Nevada state senator dresses as turkey to cross traffic for pedestrian safety
The Las Vegas Valley has had 50 pedestrian deaths this year, state traffic data show, approaching last year’s count of 61.
To shed light on this issue, local law enforcement — Clark County School District police, Las Vegas police and Nevada Highway Patrol troopers — joined together Tuesday morning at East Charleston Boulevard and South Eighth Street to watch for and ticket drivers who didn’t stop for Butterball One, a turkey walking to and fro in the crosswalk.
Under the Butterball One costume was state Sen. Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee.
As they watched traffic, police officers downtown also looked for and ticketed pedestrians who didn’t use crosswalks and crossed streets unsafely.
Pedestrians should cross in designated crossing areas and wear light-colored clothing for drivers to see them day and night, police said. Drivers should slow down and leave enough braking distance to stop for street-crossing pedestrians, police added. Pedestrians and drivers need to make eye contact with one another to grant safe crossing, officials said.
“Pedestrian safety is a two-way street,” said Erin Breen, director of safe community partnership transportation research center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “It requires everyone following the rules.”
Officers wrote more than 160 citations and made two arrests in the day, Breen said. One arrest was for DUI, and the other involved a driver who had an outstanding warrant for jaywalking.
Contact Raven Jackson at rjackson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283. Follow @ravenmjackson on Twitter.
