Campus police check drivers

By Emily Richmond

Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002 | 10:49 a.m.

Student drivers, take note: Campus police officers are stepping up patrols and checking motorists for valid licenses and proof of insurance outside high school campuses.

And unlike Monday's announced visit to Palo Verde High School in Summerlin, the location of the next checkpoint won't be announced in advance, Darnell Couthen, spokesman for the Clark County School District police, said.

"We're going to enforce the rules, and students should be prepared to follow those rules at all times," Couthen said.

Officers checked every third car exiting the Palo Verde campus after school Monday as part of the new "Safe Exit" pilot program. So far only high schools in the northwest region are being checked, but plans are in the works to expand the scope, district officials said. Police also staged a checkpoint outside Cimarron-Memorial High School earlier this month.

Of the 80 cars stopped Monday, all of the student drivers had valid licenses with them, Couthen said. The majority of the violations involved not wearing seat belts, although several parents were cited for not having their driver's licenses with them, Couthen said.

"Students who have probably driven to school without a license in the past just didn't drive yesterday," Couthen said this morning. "The next time we go out, students will not have that advance knowledge."

The program comes after the two high-profile wrecks involving high school students.

Ryan Sneed, a Centennial High School student, died Aug. 30 when his Jeep ran a stop sign and hit a tractor-trailer on an access road known as a popular shortcut to and from campus. Three passengers, including his sister, were also injured.

In May, unlicensed driver Ashley Troester, 16, died of injuries after she crashed into a metal light pole. Police say she was speeding back to Las Vegas High School before the end of the lunch break. One of the passengers, 17-year-old Natasha Keeter, also died. Three other students were seriously injured.