Every day, there are numerous crashes on Nevada roadways. Some result in serious injuries, and others in death. To try and put a stop to those, officials across the Silver State have been working together.
Every five years, all of the involved agencies put together a new Strategic Highway Safety Plan using data gathered during the previous five years. Their main goal is to eliminate deaths from crashes in the state of Nevada.
According to data gathered during the previous plan, there were 1,606 deaths from crashes between 2019 and 2023. During the same time period, there were 6,948 serious injuries on the roadways. Those who work on the plan hope to see a 35% reduction in deadly and serious injury crashes by 2035. By 2050, they hope for zero deaths on Nevada roads.
Lacey Tisler, the Chief Traffic Safety Engineer at the Nevada Department of Transportation says there are two components she thinks are the most vital in achieving these goals.
"Speed is a focus of this plan, and it's something that we haven't really talked about in the traffic safety community," said Tisler. "And understanding the fact that speed impacts your risk of a crash, and it also impacts your risk of injury."
The second is more of a preventative measure.
"The other one that I think is as important is really looking at some of these highways or these roadways, that are having communities coming up around them," said Tisler. "These roadways were initially built for cars because there was nobody walking on them. And as land use changes and as development occurs, we start seeing people needing to walk, needing to bike. We see kids needing to get to their friend's house. We see elderly individuals trying to get to the bus. So, it's the use that's changing and getting ahead of that building capacity."
The plan is measured by five federally required Safety Performance Measures. Those are number of fatalities, number of serious injuries, fatality rate, serious injury rate, and number of non-motorized fatalities and serious injuries.
Tisler talks about the importance of the of having agencies across the state working together on these goals, because it's so much more than one can accomplish on its own.Â
"The responsibility is shared. So that's all of us-- as the DOT, our local road owners, our enforcement partners, our first responders, our decision makers, and everyone who uses the roadway," she said. "All of us. We all have a part to play, and we all can do better."
For more information about how data is gathered, and to view the current plan, go to Strategic Highway Safety Plan 2026-2030 - Zero Fatalities.
