Remember what your mother said...wait for traffic to clear before you cross the street? So just what was the guy waiting for cars to come to cross Stewart Street thinking? He's actually thinking about catching lawbreakers. It's really Deputy Sheriff Darrin Riggin, and we watched as one car after another almost fell into his trap. As he told us afterwards, ”There were a couple of them that made me step back and tuck in a little bit."
As we found on this busy street, crossing in bright daylight can be a dicey proposition…and officers were ready standing by, ready to write tickets down the road. Even though the crossing on Stewart in front of the Nevada Department of Transportation building has no lights, or even a sign showing motorists that it's a crossing, pedestrians have the right of way. That's something nearby workers say drivers out there ignore.
Philip Migliore, who works for the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection told us, "Trying to get across, sometimes it's like playing Frogger. I've had a close call a couple of times. I just had to run a little faster." Cynthia Macall works in the Nevada Highway Patrol building. She told us, "I've actually been on this street where I'm crossing, and right behind me they will go through."
We watched Deputy Sheriff Riggin make his rounds…and even though at times it looked like a game of deadly dodgeball, only one was cited in the half hour we were there. Riggin was easy to see, wearing a bright orange vest and hat. Sgt. Scott McDaniel of the Carson City Sheriff's Office told us tickets were secondary: "What I want to do is educate people."
There's a need for that. There were 72 pedestrian deaths in Nevada last year. This year we're following that deadly timeline with 20 fatalities so far. That's already up 1 compared to last year. McDaniel told us, "A lot of those of course are occurring at night, where our pedestrians are not wearing the lighter-colored clothing like they should, reflective clothing."
And in every case, the pedestrians have much more to lose.
In total today - deputies issued 42 citations to drivers. 23 were for failing to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk.. and others were for other violations including cell phone use and speeding.
