Nevada No. 4 in U.S. for pedestrian fatalities

Wednesday, April 7, 1999 | 11:19 a.m.

Some call crossing Las Vegas' broad streets and avenues a "six-lane dash to death."

Nevada is No. 4 in the nation in pedestrian fatalities, and 75.6 percent of the fatalities occur in Clark County, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety.

From 1995 to 1997, 181 pedestrians died in Nevada, 142 of them in Clark County.

Southern Nevada streets are a hostile environment for pedestrians, Erin Breen, director of the Safe Community Partnership at UNLV, said.

"We have very wide, very straight arterials and so everybody goes faster," Breen said. "Engineers give motorists as much room as possible."

Only Washington D.C., New Mexico and Florida have worse pedestrian fatality records, said Mike Perondi of the office of Traffic Safety. Arizona is No. 5.

In 1997, Perondi said, Nevada had 3.52 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 people, compared with 4.54 in Washington, 3.82 in New Mexico, 3.60 in Florida and 3.27 in Arizona.

"In 1997, there were 59 pedestrian killed in the state, 45 in Clark County," he said.

The numbers may sound worse than they are, some officials point out, because the tourist population numbers are not factored into the equation.

"I hate to be alarmist. Las Vegas and Clark County have been working hard to improve their pedestrian situation," said Bruce MacKay, state education officer for bicycle and pedestrian safety.

Still, Mackay said, a lot of people are getting hurt and being killed.

According to the study of traffic from 1995 and 1997 released last week by the Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, pedestrian fatalities were the second leading type of traffic death in the state. Overturned vehicles were the leading cause.

Many factors contribute to Clark County's high pedestrian fatality rate, said Breen, who leads the Safe Community Partnership at UNLV, which educates the public about traffic safety. Among them are wide streets, drivers running red lights, failure by motorists to yield to pedestrians, inattention and alcohol.

"We see all of these problems, but we don't equate our own behavior with them," Breen said.

Ironically, she said, many injuries occur in a crosswalk.

"Cars making a right-hand turn on a red light look to the left before they turn, but not to the right," Breen said.

"There were 190 people injured in the cross walk when they were crossing with the light," she said. "Pedestrians don't have a lot of time to get across the street and so they tend to get a jump start. People are already starting to cross when the light changes."

The elderly are especially vulnerable at intersections, Mackay said.

"Nine percent of the population are elderly, and they are involved in much fewer (pedestrian) crashes than younger people. But one of every five pedestrians killed is a senior citizen because they are just not as resilient and are much more easily killed or injured," Mackay said.

He said 23.6 percent of the pedestrian-vehicle crashes are fatal for those 65 and over, while 17.7 percent are fatal for those 40 to 65.

A senior citizen caught in the middle of an intersection when the "don't walk" signal comes on often reacts "like a deer caught in a headlight. He doesn't know what to do. Whether to stop and go back, or proceed."

"The American Association for Retired Persons did a poll," on the pedestrian signals at crosswalks, Mackay said, "and 75 percent of the membership didn't know what it meant."

Then there' the problem of crossing a street 300 feet wide in the few seconds allotted. It's difficult for a young person to do, much less an elderly person, he said.

Breen has been turning her research to another vexing problem: midblock crashes between pedestrians and vehicles, which accounted for 119 of the 142 pedestrian fatalities in Clark County between 1995 and 1997.

"We've asked people who cross a street 200 feet out of a crosswalk why they did it," Breen said, "and they say they feel safer out of the crosswalk -- and rightfully so."

But Breen thinks her research may also show that bus stops are a contributing factor.

"We can't prove it, yet but we think there is a correlation between bus stops and midblock collisions," she said.

Drivers in cars caught behind buses at a bus stop get frustrated, she said. A pedestrian steps off the bus and makes a dash across the street and is hit.

"People who walk out of necessity is where we see most pedestrian injuries," she said. "There is a population who ride the bus, ride a bike or walk to get to work."

Maryland Parkway was the focus of one study -- a perfect location, said Breen, because there are broad streets, lots of traffic and low speed limits that nobody observes.

"We have a video of a woman trapped in the middle of a crosswalk. None of the cars would stop and let her cross," she said. "You can spend your life waiting for someone to let you cross."

Maryland Parkway also has a lot of driveways into businesses, which creates a dangerous situation for pedestrians.

"There are an inordinate amount of driveways along Maryland, sometimes two, three and four to a business," she said. "If you're walking or riding a bike down Maryland Parkway, every 50 feet there's a huge driveway. That makes it more difficult for the pedestrian."

Breen said many things can be done to decrease the pedestrian fatality rate in addition to the education her group is working on.

She suggested narrowing lanes on some roads. "It makes motorists reluctant to speed," she said.

Also, crosswalks that are better marked and safety islands in the middle of crosswalks would help.

Mackay says a pedestrian plan needs to be included in any street and highway development plan.

"We need to identify where and how people are getting hurt and look at the three 'E's' -- engineering, enforcement and education," he said.

Mackay said a big part of his time is spent teaching safety programs, especially in elementary schools.

Pedestrian safety is taught in kindergarten through second grade and bicycle safety is taught in grades 3-5.

"It has been shown that if a child is raised knowing and obeying the traffic laws, he will be a responsible pedestrian, bicyclist and driver. So many fatalities occur because traffic laws are not being obeyed," he said.

"There is an excellent set of pedestrian laws on the books. We could really cut the fatality injury rate if people would obey the law."