Nevada Office of Traffic Safety
The Nevada Highway Patrol (NHP), Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), Zero Fatalities and the Las Vegas Justice Court (LVJC) developed the “It Can Wait for 28 Challenge” program to promote better driving habits concerning distracted driving. The program is designed to divert violators of Nevada’s “hands free” law into an educational program and ultimately gain voluntary compliance. Each agency has a role to play in the success of this program.
The primary purpose of the “It Can Wait for 28 Challenge” is to bring increased awareness to the problem of distracted driving and to help the public learn to break dangerous distracted driving habits. The name of the program reflects on the commonly held perception that it takes 28 days to overcome a bad habit. This program falls within the mission of the Highway Patrol to “promote safety on Nevada Highways” through the use of law enforcement services to the motoring public as well as the Strategic Highway Safety Plan.
Between June 30 and July 10, 2014, Nevada Highway Patrol troopers issued citations and, at their discretion, invited violators of the “hands free” law to participate in the challenge. For each of the next 28 days after being cited, violators who chose to enroll in the program participated in assigned activities posted on the IT CAN WAIT FOR 28 CHALLENGE website and noted their progress or shared their accomplishments on social media. Activity participation was monitored on a daily basis. Those who successfully completed the 28-day program had their citation dismissed by Justice Court Judge William “Bill” Kephart.
More Information
- Anne Carpenter, Captain
NVDPS - Highway Patrol
702-432-5003
acarpenter@dps.state.nv.us