15-05-2025
‘She was supposed to outlive me': Family shares emotional testimony in hearing for wrong-way driving bill
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A bill moving through the Nevada legislature would criminalize wrong-way driving; the family of the Las Vegas child it was named for made an emotional plea to lawmakers Wednesday.
'She was supposed to outlive me,' Darea Swain said of her daughter. 'And I had to bury her.'
Swain spoke to lawmakers in Carson City Wednesday about the indescribable pain of losing a child.
'I won't get another birthday,' Jan Brooks, Jaya's father, said. 'Another chance to talk to her, another second with her.'
Jaya Brooks' parents and grandparents spoke during Wednesday's Senate Committee on Growth and Infrastructure hearing, describing everything they lost more than a year after the three-year-old's tragic death.
She was one of three people killed in a wrong-way crash on U.S. 95, now known as I-11 in the northwest valley.
'To this day, her room stands as a time capsule,' Jaya's grandmother Andrea Reine said. 'Of December 9, 2023.'
The family hopes Jaya's story can spark real change with a bill moving through the legislature.
Assemblymember Brian Hibbetts is sponsoring Assembly Bill 111, also known as 'Jaya's Law.'
'Somebody I was elected to represent reached out,' Assemblymember Hibbetts told 8 News Now. 'And I am able to actually do something for them.'
The proposal would restore criminal penalties for wrong-way drivers on divided highways, making the penalty a misdemeanor, several years after it was turned into a civil matter.
Assemblymember Hibbetts cited multiple wrong-way statistics during Wednesday's hearing.
In 2024, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department saw 634 reports of wrong-way drivers in their jurisdiction.
In the same period, Nevada Highway Patrol responded to 731 wrong-way driver calls, which included 123 crashes and 49 people killed.
Jaya Brooks' family said while their grief will never truly end, they hope AB 111 will help prevent others from experiencing the same fate.
'All we have as families are just photographs and videos of our loved ones,' Darea Swain said. 'She had a whole life ahead of her.'
Assemblymember Hibbetts told 8 News Now AB 111 passed unanimously through the Senate Committee Wednesday after also passing unanimously through the Nevada Assembly.
The bill will go to the Senate floor next, and if it passes, it will then go to Governor Joe Lombardo's desk to be signed into law.
In addition to working on AB 111, Assemblymember Hibbetts also told 8 News Now he is working with the Nevada Department of Transportation to install more wrong-way detection systems on more freeways.
Currently, there are only four of them functioning across the state, and each one costs over a million dollars to install.
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