‘I’m tired of people dying’: Sheriff to testify in favor of red light cameras in Nevada

Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill has been a vocal supporter of installing red light traffic cameras throughout the valley. On Monday, he’ll bring that support to the Nevada Legislature, where he plans to testify in support of a bill that would allow for their installation.

Senate Bill 415 would allow traffic cameras to be installed in areas known to have a high rate of crashes and where traditional traffic enforcement methods have failed.

Under current Nevada law, the government is prohibited from using photographic, video or digital equipment to gather evidence to issue a traffic citation, unless it is a recording device worn by an officer or is installed within a law enforcement agency facility.

McMahill is backing SB 415 with hope that allowing such cameras will reduce the high number of traffic fatalities in the valley. But the effort to pass such a law has failed in previous legislative sessions, where opponents raised concerns over privacy and the company that installs the cameras standing to gain from each ticket issued.

“It’s not a popular thing for me to suggest and to back red light cameras,” McMahill said in a Wednesday interview. “I’ve heard it from the left, I’ve heard it from the right. I’ve heard every criticism about it. But I’m tired of people dying. I think it’s also my responsibility to support what I think is the right thing.”

High rate of traffic fatalities

The Metropolitan Police Department had 159 traffic-related fatalities in 2024, according to the department’s data. Forty traffic fatalities have occurred in 2025 so far. People have a higher chance of dying from a traffic fatality than from an act of violence, McMahill said.

“If you look at the numbers, we have a 1 October happen three times a year, and there’s nobody that’s p----- off about it,” he said, making a reference to the 60 people who died from injuries they suffered in the 2017 mass shooting.

Implementing traffic cameras has been a long and unsuccessful effort in the Nevada Legislature. Lawmakers killed similar bills in 2005, 2007, 2009 and again in 2019 with Senate Bill 43. That bill never made it out of committee, receiving opposition from legislators on both sides of the aisle.

McMahill said that he would not give up on the issue. He said he may have some revisions and new ideas for the bill, which he will determine when he reads the full text and amendments on Friday.

“We have the ability to craft legislation that we could do just about anything that we want with it,” McMahill said.

Tougher on DUIs

McMahill also advocated for stricter penalties for DUIs, which he called a “massive” contributor to fatalities.

“Our permissive environment of drinking and driving and not being held accountable in the court system has gone on for far too long,” McMahill said.

He said that the first time and second time people get a DUI there is almost no penalty, and that people are supposed to get a felony upon the third DUI, but that was a “rarity.”

“You get to a third time and then all of a sudden you kill somebody because you decide to get behind the wheel of a car again, I think you should face a murder charge. Because it’s a choice,” McMahill said.

Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X and @katiefutterman.bsky.social.