Youth Traffic Safety Mock Hearings

On Monday, December 14th students from high schools in Washington and Greene Counties marched into the Court Room of Magisterial District Jay Weller. The Southwest Regional Traffic Safety Network staff had prepared fabricated citations for 19 students and advisors for various traffic violations. As part of the Operation Safe Holiday campaign, the media was invited to attend and observe the court proceedings. Participating in the event were PA State Police Trooper Joe Christy and North Strabane Police Sgt. Dave Richards.

As the Judge called each individual student to the front table, they were asked to raise their right hand and swear that the testimony they are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth! The citations written were used as a teaching tool to let the students know that if they do violate the law, they will be required to either plead guilty and pay the fine or, request a hearing before the Judge. The citations issued were aggressive driving based and included speeding, making a left turn without yielding and causing a crash, failure to stop at a stop sign, failure to use headlights when required and failure to ‘move over´ for emergency vehicles. As each citation was addressed, the Magisterial District Judge, Sgt. Dave Richards or Trooper Joe Christy took the opportunity to explain to the students why they were issued the citation and what the consequences of their actions would be.

The students were asked to provide a defense for their violations. The defenses the students used were quite creative! Shea Stoner of Trinity High School told the judge that it was his twin brother not him who received the citation for careless driving. Sgt. Richards of the North Strabane Police Department told the judge that he had witnessed the defendant crossing over the center line numerous times. Shea told Sgt. Richards that he had been texting on his cell phone. The Judge took the opportunity to educate all the students of the dangers of texting while driving. The Judge did not buy the story and found him guilty and to pay his fine before he walked out the door. Ringgold High School Advisor, Mishele Banfield told the judge that her citation did not include the information on the speed device used for her speeding citation. Judge Weller explained that all the information has to be written on the citation regarding the type of speed device used. The Judge found Ms. Banfield not guilty.
The students and advisors as well as the law enforcement present were very happy with the event and expressed that it was a very interesting learning experience for the young drivers.

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KDKA