LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nevada State Police are making their presence known by joining forces in their Pedestrian Safety Campaign, an effort to reduce fatalities on valley roadways.
“As a driver, you may get into a fender-bender for being comfortable, as a pedestrian, you lose your life,” Road Safety Advocate Erin Breen shared.
Breen broke down the down fatality numbers.
“In 2021, we had 65 fatalities, which means we were up last year,” she shared.
Each month, Nevada State Police Highway Patrol focuses on specific topics like distracted driving, speeding to impairment and now, until June 24th, the focus is pedestrian safety.
Nevada State Trooper Ashlee Wellman explained.
“We have seen a spike in our fatality numbers, and we are very alarmed by it,” Wellman added.
“From April, in the state of Nevada, we have had 107 fatalities and 33 of those fatalities were due to pedestrians,” she said.
Just last month, NSP reported 12 crashes which resulted in 14 fatalities, just in the Southern Area Command of the valley. Numbers haven’t been that high since 2020.
May of 2022, NSP saw two crashes with three fatalities.
Wellman said pedestrian safety is a two-way street and pedestrians and drivers need to be aware of each other while out on our roadways.
“It’s summertime now and we are going to see an increase in our tourism, and we want people to come to Las Vegas and have a good time. So just do it safely, that’s all we ask. “