Red ribbons annual reminder against drinking and driving

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2004 | 9:02 a.m.

Kyle Canyon Road, a curvy, 22-mile route leading up to snow-capped Mount Charleston area, can be dangerous even in the best of conditions, but anti-drunken driving officials say the danger becomes greater during the holiday season.

"When you start combining alcohol with ice and snow you really have a dangerous combination," Sandy Heverly, founder and executive director of Stop DUI, said.

To try to thwart drunken driving crashes along the road, once considered the most dangerous in Clark County, red ribbons have been festooned on snow poles at one-mile increments along the road, also known as State Route 157. The hope is that the ribbons will remind motorists to drive sober.

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., joined Heverly, Metro Police, Nevada Highway Patrol, U.S. Forest Service and other officials for a ceremony dedicating Kyle Canyon Road as "Red Ribbon Road."

The ribbons have been placed along there every year since 1987, when there were a rash of drunken driving fatalities along the road.

"Now it's one of the safest roadways in the state, and that's due to increased enforcement and awareness," Heverly said. Since the red ribbon campaign began, there have been three alcohol-related fatalities on the road during the holiday season.

The Nevada Highway Patrol officials said Monday that troopers will be conducting saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints throughout the state to combat drunk and impaired driving during the holiday season, beginning this weekend and lasting through New Year's Day.

"There will be no warnings," Nevada Highway Patrol Col. Dave Hosmer said, adding that drivers who get caught will be "spending money on bail and towing fees instead of on holiday gifts."

After four years of climbing numbers of DUI-related deaths across the United States, the rate dropped by almost 3 percent in 2003, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But in Nevada in 2003, 182 people died in alcohol-related crashes on state highways -- an increase from 171 in 2002.