Las Vegas Red Light Runners Leading to Fatal Accidents

If you’ve lived in Las Vegas for even a little while, you’ve seen drivers run red lights. An old joke about Las Vegas drivers goes something like, “How can you tell who is the Las Vegas driver? They’re the fourth one through the red light.” Unfortunately, drivers running red lights have been causing a serious number of fatal accidents in recent years, and it doesn’t seem to be letting up:

• A January crash in Las Vegas, NV, killed nine and left fifteen injured after a Dodge Challenger sped up from 90 mph to 103 mph through a red light in a 35 mph zone. The crash led to a chain reaction after striking a minivan and killing all seven people inside. The driver of the Dodge Challenger and his passenger were also killed, making this one of the deadliest crashes in Nevada’s history.
• In April, a driver who failed to stop at a red light caused another death in Las Vegas. After running through the intersection, the driver’s car ran into a truck which then hit a third car. The drivers and passengers of the struck vehicles were transported to the hospital for treatment, but the passenger of the car who initially ran the red light had died from his injuries.
• More recently, an 18-year-old driver caused a fatal accident in Las Vegas after he ran a red light at a busy intersection and crashed into another driver making a turn. That crash also led to a chain reaction and ended up killing the driver who was initially struck. A neighbor living in the area spoke up to say this isn’t the first, second, or even third car accident that’s happened at that intersection in the last decade, making residents wonder what could be done to prevent more tragedies.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reported in 2020 that 115,741 people were injured and 928 people were killed in accidents that involved the driver running a red light—half of which were victims of the red light runners, not the drivers themselves.  According to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, someone runs a red light every 20 seconds at urban intersections, and you’re more likely to be injured in a red light-related crash than any other kind of car accident.

Intersection accidents can have dire consequences

Intersection accidents are common and deadly. According to Zero Fatalities Nevada, almost a third of all traffic fatalities in Nevada (32%, to be exact) between 2015 and 2019 occurred at intersections. Almost half (45%) were “angle” accidents, meaning one vehicle T-boned or sideswiped another one. The most common non-injuries associated with these types of crashes include:

• Compound, complex fractures, especially of the ribs and arms/legs on the side of impact
• Head trauma
• Brain trauma
• Whiplash
• Spine or spinal cord damage
• Organ damage
• Scarring and disfigurement

There is also a real chance of debris (like a broken window) penetrating the skin and nicking an artery, increasing the risk of a victim bleeding out, or going into shock.

Running a red is usually a sign of another type of negligence

It’s quite clear that going through an intersection once the light has turned red is against the law, but in many cases, it’s also a sign of negligence. You’ll always have people who are trying to “beat the light,” of course – but red light runners are often driving negligently or recklessly. A driver who runs a red may also be:

• Driving drunk. According to the Nevada Legislature, driving while intoxicated or driving under the influence often leads to drowsiness, loss of coordination, and blurred vision. The IIHS also reported in 2020 that red light runners were more likely to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash, which could have been a major factor in the cause of the accident.
• Driving distracted. Distracted driving is any activity that causes the driver to take their attention away from driving safely. Any time a driver takes their eyes off the road to send a text message, change the music, or even talk to a passenger, they’re taking a major risk. According to NHTSA, sending or reading a text takes a driver’s eyes off the road for five seconds; that’s like driving the length of a football field. It only takes a glance off the road for someone to cruise through a red light at an intersection because they weren’t paying attention.
• Ignoring bad weather. You cannot drive in the rain or fog the way you can drive in the sunshine; you just can’t. Yet people do it all the time, depending on their own reflexes to get them out of a jam. It only takes a tenth of an inch of water for a vehicle traveling at 50mph to lose traction, leading it to hydroplane.

We understand that there may be times when a driver can’t avoid running a red light, like if he or she has a medical emergency. In most cases, though, running a red is caused by a driver who isn’t following the rules of the road.

Can red light cameras help?

While installing red light cameras won’t necessarily stop all instances of people running red lights, they could act as a deterrent. They don’t have a live feed, but they automatically take pictures of traffic and snap another photo as a car drives through a traffic light at an intersection during what IIHS calls “the red phase.” After the footage is reviewed, a police officer or another authorized employee will validate a violation and then issue a ticket.

Nevada is one of the states where these cameras are not allowed, but residents are advocating for them—especially after the Las Vegas accident in January. They say that tools like radar enforcement or red light cameras could hold drivers accountable, which would make them less likely to intentionally speed or drive through intersections once the light has turned red. In other states, IIHS studies found that after installing red light cameras and issuing tickets, they saw about a 40% reduction in violations. In another IIHS study within large cities, it was found that utilizing these cameras reduced fatal red light running-related crashes by 21% and reduced all other fatal crashes by 14% compared to intersections without cameras.

If you or a loved one suffered an injury in a car accident by someone who ran a red light, our car accident attorneys in Las Vegas and Reno can help. Call the office of Claggett & Sykes Law Firm in Las Vegas at 702-333-7777, or fill out our contact form. Or, if you have suffered an injury in northern Nevada, call our Reno car accident attorneys at 775-322-2923.