LETTERS: Reducing roadway carnage starts with enforcement

Boulder Highway might be the deadliest of the major arterial raceways and drag strips in Las Vegas ("Police ramp up traffic safety efforts on Boulder Highway," Dec. 23 Review-Journal).

Alcohol and speed are the culprits in most fatal vehicle collisions, and some nonattentive and dare-devil pedestrians might have helped seal their fates by not using marked crosswalks. However, it is unconscionable that the overwhelming majority of pedestrian crosswalks in Southern Nevada are at major intersections, often a quarter of a mile or more apart. It is unreasonable to expect mothers with small children, the elderly and the handicapped to walk those distances to get to opposite sides of the street.

While I applaud recent proposals to address pedestrian crossing needs on Boulder Highway and reducing the speed limit on certain stretches, none of the changes will have teeth without more enforcement, especially of speed limits, which is lacking valleywide. Speed limit signs, it seems, are mere suggestions rather than true limits. It is not unusual to see vehicles traveling 15 mph or more over the posted 35- and 45-mph limits on many of our streets. Even in schools zones, where speed limits are as low as 15 mph, motorists routinely defy the signage.

The bottom line: Death tolls on our roadways will continue to soar without more stringent enforcement of traffic laws. As of this writing, there had been 134-traffic related deaths in 2015, 14 of which were on Boulder Highway.

Leon Pitt

Las Vegas

Consumer protection

I am angry the Nevada State Bureau of Consumer Protection is acting against the financial interests of the general public in favor of the relatively few, generally affluent rooftop solar panel owners (18,000 or so) and the politically connected companies such as SolarCity ("Nevada agency seeks to block new rates for rooftop-solar customers," Dec. 25 Review-Journal). The bureau has filed a motion that reads as if it were written by the environmental lobby.

I do not want to pay the power company an add-on amount to subsidize rooftop solar panels. Eric Witkoski, who heads the bureau, should resign and look for a job that does not involve consumer protection.

Richard McGarrity

Las Vegas

Reckless gun use

Regarding "Off-duty officer, spouse shoot relative," in the Dec. 27 Review-Journal: This is another firearm-related tragedy that could have been avoided.

Civilian gun owners are taught to "identify the target" before pulling the trigger. There are numerous types of lights, both for on the gun and hand-held, available. To dismiss this as a mere accident rather than recklessness is shameful.

Robert Raider

Henderson

Adelson buy

I simply cannot believe all the fuss over the Adelson family purchasing the Review-Journal. The local hysteria in the media is completely out of line. If people are worried that the R-J might have a seismic shift to the right in its content, this will be a refreshing and welcome move in my view.

I have been reading this newspaper since 1988. There is no way on earth that anyone will convince me that it leans right in any way, shape or form. As a conservative, I find myself agitated by its content every day. I counted 20 articles that I completely disagreed with in Wednesday's edition alone, and only one that I found to my political point of view. Twenty-to-one! And that includes its' editorial page content. The only columnists who are in a tizzy are the liberal ones — who are plentiful in the pages of the R-J.

Mike Bryant

Las Vegas