within the boundaries of the reservation. The PLPD has exclusive jurisdiction over Native-American offenders and concurrent with the Washoe County Sheriff's Office and the Nevada Highway Patrol for non-Native-American offenders.

State Route 445, the Pyramid Highway, had a reputation for being deadly. The rural setting and the recreational aspects of the reservation led to frequent excessive driving speeds and consumption of large quantities of alcohol. During holiday weekends, the population at the lake often tripled in size. Most crashes and fatalities occurred on those weekends due to congested traffic, excessive speed and alcohol involvement.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of the project was to reduce the incidence of speeding within the boundaries of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Indian Reservation. Objectives included:

• Reducing speed-related crashes by 10 percent, using the number of speed-related crashes in 1993 as the baseline
• Increasing speed citations by 30 percent
• Procuring one speed-verification radar unit
• Training officers in the use of the new speed-verification radar unit
• Conducting Occupant Protection Usage and Enforcement (OPUE) training for PLPD officers
• Ensuring accuracy of posted speed limits by checking the basis for the limits using the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

Federal grant funds were provided to the Pyramid Lake Police Department to procure speed verification equipment to strengthen speed-countermeasure activities. In order to target the times when most crashes occurred, these activities were conducted primarily during long holiday weekends. Use of the speed verification device also assisted the police department in arresting impaired driving offenders as these individuals frequently drove at excessive speeds.

RESULTS

Although the project was in effect only for six months, these accomplishments were made:

• The radar unit was purchased and officers trained in its proper use
• OPUE training was conducted for all officers
• Speeding citations increased 640 percent over the previous year.