LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The UNLV Department of Surgery at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine will be able to continue studying vehicle crashes in Southern Nevada. That's thanks to a $571,279 grant from the Nevada Department of Public Safety.
Researchers have been studying traffic-related injuries and fatalities in Nevada, which they've said remains "an increasing public health challenge." According to a press release, the researchers state many traffic "accidents" are not accidents and a high percentage of those crashes are the result of "known risk-taking behavior".
"The number and severity of crash injuries I see in the trauma ward is astounding and it saddens me because so much of it can be prevented," said Dr. Deborah Kuhls, who is a researcher and also the chief of trauma surgery at University Medical Center. "We need to change the public mindset when it comes to vehicle collisions and maybe it begins by changing the language."
According to UNLV's latest research, 53% of traffic citations in Nevada were speed-related. Of that percentage, 2.3% were associated with a crash. In Nevada, there has also been a nearly 50% increase in citations related to people going more than 100 miles per hour or more. That's between 2021 and 2023.
Research also shows that 1.4 million citations were issued by Nevada law enforcement agencies between 2018 to 2021. Of that, 38,172 were related to aggressive driving, careless driving, reckless driving, and failure to exercise due care and over 70% involved a crash.
Earlier this year, Kuhls spoke in favor of Senate Bill 322, which is also known as "Rex's Law". The bill was named in honor of 13-year-old Rex Patchett who was hit and killed by a reckless driver in March in March 2022.
"When I first moved here, I was horrified by the number of adults and children I saw that are struck by vehicles. Many that survive won't return to a productive life," Kuhls said in April. "There are a lot of bad things that happen in our world and I see a lot of the consequences of those bad things in my work."
According to the Nevada Department of Public Safety, as of Dec. 1, crashes in Clark County are up 2.82%, fatal crashes are up 1.29%, and crashes involving pedestrians in Clark County are up 22.95%. All of those numbers are compared to this time last year.
