Protect Wyoming Kids is a Wyoming nonprofit working to keep children safe on our roads, in our schools, and in our towns. We're starting with the laws that are supposed to protect them.
Our goal is simple. Protect every child in Wyoming. We're doing it by picking one clear fix, getting it passed, and moving on to the next.
When someone drives drunk with a child in the car, the consequence should be real from the very first time.
See the law →Making sure more Wyoming kids are buckled in, every ride, every road.
What's coming →Every win makes the next one easier. Tell us what you're seeing in your county and help us decide what comes after.
Share an idea →Wyoming already sets a jail minimum for a second DUI. A first DUI with a child in the car has none, and kids are the ones riding along.
Our amendment to W.S. 31-5-233(m) sets a mandatory seven day jail sentence and a $500 to $750 fine for a first DUI with a child passenger, and thirty days with a $2,000 to $5,000 fine for a repeat offense. The jail time has to be served before probation can start. It also requires an ignition interlock after every conviction and protects every passenger under 18, not just under 16.
We built it with prosecutors in Sublette and Lincoln Counties and walked it through with defense counsel. It uses language that's already in Wyoming law today.
Kids under nine in Wyoming have to ride in a car seat or booster. For everyone else, the seat belt law is secondary, which means an officer can't pull a car over just because someone isn't buckled.
Out here, kids ride long miles on two lane highways and gravel roads. We're looking closely at where they're falling through the gaps and what would actually keep more of them buckled in. Once the DUI law is moving, this is where we're headed.
Want to help shape this? Get in touch →
Laws matter, but so does what happens on a Tuesday morning in Pinedale. Here's what we're doing on the ground this year.
Teaching students about drunk and distracted driving across Sublette County, starting at Pinedale Middle School, with MADD and ThinkFirst Wyoming.
Crossing flags that help drivers see students and stop for them.
Resources and training that help local law enforcement spot children in the car during impaired driving stops.
Our kids can't speak up for themselves in a courtroom or at the capitol. So we do it for them.
We're a small, all volunteer team in Pinedale with one job: make Wyoming a safer place to be a kid. If that matters to you, there's a place for you here.