LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A invoice shifting via the Nevada legislature would criminalize wrong-way driving; the household of the Las Vegas little one it was named for made an emotional plea to lawmakers Wednesday.
“She was supposed to outlive me,” Darea Swain stated of her daughter. “And I had to bury her.”
Swain spoke to lawmakers in Carson Metropolis Wednesday concerning the indescribable ache of shedding a baby.
“I won’t get another birthday,” Jan Brooks, Jaya’s father, stated. “Another chance to talk to her, another second with her.”
Jaya Brooks’ dad and mom and grandparents spoke throughout Wednesday’s Senate Committee on Progress and Infrastructure listening to, describing every thing they misplaced greater than a 12 months after the three-year-old’s tragic loss of life.
She was one among three folks killed in a wrong-way crash on U.S. 95, now often called I-11 within the northwest valley.
“To this day, her room stands as a time capsule,” Jaya’s grandmother Andrea Reine stated. “Of December 9, 2023.”
The household hopes Jaya’s story can spark actual change with a invoice shifting via the legislature.
Assemblymember Brian Hibbetts is sponsoring Meeting Invoice 111, also referred to as “Jaya’s Law.”
“Somebody I was elected to represent reached out,” Assemblymember Hibbetts instructed 8 Information Now. “And I am able to actually do something for them.”
The proposal would restore legal penalties for wrong-way drivers on divided highways, making the penalty a misdemeanor, a number of years after it was became a civil matter.
Assemblymember Hibbetts cited a number of wrong-way statistics throughout Wednesday’s listening to.
In 2024, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Division noticed 634 reviews of wrong-way drivers of their jurisdiction.
In the identical interval, Nevada Freeway Patrol responded to 731 wrong-way driver calls, which included 123 crashes and 49 folks killed.
Jaya Brooks’ household stated whereas their grief won’t ever actually finish, they hope AB 111 will assist stop others from experiencing the identical destiny.
“All we have as families are just photographs and videos of our loved ones,” Darea Swain stated. “She had a whole life ahead of her.”
Assemblymember Hibbetts instructed 8 Information Now AB 111 handed unanimously via the Senate Committee Wednesday after additionally passing unanimously via the Nevada Meeting.
The invoice will go to the Senate ground subsequent, and if it passes, it’ll then go to Governor Joe Lombardo’s desk to be signed into regulation.
Along with engaged on AB 111, Assemblymember Hibbetts additionally instructed 8 Information Now he’s working with the Nevada Division of Transportation to put in extra wrong-way detection methods on extra freeways.
At present, there are solely 4 of them functioning throughout the state, and each prices over one million {dollars} to put in.
