Where Driving the Wrong Way Ain’t a Crime

A Peculiar Notion

Common sense is a commodity in short supply, and nowhere is that more evident than in the peculiar case of Nevada’s wrong-way drivers. One would reckon that barrelling down the highway against traffic ought to be frowned upon by the law—perhaps even earn a feller a visit to the local hoosegow. But no, dear reader, in the fine state of Nevada, a gentleman can take it upon himself to go careening headlong into oncoming traffic, and the worst he might face is a fine, assuming he survives the encounter.

It wasn’t always this way, but in their boundless wisdom, the legislators of 2021, in the name of what they called Social Justice, saw fit to downgrade wrong-way driving from a crime to a mere civil infraction—something akin to jaywalking, only with considerably more carnage. The reasoning, they claimed, was to keep people out of the criminal justice system, though it appears no one gave much thought to the people who would soon be out of the justice system entirely—namely, the victims.

Now, after a rash of deadly crashes, including the heartbreaking case of little Jaya Brooks, who lost her life in December at the hands of a wrong-way driver, lawmakers are scrambling to undo their prior blunder. Enter Assembly Bill 111, introduced by Republican Assemblymember Brian Hibbetts, who seems to have made the shocking discovery that driving the wrong way at high speed ought to be, at the very least, a misdemeanor crime.

“Every time I mention it, I get the wide-eyed, deer in the headlights look like, ‘Oh my God. What do you mean it’s not a crime?’ Well, it’s a civil matter,” Hibbetts explained, as though describing some ludicrous fiction instead of the actual state of Nevada law.

His bill, aptly named Jaya’s Law, seeks to restore wrong-way driving to its rightful place among punishable offenses—something that, to any reasonable person, ought not to have needed fixing in the first place.

Jaya’s father, Jan Brooks, testified before the Assembly Judiciary Committee, his words a testament to the kind of grief no parent should endure.

“I can’t express how much pain I walk around with that will never go away,” he said. “Of course, this bill won’t bring my daughter back, but if we can save others from going through this, that’s all I care about.”

Hibbetts laid out the grim numbers for lawmakers–731 wrong-way driver reports in 2024 by the Nevada Highway Patrol, with 634 in Las Vegas alone last year. No one spoke against the bill during the hearing. Perhaps even the staunchest defenders of the 2021 reforms knew better than to stand in front of this speeding carriage.

The committee has not yet voted on Jaya’s Law, but one would hope they do so with greater prudence than their predecessors. For if a man may drive full tilt against traffic and face nothing more than a fine, then we are no longer governed by reason but by folly—a condition too common in the affairs of men.