LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill explains his support for red light and speed cameras across the Las Vegas Valley as crashes and fatalities soar in early 2024.
According to Zero Fatalities Nevada, 32 people died in Clark County in January. 18 pedestrians died in January, according to the UNLV Transportation Research Center’s Traffic Safety Coalition—double the number of deaths from January 2023.
“158 people in my jurisdiction alone last year were killed in fatal accidents. If I had four or five, six times the size of people strictly enforcing traffic, I wouldn’t make a real dent in what’s going on. I believe that there’s an opportunity for us to take and look at technology,” McMahill said. “If we have identified 20 or 25 of the top intersections, and we deployed red light cameras to those and we don’t have to go to any more fatal accidents because nobody’s running those red lights, I think that’s a win for all of us,” he said.
The proposal would require action in the Nevada Legislature to repeal a ban on cameras. Erin Breen of the UNLV Transportation Research Center said legislative efforts started back in 1999, but so far, no bill has advanced.
The practice faces support and opposition in Arizona, where lawmakers seek to advance a bill and ban red light cameras. Police agencies in the Phoenix Metropolitan area tout support and cite effectiveness.
“It has shown statistically through the city of Mesa’s data that it’s slowed people down upwards to five miles an hour in school zones and 11 and a half miles an hour in our intersections where we’re having the most issues,” Mesa Chief Ken Cost said.
“We need to pass this because my constituents want their privacy back. This is a privacy bill,” said State Sen. Wendy Rogers of Flagstaff.
“I don’t think you have an expectation of privacy driving your vehicle down the road. There’s so many cameras in this town,” McMahill countered. He said his department does not want funding from the bill, and perhaps revenue generated from fines could go towards a specific purpose, like young driver training and education.
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