LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — As Clark County School District and local leaders brainstorm ways to boost student safety, FOX5 learned of discussions for “protected” bike lanes and designated areas for school pick-ups and drop-offs.
The latest street safety efforts, enforcement actions and changes come after two 12-year-old students who were struck and killed by vehicles going to and from schools.
On Monday, 12-year-old Haylee Ryan was riding her bicycle when she was struck and killed by a school bus near Lied STEM Academy.
Vehicles often park or wait in bike lanes outside the middle school.
Commissioner Michael Naft tells FOX5, county officials are looking to safety measures widely in place across cities like Long Beach: curbed or protected bike lanes.
“There’s more that we could do. There’s a lot more. A truly protected bike lane would be more than just paint on the pavement, but it would be an actual curbed protective barrier between the road and between the cyclists or the pedestrian,” Naft said.
“Curbed bike lanes provide not only safety for the cyclist– sidewalks, particularly detached sidewalks, provide additional safety for the pedestrian. And both of those things make it safer to be a driver in this community as well,” he said.
If proposals progress through the County, officials could install curbed bike lanes near schools. Funding could come from forthcoming approval of the Fuel Tax Index, which funds road improvement projects across Southern Nevada.
Designated pick-up and drop-off areas are being discussed as ways to reduce accidents, Naft said.
Issues and improvements will be discussed by the CCSD School Traffic Working Group, collaborating with cities and the county for traffic solutions across the Las Vegas Valley.
County leaders discussed the critical need for protected pick-up and drop-off areas at Wednesday’s Zoning meeting. As more schools are built across the Valley, Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick raised concerns about chronic bad behavior from drivers with illegal U-turns.
“I can’t regulate stupid. I just can’t, because at the end of the day, everybody should know there’s no U-turns in front of the school. They do it every single day, all day long,” Kirkpatrick said.
For new schools, county officials do analysis of drop-off and pick-up areas on school property, officials said during the meeting; on-site pickup is deemed much safer for kids than the street, officials said.
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