Las Vegas Sun: Enhanced safety measures in place across Las Vegas Valley for first day of school

With hundreds of thousands of students returning to school today, drivers need to pay close attention to traffic laws to keep children safe.

Road safety has been an especially high priority for the Clark County School District and local governments after 427 children were struck by cars while walking or riding bicycles near campus during the 2025-26 school year. Four children were killed, and 15 were seriously injured.

Pepper said common contributing factors in school zone crashes include drivers failing to stop at corners, drivers exceeding the 15 mph active school zone speed limit, illegal U-turns and drivers passing other cars without realizing the car ahead had slowed for a child in the roadway or in a crosswalk.

Generally, she said, road fatalities can often be attributed to impairment or speeding. Motorists should give themselves enough time to get where they’re going without speeding and to stop for school buses, especially as children are boarding and disembarking.

Last month, the countywide School Traffic Safety Working Group released a report outlining 75 strategies to reduce roadway injuries over the next five years. CCSD will kick off the year with a broad traffic safety campaign, with the help of partners like the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety.

In other recent moves aimed at protecting children on their way to and from school, the city of Las Vegas added crossing guards to five more high schools for the new year. The additions expand a $3.59 million program that now covers 92 schools citywide, including nine high schools — schools that historically have had few crossing guards.

U.S. Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., helped secure $1.1 million in federal investments for the city to fund the installation of new visual alert systems, additional signage and pavement markings in 281 school zones. Nearly 25% of the city’s school zones are located in “High Injury Network” corridors, where traffic fatalities and serious injuries are heavily concentrated.

The city of Henderson funded signal and roadway improvements around schools within its boundaries, and it is continuing its targeted safety and enforcement campaign around e-bikes and e-scooters.

And statewide, a new law went into effect July 1 doubling fines and license demerit points for traffic violations in active school zones.

Pepper said parents should talk to their children about safe road behavior.