LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Las Vegas Metro Police officers pulled over 13 drivers in just 30 minutes at what they call a traffic hotspot stretch as crashes and speeding complaints continue across the valley.
Metro invited FOX5 on a ride-along to show how traffic officers are responding on the roads. Officers said they are targeting violations to prevent serious crashes.
The day with Las Vegas Metro Police traffic officers started with a briefing, going over trends and priorities for the shift. Sheriff Kevin McMahill said reducing traffic deaths is one of his top priorities and pointed to speed and impairment as major factors.
“We have far too many people dying on our roadways. Just today on the way over here, my undersheriff sent me a picture of a car that’s upside down on 215 [beltway], a single vehicle accident, I don’t know how that happens, folks,” McMahill said.
LIFE squad targets high-crash areas
During the swing shift patrol, one of the first calls was a crash involving a red pickup truck that collided with another vehicle.
“Collisions, as the one that you saw that you went to today, affected those people; they didn’t die from that, but their vehicles were destroyed, they got injuries, and it affected them, and it’s going to affect their families,” said Lt. Cody Fullweiler.
Metro said they are trying to prevent such calls with what they call a “LIFE squad” — short for “lives improved and fatalities eliminated.” Those officers are assigned to what they refer to as hotspot areas.
“And those teams are specifically going out and looking for the violations that are causing those fatalities and the life-threatening collisions,” Fullweiler said.
Speed enforcement yields quick results
With a speed gun pointed at passing traffic, it didn’t take long for officers to start clocking drivers over the posted limit. On just one stretch of road, several drivers were pulled over within minutes.
“So it’s going out there, being proactive, preventing these collisions and these fatalities from happening before it even occurs,” Fullweiler said.
Later in the shift, Metro responded to a motorcycle crash. The rider’s injuries were described as non-life threatening, but they were taken to the hospital. McMahill said that while their life squads have made thousands of enforcement stops this year, the real change has to come from drivers behind the wheel.
“Because there are far too many people that are gonna have a Thanksgiving and a Christmas gathering and there’s going to be an empty seat at that table because that loved one’s not going to be there anymore,” McMahill said.
According to Metro, over 130 people have been killed on valley roads this year. Traffic officers said they will keep working on the hotspots while asking drivers to make safe choices.
McMahill added that while the valley is seeing one of its lowest homicide totals in years, traffic deaths continue to outpace that.
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