Letter: No one around to enforce the traffic laws

Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2002 | 9:04 a.m.

After taking a couple of days to think about this serious problem that Las Vegas has, I wonder what it will take to have the traffic laws that are in place enforced.

On the morning of Aug. 12, I was returning to my home in Summerlin from a trip to the airport. At approximately 6 a.m. I was taking the off-ramp onto Far Hills from the Interstate 215 bypass (yes, the same intersection where recently Sandra Thompson was so sadly killed). The light had turned red. I was stopped, looked to my left and was proceeding to make the right turn. Fortunately there was little traffic.

A large white SUV traveling north at a high rate of speed ignored the red light and sped through the intersection. This car was traveling so fast that it could not have stopped if some unfortunate soul, who had a green light, would have entered the intersection. I travel a lot around the valley and rarely, if ever, see any traffic enforcement.

I did not see one police car between Summerlin, the airport, and the return trip home. I would estimate that the average speed on the 55 mph section of the beltway that particular morning was 70 mph and on the 45 mph section at least 60 mph.

Because a large number of our citizens choose not to obey the laws, I fear that a lot more people will suffer. What a waste of life. How many more needless killings will there be before the rules are enforced?

DAVE TRUMPER