Thursday, February 08, 2007
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Thursday, February 08, 2007 |
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Why can't Las Vegas drive?A quest for a grand unified theory of bad behavior on valley roads
Welcome to the fabulous streets of Las Vegas. Where emergency lanes are bonus roads. Where cars are phone booths on wheels -- or living rooms with speedometers. Where turn signals are optional. Where merging is a foreign language. Where green means go -- and red means hurry! Where crosswalks are more like shooting galleries. Las Vegas can't drive. The proof is as close as your nearest intersection -- and is hammered home by some sobering statistics. Last year was one of the valley's deadliest for drivers, with 315 traffic fatalities, the highest level yet for Southern Nevada. Bad driving is a frustrating fact of life -- but not a wholly inexplicable one. Everyone's got his take on why Las Vegans are so lousy behind the wheel. In our quest for a unified field theory, as it were, of idiotic driving behavior, we surveyed transportation gurus, traffic cops, cabbies, urban planners and battle-hardened veterans of the streets of Las Vegas, asking them, "Why can't Las Vegas drive?!" Let's take some of their theories for a spin. The "I Blame California" Theory Ah. Like the last parking spot in a Summerlin strip mall, this is much-disputed territory that often leads to flaring tempers and missing teeth. L.A. drivers are ruining Las Vegas. Is it because their comfort with the labyrinthine California highways doesn't translate to the hillbilly byways of Southern Nevada? Is it because they're so preoccupied behind the wheel, rubbing their greedy hands together as they calculate the return on their latest home flip? "I've heard that in California, the common vernacular for running a stop sign is called a 'California stop,'" says Tim Bedwell, pubic information officer for the North Las Vegas Police Department. "There's probably a reason they call it that. Does California driving behavior bleed here? Probably so." The California conundrum is contentious ground for driving experts. Kathy Kelly, manager of Safeway Driving School, kindly rallies to the defense of our neighbors to the west -- maybe it's because her husband was a cop in Los Angeles. "I hear people blaming California drivers all the time," says Kelly. "Maybe it's the bad Northern California drivers, I don't know, but Southern Californians drive much better. But if there are bad California drivers here, it's because they feel they can break the law here. In Los Angeles County they have a lot more police, and here they're just so short. There aren't enough police to enforce the law, so they know they can get away with it here." Jeff Payne, president of youth driving program Driver's Edge, too, rallies to the defense of the Sunshine State. "I don't think it's California at all. It adds to some of the congestion, but in California I definitely wouldn't put them as bad drivers, because everyone there has to drive." "I've lived in California, and I've never seen what I see here," says Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Honea. "Everyone, myself included, needs to look in the mirror." The "Maybe That Whole Idea of Limiting Growth Wasn't Such a Bad Idea, Considering That the I-15 North-to-U.S. 95 North Interchange Ramp Generally Resembles a Moroccan Flea Market" Theory "It's just the increase in people, and not enough roadways," says Steve Findlay, general manager of Deluxe Taxi. The "I Blame Las Vegas" Theory Or maybe it's the Las Vegans who have lived here all along -- "all along" meaning for the last 20 years. The theory goes something like this: As the city has boomed -- bringing with it wider roads and more cars -- Las Vegans have stumbled and fallen behind the evolutionary curve, applying old driving habits to a new environment. In this theory, longtime Vegans are like Neanderthals getting their asses waxed by the new species in their midst. "One thing about Southern California is that they're much used to really high volume traffic," says Tom Hawley, transportation reporter for KVBC Channel 3, "whereas in Las Vegas, it's a more recent phenomenon, so the people who live here aren't used to it. Under that hypothesis -- which is not tested -- if you ask longtimers, you'll get a response that traffic is a lot more horrible." And, scratching their privates with their quaint stone tools, Las Vegans just can't cope. The "I Blame Las Vegas" Theory, Inoffensive "Tossed Salad" Variation If multiculturalism is like a patchwork quilt, then local roads are like a patchwork quilt made of angry speeding metal boxes. Given that most people in Las Vegas move here from somewhere else, it only makes sense our diverse driving folkways are going to clash on the road. "If there is one common denominator [for bad driving], it's because we have so many newcomers from elsewhere," says Omar Sofradzija, Review-Journal transportation columnist. "It seems like no one is from here, and if you are, the small town you grew up in has disappeared and, unknown to you, you've moved to a big city. People bring their different driving habits and patterns, and more importantly their norms, and expect everyone else to understand them. What might be passing in one community is reckless speeding in another." Call it commuter multiculturalism, which on the road doesn't so much make a patchwork quilt as a hateful soup of mass retardation. A Touching Philosophical Addendum to the "I Blame Las Vegas" Theory, Inoffensive "Tossed Salad" Variation The R-J's Sofradzija adds that Las Vegas' much-deplored lack of community spirit hampers good driving. "We're a community that lacks a sense of community, which exhibits itself when driving," he says. "We're more reluctant to act aggressively in a place with community spirit. This is a place where you don't know your neighbor, you don't know your community, people constantly come and go, and you get used to thinking for yourself. You don't really slide into the community role, you just happen to be living here and doing your own thing. And that does manifest itself when you're driving, just thinking of yourself and your needs. "It can happen in the most benign ways, like not signaling. 'I know what I'm doing, I'm not worried about whether you know what I'm doing.' It's not mean or malicious, it's just, 'Geez, I need to get from here to there.'" The "Or Maybe It's The Fact We Live in a Subliterate Service Economy Largely Populated by Lurching Blue-Collar Man-Children Whose Idea of Driving Courtesy Is Warning You With a Middle Finger Before Racing You to the Next Red Light" Theory Just a thought. The "Finally, Someone Blames the Tourists" Theory "This being a tourist town," says Channel 3's Hawley, "especially in the resort corridor, you're dealing with a lot more outsiders, and it's human behavior that they don't pay quite as close attention in other people's communities as in their own." [Applause.] The "When the Cat's Away, the Mice Will Play, 'Play' Meaning Gleefully Running Red Lights and Smacking Pedestrians Like Bowling Pins While Drinking Captain Morgan's Rum From a Stripper's High-Heel Shoe" Theory What happens on Las Vegas roads ... well, you know where this is going. "People in Las Vegas drive selfishly, like they're the only ones on the road, and the reason is they have the perception they're not going to get caught," says Erin Breen, director of UNLV's Safe Community Partnership. She says what we need is more cops, yeah, but more importantly, more frequent sights of cops pulling over jerky drivers in order to send a collective, authority-fearing chill down the spines of drivers who might consider, say, leaping over three freeway lanes to make their exit. "I know there are more officers, but it's still not enough. People see other drivers do terrible things and watch them not get caught, so they think, 'I'm not gonna get caught either.' Everyone lives in a 'not gonna to happen to me' world." Perhaps not for long. Coming soon: more cops. A voter-approved quarter-cent sales tax hike took effect in October 2005, and will allow Metro to hire 150 new officers a year. Ideally, Metro wants two cops per thousand people. And the Nominees for Typical "Vegas" Driving Habits Are ... Running red lights. Police agencies in Southern Nevada have long been salivating over stop-light cameras to photograph and ticket perps who blow through reds, but they've been repeatedly shot down thanks largely to a libertarian distrust of Big Brother surveillance. Undaunted, this legislative session, the Nevada Chiefs and Sheriffs Association is hoping to get a red-light camera law on the books. "We think we have a good chance of getting a bill passed," says Capt. Tom Conlin of Metro's Traffic Bureau. Not only will it prevent accidents and save lives, says Conlin, but "it's a heck of a lot cheaper than putting a cop on every corner." Following too closely. "Last year, our single biggest cause of crashes was following too closely," says Nevada Highway Patrol's Honea. Honea says following too closely accounted for 74 percent of last year's 15,565 crashes in the Southern Command area. Cell phones. "If I had to attribute one thing to bad driving behavior, it'd be cell phones," says Channel 3's Hawley. "People don't tend to signal because the cell phone's in their left hand." Perhaps Inspired by Marshall McLuhan, Nevada Highway Patrolman Kevin Honea Tries His Hand at a Grand Theory of Las Vegas Driving Behavior "In 2007, we can do everything way faster than in years past," says Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Honea. "If I want to talk to someone, I can call immediately on the cell phone. If I need information, I have immediate Internet access. If I want directions, I plug into TomTom and it's right there at my fingertips. Every significant thing we do can be done more efficiently and faster than five years ago with one exception: A commute that takes us 20 minutes now takes us 40." The resulting dissonance creates a collective conniption that results in a mass delirium stew of rudeness, aggression, and selfish driving. Or something like that. The "I Believe The Children Are Our Future ... Teach Them Well and They Won't Drive on Your Head" Theory Teens. We need them. They serve our fast food, give us new haircuts to make fun of, and fuel innovation in the acne-prevention technology sector. But on the road? Some fear we're unleashing half-educated monsters on the road. "Las Vegas is a melting pot of disaster when it comes to driving," says Kelly of Safeway Driving School. "But the No. 1 problem is teen drivers who are not properly trained with behind-the-wheel lessons. It's not mandated in this state to take hands-on driver's training to get your license." Kelly points out that in Nevada, teens drivers must log 50 hours of driving with a parent or guardian, but it's not very closely monitored. Plus, what if your dad is a drooling, wall-eyed sloth? "Bad driving skills are contagious," she says. Yeah, so the lady who runs a hands-on driving school is saying the state should mandate hands-on driving schools. Still, Kelly may have a point. Or Maybe Not: The "No, The Kids Are Alright" Counter-Theory Kevin Malone, public information officer for the Department of Motor Vehicles, says that's a bunch of nonsense. "Nevada has almost a model graduated driver's license law," says Malone. "The only difference between the Nevada graduated license law and the model put out by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators is that Nevada only restricts teen passengers for the first three months after they get their license, instead of after six." Malone also reminds you that teen drivers have to take a 30-hour driver's ed class -- even though it doesn't have to include, well, actual driving. "It's a big change from previous years. We used to not have mandatory driver's ed until 1998." Also, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an important-sounding organization, gives Nevada a "good" rating on the way it licenses young drivers. Yeah, so the spokesman for the agency that licenses teens drivers says the system for licensing teen drivers is fine. Still, Malone may have a point. The "Listen, Let's Not Hate on Each Other. Why Don't We Find a Common Enemy on Whom to Focus Our Rage, Like Land-Use Planners?" Theory Perhaps the fault lies not in ourselves, but in our streets. At the very least, they certainly contribute to bad driving, says architect and urban designer Robert Fielden. "From a land-use planning point of view, the key lies with the fact that our streets are too wide and our blocks are too long." Those supersized roadways encourage dangerous cases of leadfoot. "I'm just as guilty as anyone else in that when you get on these 45-mph arterials where the traffic lights are a half-mile apart, you end up driving faster than 45. The driving and speeding isn't the problem, the stopping is the problem. Once you get above that speed limit, it makes it hard to stop in short order." The problem is aggravated by Las Vegas' love affair with the strip mall, which often enslaves roadways to commerce rather than transportation. "There are so many curb cuts along the way for driveways into retail businesses along the arterials that cars are always pulling out in front of you before you have an opportunity to adequately slow down," Fielden continues. "Or they're stopping to make a right turn into a driveway." He singles out West Charleston Boulevard beyond Rainbow Boulevard and South Eastern Avenue as particularly nasty examples. "The solution is to design arterials for vehicle movement, not for business, not for stopping and going. Put all those shopping entrances at the half-mile where those stop lights are, so traffic along the arterial only has to worry about the drive between stop lights instead of each driveway." The "Listen, Let's Not Hate on Each Other. Why Don't We Find a Common Enemy on Whom to Focus Our Rage, Like the Cars Themselves?" Theory Las Vegas Valley Bicycle Club member Ed Thiessen has been riding to work for almost 20 years to his state job on East Sahara Avenue, logging about 80,000 miles on his trusty road bike. He's been fairly lucky -- no unintentional rides on the hoods of semitrucks or anything like that -- but in half a lifetime of witnessing bad driving from a bicyclist's perspective, he wonders if the cars themselves bring out our inner jerks. "You wonder why you have a different mentality when you get in a car. A lot of it is this macho male thing. The bigger the car, the more brave you are," Thiessen observes. "You tend to exert more power. That's what it is, a power trip." The "You Know, Things Would Be Fine If This Was Germany" Theory The great thing about America is that anyone can become president. On the other hand, almost anyone can drive, too. Says Payne of Driver's Edge: "I have to say it's not too difficult to get a driver's license [in America], and that's one of my soapboxes. In this country, none of us are taught how to drive, just taught how to pass the test. You take a written test, do parallel parking, drive around the block and pay $22 to get a license. Look at countries like Germany, where it costs, like, $3,000 to get a license. You go through real driver training, learn defensive driving, and your car has to pass inspection. They take it very seriously." And if you don't pass muster? "You can always ride your bike, take the bus or take the train." And if you don't pass muster in Las Vegas? Of course, you drive anyway. The "This Is a Total Cop-out, But Maybe Driving Would Improve If We Were, Like, Surrounded by Calming Ocean Waves or Majestic Forests or Something" Theory Perhaps the most shocking behavior Bedwell of the North Las Vegas Police Department recently saw was on one of the state's busiest highways hopelessly clogged by gridlock. "People were actually waving each other to get in," he says. He was in Hawaii.
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