Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Sun editorial:

Human lives can be saved if we all take responsibility for traffic safety

Over 13 days in November, 20 people in Clark County were killed in an astonishing string of traffic collisions.

The Sun’s Jackie Valley examined the 18 crashes earlier this month to determine what happened. She found that the deaths occurred at all times of day throughout Clark County.

The deaths included drivers, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists and a worker flagging traffic in a construction zone. The ages of those killed ranged from 2 to 75.

A highway patrol trooper called the series of fatal crashes something of an “epidemic.” Valerie Evans, an assistant highway safety coordinator for the state Office of Traffic Safety, said, “There are a couple 24-hour periods where it’s like, ‘Holy crap — what are people doing?’ ”

The reason for the string of crashes is elusive, as Valley explained:

“Law enforcement officials can’t cite a definitive reason but offer several possibilities: It gets darker earlier, meaning longer periods of reduced visibility; cooler weather makes people more inclined to walk outside; winter clothing tends to be darker; more vehicles are on the road as people scramble to prepare for the holidays; the holidays can be a distracting time.”

In the string of crashes, there were suspected drunken or drugged drivers involved in several incidents. In other crashes, a driver just didn’t seem to see someone.

There are probably a million reasons collisions can happen; on the roadways, it literally can be a game of inches. What shouldn’t be missed is this: In just a stretch of two weeks, there were 20 human lives ended on Las Vegas roadways.

Unfortunately, people often seem numb to news of traffic fatalities because there are so many of them. Through Dec. 1, there were 271 traffic fatalities in Nevada. That’s roughly five deaths a week.

And that doesn’t include the injuries that result from collisions. In Nevada, there are more than 1,000 people each year seriously injured in traffic accidents, or roughly 20 a week.

This should be a wake-up call for everyone who uses the roads. It can be downright dangerous out there. The question is how we curb the problem.

There is no better time to discuss this issue than now, in the midst of the holidays, when there are still parties to attend, places to go and people to see. Unfortunately, at this time of year, people’s attention can be on anything but the roads they’re using.

Over the past decade, Nevada has made some significant strides in reducing the danger on the roads, but there is still much more to do. People need to take a sober look at the human toll of roadway dangers and then work together to prevent tragedies.

Although, as Valley noted, law enforcement officials found no single reason for the rash of crashes, what is clear is this traffic safety depends on all of us. The bottom line is this: Human lives could have been saved had someone used better judgment, eliminated a few distractions, been in less of a rush, called a cab or been a little more careful.

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