Oversized vans still used by prisons

David Kihara

Sunday, Nov. 13, 2005 | 7:45 a.m.

The Nevada Department of Corrections continues to use 15-passenger vans to transport inmates despite concerns that the vehicles are prone to rolling over.

The vans are typically used to move inmates around a county, but they are sometimes used to move inmates from as far as Carson City to Las Vegas, said Glen Whorton, director of the state Department of Corrections.

"We have been using these since the late 1970s and we've never had a rollover," Whorton said.

The vans have been in the spotlight recently after eight Utah State University students and one professor were killed in September when the van they were riding in rolled over on Interstate 84 in Utah.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has banned the sale of 15-passenger vans to K-12 schools and issues frequent advisories and reports on the vans, noting that the vans have a higher probability of rolling over than other types of vehicles in certain circumstances.

Between 1990 and 2002, there were 1,576 15-passenger vans involved in accidents, according to a May 2004 study conducted by the NHTSA.

Of the 1,576 crashes, 657 involved fatal, single-vehicle crashes, the report stated. More than half of those fatalities, 349, were rollovers, the report concluded.

UNLV stopped using the vans because of safety concerns.

Whorton said the vans are a safe and efficient way to transport inmates. The prison system uses the vans to transport prisoners to courts, medical appointments and work assignments and from jails to prisons.

The Corrections Department, which has 65 15-passenger vans in its fleet, recently received a little more than $1 million from the state Legislature to buy 40 15-passenger vans to replace those in the fleet and eight additional vehicles, including four mini-vans.

Some of the vans scheduled to be replaced are 17 years old while others are five years old, according to a report to the Legislature.

Traffic Safety Administration spokesman Eric Bolton said the vans are safe "if properly maintained and the drivers are trained to drive them."

"But we have concerns because there are people who drive them who aren't trained and some people don't properly maintain them," Bolton said.

Proper tire pressure and seat-belt use help cut down on the number of rollovers and fatalities during rollovers, the federal agency said. However, the vans also have a higher tendency to roll over when there are more than 10 people in the vehicle, the the agency said.

According to the report, 15-passenger vans that are loaded with eight or more people are twice as likely to roll. When a van is at full capacity, it is five times more likely to roll over than when the driver is the sole occupant, the report stated.

Other factors, such as the curvature of the road and the van's speed, also can contribute to rollovers.

Whorton said the Corrections Department has a mandatory seat-belt policy for all inmates riding in a 15-passenger van and conducts proper maintenance on each van. The prison system mandates an inspection before the van is used, which includes checking fluids as well as tire pressure, he said.

The Corrections Department is not the only facility that uses the vans. The Clark County Detention Center currently has six 15-passenger vans that it uses to take inmates to Henderson or North Las Vegas, said Mikel Holt, detention center chief.

"We've never had any problems with the vans," he said. "I don't have any huge concerns."

David Kihara can be reached at (702) 259-2330 or at davidk@lasvegassun.com.