County traffic safety office using improved agency relationships to tackle road issues

Two years into its existence, the Clark County Office of Traffic Safety has been building relationships with local law enforcement, first responders and other jurisdictions to make local roadways safer.

The hope was to streamline resources to pinpoint wheresafety issues are occurring and to identify potentialsolutions more quickly than it took before the office was created.

Andrew Bennett, hired in 2022 as director of the office, after serving as the public information officer for the Nevada Department of Public Safety’s Zero fatalities program, recently highlighted some of the progress made on projects now underway.

This year the office implemented a data study agreement with the Metropolitan Police Department to ensure all county entities from the fire department, coroner’s office and public works have access to crash data that can allow them to make informed decisions more quickly. Previously, when the county requested crash data from Metro it could take weeks, or months, to receive it, Bennett said.

“Having real-time access to crash data is helping us with intersection studies, with speed studies and it’s helping us potentially produce engineering results quicker,” Bennett said.

The office, created in 2022, also is working with Metro on the Spring Mountain Road corridor and looking at where adding “complete streets” aspects could work.

Complete streets are designed to provide a safe environment for all road users. Elements included in complete streets include dedicated bike lanes, wider sidewalks, upgraded lighting, pavement markings and ADA-compliant driveways and walkways.

More crossing guards

Another major project led by the county Office of Traffic Safety added crossing guards to middle schools in unincorporated Clark County. Officials held various meetings, which included representatives from the cities of Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas; Metro; the Clark County School District; and CCSD Police, as they developed that plan.

The county was first to announce it was increasing the annual crossing guard budget to be able to add guards at middle schools. As the 2024-25 CCSD school year began, the cities of Henderson and North Las Vegas followed suit. The city of Las Vegas has yet to add guards at middle schools, but it is looking at possibly doing so.

“We’re continuing to track the evaluation and implementation of that program,” Bennett said. “We’re hopeful at winter break that will be an appropriate time to take a step back and look at how the first quarter went with middle school crossing guards being deployed within unincorporated Clark County.”

The traffic safety office also worked to help pass legislation to allow law enforcement to tow a vehicle in which a driver is cited for reckless driving. The office also helped create ordinances that govern mobile billboards on county roads and the use of delivery robots within county limits.

Limiting flashing yellow lights

Additionally, the traffic safety office, working with the Regional Transportation Commission’s FAST division, began limiting flashing yellow lights within Clark County.

All traffic signals on roads with speed limits of 45 mph or higher had flashing yellow lights suppressed during peak hours of the day. The initiative also aimed to create safer commutes for pedestrians in such areas, as motorists facing flashing yellow lights sometimes fail to look for pedestrians before they begin to make their turn through an intersection.

With pedestrian safety at the forefront, the office is also working with law enforcement to identify the top 10 most-dangerous areas for pedestrians. Once those are determined, the office will look at ways to increase safety for pedestrians in those areas.

The county is also reviewing compliance with their impaired-driving prevention plan that went into effect when cannabis consumption lounges were allowed to open.

The plan requires all cannabis consumption lounges to have a DUI prevention plan in place, which details how to spot someone who overconsumed and encourages ride-booking services and potential perks for use of designated drivers.

Two open-consumption lounges operate in unincorporated Clark County, and the Office of Traffic Safety will review their policies once they hit the one-year mark of the first such establishment opening, to see if they need to make any updates.

“We want to take a step back and look at those policy recommendations and see if there’s a need for any improvements or tweaks,” Bennett said, “(while having) conversations with the (cannabis) industry, to see if we can do anything to continue with the safety, when it comes to driving, with the cannabis consumption lounges.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.