Traffic safety group talks DUIs, hit-and-runs, pedestrian deaths

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Steve Marcus

Metro Police investigate a fatal auto-pedestrian accident on Spring Mountain Road between Decatur Boulevard and Lindell Road Wednesday, March 26, 2014.

Tue, Jan 20, 2015 (9 p.m.)

Tackling topics like hit-and-run wrecks, pedestrian deaths and DUI arrests, a group of traffic safety experts gathered Tuesday to brainstorm ideas to make Las Vegas roads safer.

“Traffic affects people more than any other thing,” Metro Sheriff Joe Lombardo told the group of about 30 police personnel and community members who gathered for the meeting at Metro’s downtown headquarters. He urged them to offer suggestions because “a key component to making sure we are being effective is through community engagement.”

The Southern Nevada Traffic Safety Committee, a loosely formed coalition of law enforcement officials, community leaders and civil engineers, has been meeting four times a year since 2012 to come up with ways to cut down on roadway accidents.

Here’s what they came up with today:

Nevada Sen. Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, told the group he plans to introduce a bill that toughens penalties for drivers who leave a crash site.

Manendo, whose backers include the Clark County District Attorney’s Office and the local advocacy group Stop DUI, wants offenders to face two to 20 years behind bars without the chance of probation.

Currently, penalties for leaving the scene of a car accident in Nevada that causes only property damage can be as light as a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to six months in jail.

Manendo says he hopes the new law would discourage drivers who flee because they’re intoxicated and want to avoid stiffer DUI penalties.

“You don’t go a week without reading about someone in the news who fled the scene of a crash,” said Sandy Heverly, the executive director of Stop DUI. “It’s heinous.”

Metro’s DUI arrests were down 21 percent last year compared with 2013. The department also reported a 38 percent drop in DUI-related fatalities.

Community members want more visible signs at bus stops reminding people to use crosswalks and look out for vehicles.

Sherri Bush, whose 25-year-old son James Spagnoli Jr., died two years ago while jaywalking in the valley’s west side, said she wants officials to do more to emphasize road safety for pedestrians.

“Maybe we can put something up that’s a little bit more graphic that will show people that this danger is real,” Bush said.

Bush and her sister, Jeanette Macias, said they want to see signs either on buses themselves or at bus stops warning about the perils of taking shortcuts around designated walkways.

The coalition hopes Metro’s education efforts will lead to fewer deaths, especially those that can be easily avoided by, say, wearing a seatbelt or using a crosswalk.

While overall fatalities were down 11 percent last year, 12 percent more people who died in vehicle wrecks were not wearing their seatbelts compared with 2013. Pedestrian deaths, conversely, were down 28 percent.

Lt. David Jacoby said the key to cutting down fatalities is more safety education, especially as law enforcement agencies struggle to do more enforcement with fewer resources.

Metro organizes about six events each year in which officers hand out leaflets to pedestrians in the city’s walkable spots, like Fremont Street and the Town Square shopping center. Its traffic division also holds traffic safety fairs and regularly teams up with schools and businesses to teach the public road rules and guidelines.

“We just have to get the message out there: Drive safe, buckle up and obey street signs,” Lt. David Jacoby told a pack of news crews at Tuesday’s event.

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