picture of truck picture of speedometer Traffic Safety Digest Summer 2003
 
Project Characteristics
Cooperative Effort with Clark Co. Courts;
Education Program and 
Installation of CPS Seats for Offenders
Program Areas
Occupant Protection
Child Passenger Safety
Type of Jurisdiction
County
Targeted Population
All Offenders with Children Under Age 5 and Weighing Less Than 40 Pounds
Jurisdiction Size
1,200,000
Funding
Section 157a: $129,00 ('01-03)
Section 2003b: $10,650 ('02)
Contact
Peter Ybarra or Jeane Cosgrove
Clark Co. Safe Kids
3101 S. Maryland Pkwy
Ste. 315
Las Vegas, NV 89101
(702) 731-8666

Traci Filippi
DPS, Office of Traffic Safety
555 Wright Way
Carson City, NV 89711
(775) 687-5720 tfilippi@dps.state.nv.us

Digest Listing

     

NEVADA
Court Diversion Program, Clark County Safe Kids

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

Nevada law allows child passenger safety seat (CPS) law violators to avoid the associated fine if the offender proves to the court that they have obtained a car seat. Proof is presented to a clerk at the traffic fine window in the form of an actual car seat or a receipt for a car seat. However, the courts and window personnel are not qualified to determine if the seat is Department of Transportation (DOT) compliant, properly installed, or actually placed in use.

A recent mandatory CPS checkpoint found that:

  • Sixty percent of children were unrestrained; and

  • Of the 40 percent who were restrained, none of them were restrained properly.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of the Court Diversion program is to reduce the number of serious injuries and deaths resulting from non-compliance with Nevada’s CPS seat law by improving safety seat usage rates in Clark County.

The program objectives include:

  • Creating a coalition to form a court diversion program. Members include representative from the courts, law enforcement, the medical community, and other concerned parties;

  • Developing an education program for parents and other care providers; and

  • Establishing a calendar with the schedule of education programs and seat installations for the courts.

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

The initial strategy was to obtain Clark County statistics on child deaths and injuries and CPS violations and create a presentation for the county judges. The presentation was intended to gather the judges’ support and encourage them to mandate program completion. Upon completing the program, the offender is awarded a certificate and is eligible to receive a waiver of the fine per Nevada law.

Once the program outline was accepted by the judges, the Safe Kids program staff conducted the following activities:

  • Developed and implemented the Diversion program.

  • Developed a court referral and reporting system to meet the needs of the court.

  • Designed an education program for offenders.

  • Created a calendar of education programs for use by the court when sentencing offenders to the Diversion program.

RESULTS

An increase in the number of convictions for CPS violations has demonstrated court and law enforcement support for the program. Before the Diversion program was implemented, approximately 120 CPS citations were written each year. Since implementation of the program, the amount of citations has nearly doubled. Since the beginning of the program in 2001, there have not been any citations or convictions for parents who have completed the program.

The program also ensures that child seats are properly installed and that education is provided to the parents. This has led local law enforcement to implement bi-weekly CPS checkpoints.

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