LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — An estimated 325,000 people visited Las Vegas during the Labor Day weekend contributing roughly $235,000,000 to the local economy.
The holiday prosperity also came with an increase in danger on valley roads as Labor Day marks the end of what the Nevada Department of Public Safety calls the 100 deadliest days, a period when fatal car crashes are more common.
Andrew Bennett, DPS public information officer, said in 2018 there were 21 deadly crashes around Labor Day so the DUI Strike Team spread throughout the valley to crack down on potential dangerous drivers.
"Any holiday is a key consumption holiday, unfortunately," Bennett said.
The Strike Team recently brought in their 900th suspected DUI arrest since their creation in October of 2018, and Bennett said those arrests may have had an impact in reducing the record traffic deaths from 2018.
LABOR DAY CELEBRATIONS IN LAS VEGAS | 2019
He said in the four months preceding Labor Day there was between a 20 and 40% drop in deadly crashes from month to month this year.
"This year we've seen a decrease, but we're not hanging our hats on that," Bennett said, "we still lost at least one, and one is too many."
Bennett said 26 police forces worked with every Nevada border state on overtime to keep the numbers from spiking through the holiday weekend.
"We have a gut feeling that we're going in the right direction," he said.
Bennett said with alternatives like Uber, Lyft, taxi services, and sober friends there has been no reason to get behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated.
