A Metro Police crime scene analyst looks over a Toyota RAV4 at the scene of a fatal crash on South Rainbow Boulevard between Tropicana Avenue and Flamingo Road Tuesday, Nov. 02, 2021. The driver of a Chevrolet Corvette, identified as Henry Ruggs III, a wide receiver for the Las Vegas Raiders, will be charged with DUI resulting in death, police said.
Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021 | 2 a.m.
View more of the Sun's opinion section
The horrific car crash that resulted in the death of 23-year-old Tina Tintor of Las Vegas and the arrest of former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III brought public attention to a problem that had been a growing concern among local traffic safety officials for some time — excessive speeding.
Officials reported that Ruggs was driving 156 mph moments before his Corvette slammed into Tintor’s SUV on a residential street with a speed limit of 45 mph.
It was shocking to learn how fast Ruggs was traveling. But worse yet came information in the aftermath of the accident that citations for drivers going triple-digit speeds have risen sharply in the past couple of years in Nevada. In 2020, more than 4,400 drivers were cited for driving at 100 mph or more, nearly 900 more than in 2019, and officials say they expect the number will increase again this year.
And most of these violations are occurring in Las Vegas.
There seems to be a combination of reasons for this — more on those later — but obviously this is a problem that our community must confront aggressively.
Doing so requires a multipronged approach that includes stepped-up law enforcement, more education/awareness and greater use of traffic-engineering solutions. But another key element is taking individual responsibility: recognizing the dangers of speeding, slowing down to protect others, using a ride-share service after drinking, etc.
Unfortunately, Las Vegas streets are fertile ground for speeding — many of them are straight, flat and wide, which can leave motorists feeling unimpeded when traffic is normal or light. This begs the need for safer designs, like the recently unveiled project to modernize Boulder Highway. Work on that project will involve narrowing the road and reducing setbacks, both of which are proven to reduce speeds by making drivers feel more hemmed-in. Other elements include dedicated bus lanes, elevated bicycle lanes and upgraded pedestrian crossings.
But other, simpler enhancements can help.
Drive on Pecos Road between Warm Springs and Sunset roads, for instance, and more often than not you’ll find traffic slowing down at about the halfway point.
The reason? There’s a radar-equipped sign that shows motorists’ speed and flashes at them to slow down if they’re exceeding the 35 mph speed limit.
And it works, as evidenced by the brake lights routinely seen as cars get in range of the radar. Studies of these signs have shown they’re effective in reducing speeding.
Of course, none of this will prevent 100% of speeding. That lies with individual drivers. But traffic-safety officials say better designs and traffic-calming devices will help.
“We can do a better job of engineering our roadways,” Andrew Bennett, public information officer for Nevada’s Office of Traffic Safety, told the Sun’s sister publication, Las Vegas Weekly. “The roadway should not allow you to go that fast. You should not have the ability to go 156 miles an hour in a residential area.”
Another positive step can be found in efforts like a new education campaign by the Southern Nevada Bicycle Coalition, which is posting public-awareness messaging on billboards, buses and so forth.
The campaign’s slogan — “Let’s Get There Together” — is well worth spreading.
As noted earlier, there are several factors contributing to the rise in speeding. Experts say the popularity of the “Fast & Furious” franchise and similar movies has spurred a rise in street racing, for example, to the point where Metro Police have dedicated resources to the problem. It’s also believed that speeding is a behavioral holdover from early months of the pandemic, when business closures left streets less congested and motorists took advantage by driving faster.
Las Vegas also has a unique issue in that there’s ready availability of high-performance exotic cars for rent. Officials say 8% of the fatalities in the state involve these cars, with excessive speed playing a role in several of those accidents.
But this mixture of reasons — cultural influences, road design, bad decision-making — has resulted in a more dangerous environment on Las Vegas streets. We saw the outcome vividly in the tragedy that claimed Tintor’s life, but excessive speeding had become a problem long before then and remains a cause for urgent action.
