LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Have you ever been woken up in the middle of the night to the screeching sounds of illegal street racing?
If so, you're not alone. Illegal street and stunt racing is a growing issue — no matter where you live in the valley.
We wanted to find out if some recently installed safety rumble strips are making a difference at a once-problematic intersection and what else can be done.
"We hear a lot of stretching on the corner here," Larry Davis says of his residence in the east Las Vegas Valley.
But it's a sound familiar to many around the valley.
If you live on the east side of town, near Hollywood and Charleston boulevards, the tire marks are easy to spot in intersections.
Davis says he hears it often at his home, "probably about once a week."
"Usually, it is later at night, we hear the stretching of the tires; come out and you see the circles they are making," Davis said.
It was a big problem northeast of the Las Vegas Valley, at Grand Valley Parkway and U.S. 93.
You may remember the video that showed a truck driver nearly colliding with another car doing donuts in the intersection, preventing him from making his fuel delivery.
The incident brought change in the form of safety rumble strips that have since been installed.
Lt. Daryl Rhoads with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department explained last year that, while it won't stop illegal street racing completely, it sends a clear message.
"They can come out here and roll donuts all they want, but it is going to do some major damage to the tread of their tires," Rhoads told Channel 13 at the time.
The rumble strips were installed in March of last year. Almost a year later, we wanted to know if they are proving to be effective.
Metro police tell us they haven't received any reports of issues at the intersection since. And they say the county could look to put in rumble strips at other problem areas in the future.
A representative for Clark County told Channel 13 that when issues arise, they will be addressed as necessary.
The rumble strips cost about $70,000 to install. While it's a problem around the valley, this solution is proving to work in one area.
If street racing or stunts are a problem in your neighborhood, you should call police while it's happening. You can also report it on the Fix It Clark County website here.
