Less traffic, fewer crashes a side effect of pandemic in Las Vegas

The coronavirus pandemic has created a rare occurrence in the Las Vegas Valley, as both traffic volume and crashes have significantly decreased since March.

The number of people arrested on suspicion of DUI has also gone down, but that change hasn’t been as significant as the shifts in other traffic data since bars closed down and the streets emptied, according to officials and a Review-Journal analysis of Clark County Detention Center records.

Officials agree that the pandemic isn’t keeping everyone home.

“We’re still seeing a consistent behavior of impaired driving, but our accidents are way down. There is less traffic out there in the roadway,” Metropolitan Police Department Capt. Dan Bledsoe, the commander of the department’s traffic bureau, said in an interview Wednesday.

Crashes

Metro officers investigated 499 fewer crashes in March of this year than they did in March 2019, according to department data. In April, when Gov. Steve Sisolak’s order to close all nonessential businesses was in effect the entire month, a more significant decrease occurred: 1,034 fewer crashes than during April 2019.

Data from the Nevada Highway Patrol shows a similar trend statewide. Agency investigation of crashes decreased by 28 percent in March compared with March 2019, and by 60 percent in April compared with April 2019.

That means that the Highway Patrol investigated 1,514 fewer crashes in the past two months than it did in March and April of last year.

It’s not just crashes; there is less traffic in general. Compared with the same time last year, freeway traffic is down 22 to 55 percent across the valley, while Interstate 15 near the state line is down by 66 percent, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada said last week.

Impaired driving

With dramatic decreases in traffic volume and the number of crashes investigated by Metro and the Highway Patrol, one might expect arrests on suspicion of DUI to show similar declines.

Instead, the number of people booked into the Clark County Detention Center on suspicion of DUI dropped by only about 29 percent between February and March, and it dipped again by about 10 percent from March to April, according to booking logs.

That number only accounts for people booked into the jail during probable cause arrests, meaning an officer initiated an arrest, which usually happens immediately after an alleged DUI. It does not include arrests made through warrants, which can happen days or years after the suspected crime.

Although Metro runs the jail, any law enforcement agency can arrest someone who is then booked into the detention center.

Bledsoe on Wednesday said his data also shows only a slight decrease in DUI arrests compared with the number from this time last year.

According to Bledsoe, Metro arrested 825 people on suspicion of DUI in April and March of last year and 800 during that time frame this year.

He said that during the pandemic, people have fewer “outlets” and could be drinking more. Alcohol consumption at home also can lead people to drink more than they would at a bar, which can lead to impaired driving.

“Anyone who goes to bar, they put restrictions on themselves,” Bledsoe said, speculating about why people are still driving while intoxicated during a pandemic. “At home, those restrictions are not there. So they kind of have more freedom to actually start drinking more at a higher rate.”

It’s also easier for officers to spot the signs of impaired driving while fewer cars are on the road, making arrests more likely, Bledsoe said.

‘Numbers haven’t cratered’

Andrew Bennett, spokesman for the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety, said he wishes that there were fewer DUI cases and that people “would all do the right thing, especially now.”

“It’s interesting to see that just because we’re in this situation … unfortunately we’re still having that issue,” Bennett said during an interview Tuesday, adding that “when it came to the excuses, nothing has changed from the several arrests that I’ve seen.”

On Friday, Bennett tweeted that the multijurisdictional DUI strike team has seen 58 more DUI arrests in April than in the same month last year, from 75 to 133.

But April was also the first complete month the team worked seven days a week instead of four, with 10 law enforcement officers instead of eight. According to data from Bennett, there have been two months since the team’s inception in October 2018 where the average number of arrests per officer was higher than in April.

Bennett said the number of DUI arrests in April still concerns him, especially during the pandemic.

“We’ve told people to stay at home; all the bars are closed except for curbside pickup,” Bennett said. “It’s concerning that the numbers haven’t cratered off. We should be expecting a dramatic decrease.”

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-2040. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Mick Akers contributed to this report.