LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Through February, 47 traffic deaths have been reported in Clark County, 23 of which were pedestrians.
Those numbers don’t reflect crashes from March, like one that left a pedestrian dead near Lake Mead and Pecos Thursday night. Police say a woman was jaywalking when she was hit. She died at the hospital.
The issue has local leaders and police searching for solutions and zeroing in on some of the valley’s most dangerous roads.
“I’ve been living here for 15 years, and this has never been safe here,” Cindy Sarkin, who lives at Eastern and Harris, told FOX5 Friday, referencing a crosswalk that spans Eastern.
“Nobody seems to be getting caught for speeding,” she decried.
Sarking recalled a time last month when she witnessed a young woman get hit by a truck while crossing Eastern in the crosswalk.
“I saw the truck hit her and she flew 20 feet in the air,” she remembered.
FOX5 talked with the City of Las Vegas’ Public Works Department recently and was told this area is on its radar in terms of pedestrian danger. Even with a crosswalk that has blinking lights, as the one crossing Eastern at Harris has, people who live nearby don’t all feel comfortable crossing.
“I’m fortunate. I have a car,” Sarkin said. “But there’s a lot of people that don’t, and they don’t feel safe.”
Sarkin wants to see a clearer designation for drivers and a more active enforcement of the speed limit.
“I’d like to see a light be put out here, and I’d like to see the police patrol a little more than they do just to catch it,” she said. “I just want a safe neighborhood.”
Through the first two months of 2024, Clark County has seen a 109% increase in pedestrian deaths compared to the same period in 2023.
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