News
Alternative Sentencing Targets Young Traffic Offenders
Judge Diana Hampton Teams With Community Partners To Provide Advanced Car Control Clinics As Alternate Sentencing Program
October 10, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE
PLEASE CONTACT DAVID HAYWARD, (702) 267-3359
Henderson, Nev. – The City of Henderson Municipal Court has implemented a new "Alternative Sentencing" program targeting young traffic offenders. The new program will provide Henderson Court judges with the option of sentencing traffic offenders to attend specially designed Advanced Car Control Clinics offered by the southern Nevada American Traffic Academy.
"Due to the increased rate of accidents among young drivers, I felt it was necessary to design a program to help them hone their driving skills in an effort to make the streets of Henderson safe," says Judge Diana Hampton. "The program will also help these drivers to understand that they are behind the wheel of a 5,000 pound weapon that demands knowledge and respect. I handle the vast majority of juvenile traffic and related cases and have seen the overwhelming need for greater understanding of the driving process."
Municipal Court Judge Diana Hampton with the aid of Laura McCubbin, a local mother and concerned citizen, and Robert Prevost, Co-Founder and CEO of the American Traffic Academy, developed the alternative sentencing program designed to help improve driving skills of traffic offenders of all ages.
"I'd like to commend Judge Hampton and Robert Prevost for implementing this alternative program and hope it will be taken advantage of by other juvenile court judges in Clark County," says Laura McCubbin. "The ultimate goal is to make the offender a better driver, more aware of and in control of themselves and their vehicle. The instructors are knowledgeable and professional and the experience is not punitive but highly informative, with enough excitement to hold a young adults attention for the 4+ hour session. My son T.J. enjoyed the experience, but most importantly he learned from it."
This unique half day Advanced Interactive Driver Education program (A.I.D.E.) includes a 60 minute classroom session focusing on vehicle dynamics, followed by three hours of "hands-on" advanced car control exercises, and concluding with a thirty minute debriefing of attendees. Students will learn how to recognize skid and slide situations on a wet "skid pad" and be taught how to correct and recover from such conditions by professional driving instructors. Other hands-on exercises will include "emergency lane change" and "panic braking" exercises to teach drivers the skills necessary to deal with such eventualities. The A.I.D.E. program is ultimately designed to educate drivers to be safer drivers and potentially reduce the incidence of traffic related fatalities and injuries in our community. Although the program was developed as an alternative sentencing program, the A.I.D.E. program is available to anyone with a valid driver's license.
"We are delighted to be working directly with the city of Henderson's Municipal Court to teach young traffic offenders that driving is a serious responsibility," says Robert Prevost. "For too long, our driver education system has failed to teach drivers of any age, but particularly new and young drivers, the skills necessary to help them react instinctively to emergency situations while driving. Our Advanced Interactive Driver Education program will address this critical gap and the City recognizes this."
A.I.D.E. programs are scheduled to be held on weekends twice monthly at the Las Vegas Motor Speedways' High Performance Driving facility with the first held October 6. For additional information on the A.I.D.E. program, please contact the American Traffic Academy, at 1-877-463-7223 or 606-1572.
# # #