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Turkey crosses the road in Las Vegas safety push

Posted at 12:56 PM, Nov 18, 2015
and last updated 2015-11-18 15:56:14-05

Don't hit the turkey in the road -- or other pedestrians either.
   
That's the message police and safety advocates are promoting Wednesday with a seventh annual police-officer-in-a-turkey-suit program.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas Safe Community Partnership chief Erin Breen dubs the attention-getting effort "Butterball One."

"Sometimes we see our fatalities rise towards the end of the year," said Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chelsea Stuenkel, also known as Butterball One. "A lot more holiday parties like I said, a lot more people out traveling as well as shopping that sort of thing, and again with it getting darker sooner people just aren't paying attention and when it's dark it makes it hard to see."

Found a turkey wandering the streets of Las Vegas!

Posted by Yasmeen Hassan on Wednesday, November 18, 2015

During the morning, it'll be on Eastern Avenue north of Charleston Boulevard. After lunch, it moves to Eastern Avenue south of Charleston Boulevard.
   
Breen says it's less about issuing failure-to-yield tickets as it is about curbing the number of pedestrian fatalities in and around Las Vegas. There have been 39 fatal crashes involving pedestrians.
   
Authorities say motorists and pedestrians need to pay attention, and crossings should be at corners and marked crosswalks.