LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A makeshift memorial is growing at a bus stop on Boulder Highway near Sahara where two people were killed Wednesday night. It's not the first time a deadly crash at a bus stop has happened and now questions are coming up about safety.
Mike Misa takes the bus every day to get around the valley. He tells Channel 13 he often doesn't feel safe at them.
"They need to move the bus stop back," Misa said. "I'm scared even just to sit here."
Misa said the recent deadly crash at a bus stop, just one block away, has made him even more cautious.
Metro Police said the driver, who was identified as 64-year-old Cynthia Phelps, jumped the curb, killing a 42-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy. The Clark County Coroner's Office has not identified the victims yet. However, an arrest report identified the man as Robert Higgins. Three others were injured in the crash and taken to University Medical Center.
WATCH: Two dead, three injured after Boulder Highway crash
Brian, a Regional Transportation Commission bus driver, has been driving for RTC for 12 years. He drives the Boulder Highway route and said there is a lack of street lighting.
"My bus only goes so far for light, so I have to slow down for safety reasons," Brian told me. "Stay consistent with something that works and is safe. More lighting is safe."
Bus stop safety improvements have been on RTC's radar for years. In 2019, RTC told Channel 13 they were replacing bus shelters and adding bollards at more than 3,000 bus stops throughout the valley.
"We're making sure they're safe, not only for pedestrians, but for motorists," former RTC director Carl Scarborough said.
WATCH: Clark County, RTC tell Channel 13 about bus stop safety plans in 2019
On Friday, officials with RTC of Southern Nevada said over the last decade, the organization has invested more than $22 million to move more than 1,200 transit shelters at least five feet from the sidewalk and add other protective measures like adding 2,400 lights at stops to make waiting passengers more visible, making sidewalks wider, and adding landscaping.
They add the RTC safety studies showed the single-best solution to improve the safety of waiting passengers is to move transit stops back a minimum of five feet from the curb.
According to data from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, by moving stops back a minimum of five feet or more, it decreases the potential for a crash involving a stop by 80%.
Damaged bollards were present at the site of Wednesday's deadly crash. However, the bus shelter was completely destroyed and only a single bus bench remains.
Misa wants to see other changes soon and tells Channel 13 he may leave the valley if the safety problem gets any worse.
"Living here for 13 years, they need to make some improvements," Misa said.
