E-rides remain major safety concern in crashes involving Clark County students
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Clark County leaders continue to tackle the crisis of students getting hit by cars going to and from local schools.
Last year, more than 420 students were hit. Four died in those accidents.
County, city, law enforcement and traffic safety leaders spent a year to come up with a strategic plan to bring those numbers down, because even one child getting hit is too many.
While we're seeing statistics that are slightly up already this year, county leaders say they have both long- and short-term solutions to make sure every student is safe moving forward.
And they say it's going to take the community's help and involvement.
Parents say traffic safety is top of mind as they see dangerous situations every day when they're dropping off and picking up their children.
"There's often a lot of speeding. I feel like that's a really big issue. I also feel like there isn't a lot of crossing guards sometimes at some places where there should be crossing guards," said parent Diana Palacios.
Since the start of the school year in August, 64 students were hit going to and from Clark County schools.
That's in comparison to 59 during the same time last year.
According to Clark County School District Police statistics, a majority of the time, the drivers were at fault.
"We need people to know where those school zones are. We're asking people to slow down for about 180 hours out of the year. Make sure that you're paying attention, looking out for the young ones," said Andrew Bennett, director of the Clark County Department of Traffic Safety.
Bennett is one of the main people behind 75 recommendations to address student traffic safety.
Over the last year, Clark County teamed up with local jurisdictions, law enforcement and pedestrian safety advocates as part of the School Traffic Safety Working Group to come up with a plan.
"How can you not consider that a crisis, especially when we know that this is a man made problem and there are man made solutions that just take jurisdictions, the state, policing agencies and all of our partners coming forward and committing ourselves to fixing the problem," said Clark County Commission Chairman Michael Naft.
Some of the immediate steps are already in place, including improved infrastructure.
"We went up significantly in the number of trees, number of signs, number of crosswalks that were installed getting ready for this school year," said Bennett.
There's also a new law for active school zones.
"The first traffic safety legislation that's ever been approved during a special session of the Nevada legislature," said Naft. "It had huge impacts over giving local government authority over school zone flashers and the times that they can run."
The law, which went into effect July 1, also doubles the fines for violations as well as doubling penalties.
"It's expensive right now so you I would think like hey let me just slow down me just stop let me just not do anything dumb so I don't get a crazy ticket for you know just doing something that we should be just doing to be safe for the kids and for yourselves," said Palacios.
Not only is increased legislation part of the goal, so is enforcement.
The county reports that CCSD Police car stops were up nearly 39% for the first two weeks of school, and citations also increased about 34%.
Bennett says one of the greater challenges has been when it comes to student traffic safety has been electric rides.
CCSD Police statistics show that of the students hit by cars this year, 34 were on electric scooters and eight were on electric bikes, making up well over half of the incidents.
"That technology wasn't readily available and cheaply available like it is today. We need to, I've said it so many times in this interview already, of we need to ensure that people know the rules of the road," said Bennett.
The Traffic Safety Working Group is recommending an update to state law.
"In the plan it called for a minimum age of riders on these devices. The ability to demonstrate the rules of the road. Utah passed a bill this year that requires if you're getting on one of these devices you have to demonstrate the ability to know the rules of the road," said Bennett.
When it comes to addressing state laws for electric rides, they are also looking for a mandatory helmet law, which some jurisdictions like Clark County already have in place.
They're also putting emphasis on parents who purchase these rides for their children, making sure they know what the safety requirements and laws are.
It's a long list of recommendations that includes updating roadways in front of schools, for example, adding a crosswalk in front of a school that needs it.
This isn't something that can be done immediately, and there are nearly 500 schools across the county altogether.
Right now, the county is 30 days into a five- to 10-year plan.
Clark County leaders say they are also in the process of coming up with different educational materials to provide to students and families, including information on school zones, e-devices and other traffic safety laws.
There have already been social media campaigns at local schools as well, including PSAs made in partnership with the Las Vegas Raiders.
When it comes to who is involved in these accidents, high school students make up more than half of the accidents, followed by middle school students and then elementary school students.