Metro Police focus on traffic enforcement in work zones

By Kyle B. Hansen

Friday, Aug. 19, 2011 | 1:55 a.m.

The men and woman working on the road where you’re driving have their lives on the line, and they want you to drive carefully.

Areas under construction are dangerous for the people working and for motorists and passengers, so the National Utilities Contractors Association of Las Vegas is joining with Metro Police to better enforce traffic laws in roadway work zones.

Participating contractors will notify Metro’s traffic bureau of upcoming work zones, so officers can send extra patrols to the area if available.

Previously, officers only knew about work zones when they drove through them, Lt. Richard Fletcher said.

Officers won’t always be patrolling work zones, but they will more often with the new program, Fletcher said.

The notifications also help Metro know which roads to avoid when they are responding to emergency calls, Fletcher said.

In a pilot program, officers issued more than 50 tickets in just a few hours in one Decatur Boulevard work zone, Fletcher said. “It didn’t take very long,” he said.

In 2009, there were 667 fatalities and more than 41,000 injuries from accidents in work zones, said Tom Hollis, president of the association chapter. In Nevada, there were seven fatalities and 243 injuries.

Last year, there were 210 work zone accidents in Metro’s jurisdiction. So far this year, there have been 109, Fletcher said.

There are an average of 122 work zones daily in the Las Vegas Valley, Fletcher said.

The traffic bureau wants to make the city safer, and officers have a special understanding of the dangers of working in the streets, Fletcher said.

“We know what it’s like to be out on the side of the road doing work when people are speeding by,” he said.

The utility contractors are also working with the American Traffic Safety Services Association to bring the National Work Zone Memorial Wall to Las Vegas.

The wall lists the names of people who have died in work-zone accidents.

The wall will be on display between Aug. 26 and Sept. 8, but the locations haven’t been announced yet.