‘Nightmare’ of dangerous intersection provokes focused traffic enforcement near UNLV
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Orletta Carnes loves her neighborhood but hates the drivers.
She lives near Flamingo Road and Maryland Parkway, where school may be out at UNLV but crowds of people are still walking the nearby streets. Carnes said her inability to drive forces her to take the “nightmare” of a walk through this intersection – where drivers fly by well beyond the posted 30 mph speed limit – whenever she leaves the house.
“You can be in the middle of the crosswalk, and here they come,” Carnes said, standing at the southeast corner of the intersection Friday morning. “I think it’s something you have to deal with because by the time you call (police), the problem is over.”
She’s not alone. LVMPD Traffic Bureau Lt. Tony Cavaricci called the area “heavily pedestrian traveled,” with or without school in session. Paired with dangerous driving habits, enforcement efforts are focused on this intersection in a different way than others.
A different intersection is chosen monthly as Metro’s traffic enforcement focus since the release of its most dangerous Las Vegas valley intersections in January. Flamingo and Decatur Boulevard in May and Sahara Avenue and Decatur in June saw officers posted on street corners who called red light runners, drivers on cell phones and speeders to other motor officers further away.
Cavaricci said enforcement at Flamingo and Maryland is different because the most frequent violation is speeding. He reports more than 20 collisions here since the beginning of the year.
“We spread out a little bit more because people have to get up to the speeds they’re traveling at. Sometimes we’ll see them weaving in and out of traffic,” Cavaricci said, standing next to UNLV Friday morning. “If you hit 50 miles an hour, which is not uncommon on Maryland Parkway, you double the time it takes you to stop.”
Nearly 40 citations were given just within rush hour traffic Friday morning, 26 of them for speeding. Others were for cell phone use and disobeying red lights.
The citations can cost up to $500 each, per state law.
In total, collisions are trending down across the valley, but traffic deaths are not. Metro statistics show a 20% increase in fatalities from this time last year: 86 deaths in 2024 (including a motorcyclist on Friday and a bicyclist on Tuesday) and 70 in 2023. Reckless driving, which includes excessive speeding, and pedestrians crossing where and when they’re not supposed to remain leading causes.
“It’s the drivers getting too comfortable driving. They don’t realize that it’s going to take you a long time to stop and at certain speeds. Your chances of killing somebody are a lot greater,” Cavaricci said. “Aside from our enforcement and pleading with people to slow down, I’m really not sure what else we can do. I mean, it sucks.”
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