Las Vegas Police Deploy New Traffic Safety Strategy After Record Year for Roadway Deaths

In 2026, Las Vegas will increase enforcement of traffic safety laws by focusing more heavily on reckless and negligent driving, the prevention of such conduct, and roadway design. New programs to support this effort include the L.I.F.E. (Less Impaired Faster Emergency) Squad, a traffic task force, and, potentially, an expanded traffic unit, as well as the department's goal of reducing fatal car crashes throughout the valley.

"The reality is, you're more likely to die on our roadways than you are in a homicide," said Lt. Cody Fulwiler of the traffic bureau.

The department's strategy centers on the three reinforcing E's — Engineering, Education, and Enforcement. Education efforts will feature hands-on demonstrations showing how speed affects stopping distance, including a mock 66-foot-wide intersection and braking drills at 45 mph and 65 mph to illustrate how higher speeds dramatically change outcomes.

"We're starting conversations and have been in conversations with our politicians and also the engineers, not only with the city, but with the county," Fulwiler said.

Enforcement will rely on radar and other traffic-monitoring tools to clock speeds and issue citations, with officers applying these measures in daily operations. Since December 2025, the Southern Nevada Traffic Task Force, which includes six agencies, has recorded 2,708 stops, 3,089 citations, 1,947 speeding violations, 24 towings, and 20 arrests.

"It has been a conversation and will continue to be a conversation, and there's studies that involve that and involves those city engineers and county engineers, and if we can make that change."  "It's about ensuring that every time that we touch a road in our community, that we're right-sizing it, we're making sure that that road represents the land and the use that's around it," said Andrew Bennett, director of the Clark County Office of Traffic Safety. He spoke with News 3 at the initiative's launch.

Traffic safety remains a top public-safety priority after 2025 ended with 163 traffic fatalities in Las Vegas, tying the deadliest year in two decades. 

Engineering responsibilities largely fall to Clark County and the City of Las Vegas, with discussions underway about road width, design, and speed limits. The Safe Streets for All Action Plan, led by the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, aims to standardize safer street design across jurisdictions.

"There are some new things that we are doing, like the L.I.F.E Squad and the task force for sure, and a more agency-wide approach," he said, adding that Sheriff Kevin McMahill is expected to lay out more details.