Editorial: Warning lights on stop signs have potential

Monday, Nov. 22, 2004 | 9:06 a.m.

A tragedy that happened Sept. 23 at Desert Inn Road and Hualapai Way prompted the Clark County Public Works Department this month to install flashing lights atop the intersection's stop signs. A 7-year-old girl, a passenger in a car driven by her mother, was killed when the driver of an SUV failed to stop and struck the car. The intersection had been of concern to the neighborhood for some time and many of its residents had asked for a stop light.

Unfortunately, installing a stop light requires many lengthy steps, including a traffic study, a design phase, applying for the funding (about $250,000 a light), a bidding process for the work, providing power to the light and coordinating with the Regional Transportation Commission and local and state governments. Traffic engineers say it's necessarily a tedious process because a traffic light in the wrong place can actually cause accidents. Analysis is also required because traffic lights are not automatically safer than stop signs, they say. This point was proven last month when two people were killed at Hualapai Way and Sahara Avenue when the car they were riding in was struck by a car whose driver did not stop at a red light.

In response to tragedies such as the one Sept. 23, local traffic engineers are working on ways to speed installations at intersections where a light is obviously needed. They are also experimenting with flashing warning lights, which appear to be highly effective. Before and after the warning lights were installed at Desert Inn and Hualapai, the county Public Works Department set up cameras to record passing traffic, which amounts to more than 23,000 cars a day.

Before the warning lights, 204 drivers blew through the stops signs and another 2,312 drivers rolled through the intersection without stopping. After the warning lights, only seven drivers blew the stop signs and only 255 drivers rolled through. It's possible that once drivers become accustomed to the warning lights, some of them may again allow their attention to wane. But the study was nevertheless impressive.

In our view, wherever a light is warranted but cannot be installed for months, the warning lights are an excellent stopgap measure. The cost of outfitting an intersection with the solar-powered warning lights would be about $10,000. They take about an hour to install. With this stopgap measure, the county has found a way to quickly and inexpensively ease the concerns of neighborhoods that plead for stoplights. As the Las Vegas Valley is full of dangerous intersections, we hope to see these warning lights put to greater use.