Columnist Susan Snyder: Counties see crash courses

Monday, Feb. 3, 2003 | 8:22 a.m.

Less than a month after Tony DeMeo was elected Nye County sheriff, the other guy's campaign rhetoric smacked him between the eyes.

At a December meeting for Nevada sheriffs and police chiefs, DeMeo learned that the county for which he had just been named the top public safety official saw a 240-percent increase in the number of traffic fatalities last year -- not the decrease extolled during 2002 campaign speeches.

In 2002, 17 people died in Nye County crashes, an increase from five the previous year.

"I was shocked," DeMeo said from his Tonopah office Thursday. "I didn't realize we'd had that many."

Nye County isn't alone. At an aggressive driving seminar in Las Vegas last week, John Johansen of the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety said Lincoln, Lyon and Churchill counties also saw significant traffic death increases in 2002.

Churchill's death toll rose from 10 to 16, and Lincoln County saw 10 deaths, which is three more than recorded in 2001. In Lyon County, 22 people died in wrecks compared to five in 2001.

State traffic safety officials haven't finished comparing the crashes, so it's hard to say why so many more people died in those areas, Johansen said.

But one connection is pretty obvious. Each of the four counties abut one of Nevada's two metropolitan areas -- Washoe or Clark counties.

And given the kind of growth Nevada has experienced in recent years, it might simply be a matter of more people commuting from rural dream homes to jobs in the city.

"It could be more people or it could be more traffic on the road," Johansen said. "It is very difficult to determine. That's what drives us nuts."

Johansen drives 65 miles each way from his Churchill County home to his job in Carson City. He uses State Road 50, one of the two-lane state roads that runs across Nevada.

As more of us move to rural areas to escape the city's din, daily drives on these skinny, two-lane swaths of pavement are becoming a reality. The work isn't moving. We are.

"You can look at the roads in and out of Pahrump, and all you see at night is a stream of lights coming into town. In the morning, all you see is a stream of cars going out," DeMeo said. "We don't have a good job base here. Most of the jobs are still in Las Vegas."

With the opening Nevada Legislature, more Nevadans will be making that long, lonely trek to Carson City on U.S. 95, which narrows to two lanes north of the Las Vegas Valley.

Residents who have made that drive or the one along U.S. 93 to Ely or the one along State Route 160 to Pahrump know that once you get beyond the glow of Las Vegas, there ain't much out there.

It can get pretty monotonous and pretty boring pretty fast, Johansen said.

Bored drivers can become sleepy drivers, DeMeo said. And sleepy drivers might as well be intoxicated.

"Driving while tired is as bad as being drunk. No one is recognizing that as being a real issue," the sheriff said. "We get calls about cars weaving all over the road. We pull them over, and they're just tired."

Welcome to the job, Sheriff. Tired yet?