New push for slower speed limits in the Valley
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RTC officials are discussing changes to improve safety at local bus stops. Video by ktnv.com
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Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- Driving fast down valley roads, it seems someone is always in a hurry.
"Really fast really fast," Imani Joiner said as she described drivers on Spring Mountain. "Sometimes I don't think they realize how fast they're going."
Joiner stood near the bus stop near Spring Mountain and Decatur where a speeding car crashed an killed four people in September.
According to a new report, Las Vegas has a higher rate of bus stop crashes compared to larger cities and the crashes happen on roads with a high speed limit.
"We are a 24 hour town," planning engineering consultant, Sam Tso, said. "We have very wide streets and sometimes we don't have the congestion like we do in most cities so people tend to go faster on our wider streets."
Tso - with the research firm Parsons Brincker Hoff - completed the study for the RTC after that deadly bus stop crash. One of his top recommendations is to lower the speed limit on valley roads.
"If someone gets hit by a car going 40 mph they have an 80 percent chance of dying," Carl Scarbrough, RTC Transit Amenities Manager, said. "If you just drop that speed limit to 30 mph you drop that number in half so that's a big improvement."
The RTC noted that reducing speed on major roads would require the cooperation of cities across Southern Nevada, but it would also require drivers to slow down - and that's a challenge.
"You see a lot of road rage in this town, you see people always in a hurry," driver Tyrone Williams said.
"A lot of people are very erratic you have to pay a lot of attention to how folks are driving," pedestrian Shawn Dorisian said.
Another major recommendation from the study includes moving bus shelters at least 6 feet from the curb.
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