Letter: Visitors offer traffic safety recommendations

Thursday, April 16, 1998 | 10:59 a.m.

It was a lot better than previous short and hurried visits. Now we had time to visit "inside" those great palaces of entertainment, which means that we saw a lot more than just the casino areas. The shops, eateries, shows and headliners kept our week full and fun.

Having walked the length of the Strip several times, I have a comment on getting across the intersections on the walk light. A friend of ours said to count to 17; the number of vehicles that come through the intersection after the light says to walk. We thought it was a joke, but it wasn't. Especially when one sees a taxi at the intersection or when crossing the entrance to a hotel-casino.

Do they have any notion of what a vehicle can do to a soft object that it happens to encounter? And the mess it leaves behind? Do the police ever enforce the traffic lights for the pedestrians as well?

If the deal with Northwest Airlines succeeds, that will almost certainly mean more pedestrians as well as total tourists. I think that a crash course (no pun intended) for intersections, right on red, and what red means, should be implemented immediately.

Perhaps they might also consider a total bus lane only, except at intersections for right turns. That way, the 301 and the trolley can navigate more easily through traffic, and vice versa.

W. and E. Simpson Bothell, Wash.