9.1.4.020 Child Traffic Offenders; Procedures: Dispositions

(a) Violations of the Traffic Code shall be handled in the following manner:

(1) A child who violates the Traffic Rules and Regulations shall be adjudicated a "Child Traffic Offender."

(2) When a child is alleged to have violated the Traffic Rules and Regulations, the Officer making the charge shall file a signed copy of the notice to appear with the Children's Court, and the notice to appear has the effect of a petition and gives the Children's Court jurisdiction. Any person having knowledge of a child who violates the Traffic rule or regulations may petition the Children's Court. Whenever a notice to appear or petition is filed alleging that a child is a traffic violator, the Court shall summon and notify the persons required to be notified or to be summoned.

(3) Before making a disposition of any child found to be a highway offender, the Court may obtain from the Department of Motor Vehicles of the State of New Mexico or other state issuing the driver's license or other agency information of any previous highway violation by this child.

(4) If,, after a hearing, the Court finds that the welfare of a child highway traffic offender or the public safety would be better served under the laws controlling adult traffic offenders, the Children's Court may transfer the case to the San Ildefonso Tribal Court which shall proceed with the case as if the jurisdiction of the Children's Court had never attached.

(5) If the Children's Court finds that the child is a child highway offender, it may make any one or more of the following dispositions of the case:

(A) Reprimand the child and counsel with the child and his parents; or

(B) Continue the case for a reasonable period under such conditions governing the child's use and operation of any motor propelled vehicles as the Court may set; or

(D) Suspend the child's drivers license and recommend to the issuing agency suspension or revocation of the child's drivers license; or

(E) If the child is found to have committed three (3) moving highway traffic violations or to have contributed to a highway accident involving death, injury or physical damage in excess of $100.00, the Court may suspend the child's drivers license and recommend to the issuing agency or to the licensing authority of the state, the suspension or revocation or cancellation of the child's drivers license until he reaches the age of eighteen (18) years. The Court may, for good cause, restore the child's drivers license or recommend to the issuing agency or to the licensing authority of the state that the child's driver's license be restored to him; or

(F) Place the child under the supervision of the authorized Youth or Probation Officer in his own home under conditions prescribed by the Court including reasonable rules relating to his operation and use of motor propelled vehicles.

(6) The Children's Court records of Child Traffic Offenders shall be kept separate from other records of the Court.