Vehicle crash kills 2, injures 1 in Henderson

Published Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009 | 7:49 a.m.

Updated Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009 | 5:21 p.m.

Fatal crash

UPDATED STORY: Highway Patrol still investigating double fatal crash

The Nevada Highway Patrol is investigating a crash that killed two and injured a third person shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday in Henderson.

One person died at the scene of the crash at Lake Mead Parkway and Fiesta Henderson Boulevard, the other died en route to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center's Trauma Center, the highway patrol said.

The Clark County Coroner's Office identified 26-year-old Jared Matthew Wilson as one of the people who died in the crash. The other person was not identified.

Wilson died from multiple blunt force trauma injuries and the crash was ruled an accident, the coroner's office said.

Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Honea said he believed that Wilson was the passenger in a Toyota two-wheel-drive pickup truck that was struck on the passenger's side by the Jeep. Wilson was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Wilson apparently wasn't wearing a seatbelt, Honea said.

The driver of the pickup truck has not been identified, but he was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, Honea said.

The Jeep driver, who has not been identified, was arrested by highway patrol troopers and charged with felony driving under the influence, Honea said. The man was booked into the Clark County Detention Center after it appears he ran a red light, striking the pickup truck, authorities said said. The driver was treated for minor injuries before being booked into jail.

Discussion: 11 comments so far…

By ArmstrongC4

2/19/09 at 9:35 a.m.

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I'm surprised there aren't more crashes at this location - it's a terrible exit from 95 and 215. And if you want to get to the Fiesta from 215 - you have to cross over 2 lanes of the exit from 95 - and there are blind spots where you can't always seen the car coming. Very scary indeed -
By jfnance32

2/19/09 at 10:59 a.m.

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I agree it is very tricky exit area.

Heading east on 215...

There are 4 lanes heading.... Left to right ....lane 1, lane 2, lane 3, lane 4

If you want to go the Fiesta you should be in the far left lane to be totally safe.

If you want to go on South 95 then you need to be in the far right lane to be totally safe.

If you want to go on North 95 then you need to be in left lane 2. In you are in lane 3 then you have about 3 seconds to get to lane 2. It is a very dangerous section. If you in lane 2 then you need to keep your eyes to the cars to the right of you in lane 3. You should give them plenty of room if they make a dash to get into your lane to make the exit.

Like the the first post, you also need to be aware of drivers in lane 3 and 4 trying to make a big dash to lane 2 to make the Fiesta exit.

It is like the Spaghetti Bowl but not as confusing but much more dangerous. There is far less time to react in this Spaghetti, JR.

This state must have the worst engineers ever.

I have lived in 5 states. None come close to the poor engineering here.
By boftx

2/19/09 at 11:09 a.m.

Suggest removal

Nance, you've never lived in Austin, then. They have interchanges that make ours look like safety award winners.
By henderson1

2/19/09 at 12:53 p.m.

Suggest removal

Its Lake Mead Parkway, not Blvd!!
By gmag39

2/19/09 at 2:37 p.m.

Suggest removal

Due to the nature of how this valley was slapped together over time, and apparently with not a lot of forthought, there are SEVERAL death-trap highway/freeway ramps and arterial intersections around here.
Just add speed, liquor & cell phones and STIR. You've got a killer coctail.
By getalife

2/19/09 at 5:02 p.m.

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gmag39, so true, so true.
By KnowItAll

2/20/09 at 11:55 a.m.

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I don't care how the lanes are set up, the dude was drunk! Jared Wilson is my cousin and he was wearing s seat belt. Now with the death of him you'r city should consider re-doing this area because this is just one of MANY deaths to occur at this location. How many people have to die here for the city to consider fixing this problem?
By i_are_an_engineer

2/20/09 at 6:07 p.m.

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I'm guessing that none of you 'citizen' engineers want to take a little bit of time to understand what goes into planning and designing our roadways. If you did, instead of firing off these lame, poorly written posts, you'd see that Vegas engineers know that the hell they're doing.
By smittyvegas

2/21/09 at 6:58 a.m.

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Mr. Engineer - This exit and several others are prime examples of poor planning in my opinion. Can you explain to me if your going north on the 93/95 and wanting to go West on the 215 that there are 2 lanes for this and midway thru the curve it goes down to 1. The idiot drivers in this community never merge until the last minute. I would guess several of the rubber marks on the curves are made by these morons that wait til the last minute to merge. Wouldn't it be better to either have 1 lane turning off or make it 2 lanes until the curve completes? Same thing happens in these construction zones when it says - right lane ends - and people wait til the last minute to merge. That slows down traffic so much because people wait til the last moment. I do agree that designing roads is challenging work - but this one instance - because of our stupid drivers - doesn't make sense to me.
By i_are_an_engineer

2/21/09 at 2:02 p.m.

Suggest removal

Good questions.

Regarding the number of lanes, the single-lane north-to-west ramp has enough capacity to meet the existing and forecast travel demand. Adding another lane would drastically increase the cost of the interchange, and there isn't any room to have the two lanes join the westbound lanes when the ramp ends (and join up with the south to west ramp), and get everyone sorted out before the Gibson off-ramp!

We run the two lanes up to the point where the road transitions from dirt to structure, and then we drop the extra lane with the appropriate taper ratio and advanced signing and striping. Regardless of where we drop a lane, there will always be the idiots who wait for the last minute!

Also, we want as many lanes leaving the 93/95 freeway mainline as possible to go onto the 215. If there was only one lane leaving 93/95, the stopped traffic would shift onto the freeway mainline where the speed differentials would be disasterous. For an example of where this is a problem, drive a little further west on I-215 to the Airport Connector off-ramp.

Same idea with construction lane drops. People will naturally wait until the last minute--just give them the finger and don't let them in!!

The guidelines and standards that we follow can be found in the HCM, the MUTCD, the AASHTO Greenbook, and others (google them to see what the acronyms mean).
By ItsCalledKarma

2/23/09 at 10:34 p.m.

Suggest removal

What no one is being told is that Jared Wilson was on the run from the cops. He was wanted for attempted murder/domestic abuse in california...