LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A little over one hour after fireworks lit the sky above the Las Vegas Strip in celebration of the new year, Nevada Highway Patrol received its first wrong-way driver call of 2020.
The call came through at 1:17 a.m. on Jan. 1, NHP says.
Troopers and Boulder City police responded to the area near Interstate 11 and mile marker 9, but say they did not find a vehicle driving on the wrong side of the road.
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There were no injuries to report for that incident, but troopers say the call was just one of hundreds of its kind.
NHP says troopers were dispatched to a total of 434 wrong-way driver calls in Southern Nevada in 2019, just under the 443 calls they responded to in 2018.
"Unfortunately we have a lot of wrong-way crashes here in Las Vegas," NHP Trooper Travis Smaka told 13 Action News last month after a string of deadly wrong-way crashes in the Las Vegas area.
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On Dec. 22, authorities responded to two deadly wrong-way crashes in one night. Since November, a total of six people have been killed by wrong-way drivers in Southern Nevada.
Of the 434 wrong-way drivers calls in 2019, it is unknown how many resulted in crashes. The figure reflects how many times someone called police or NHP to report a wrong-way driver and a trooper was sent to the area.
The Nevada Department of Transportation says in more than half of wrong-way crashes, wrong-way drivers are impaired by alcohol.
NHP says if you encounter a wrong-way driver coming toward you, ease your foot off the gas to slow down and steer away. You can dial 911 or *NHP to report a wrong-way driver.
For more safe driving tip visit nevadadot.com.
