Should Clark County high schools have crossing guards? Regional leaders are exploring options

Las Vegas, Nev. (FOX5) – Leaders across Clark are exploring the possibility of adding crossing guards to high schools to make pedestrian crossings safer for children.

According to Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft, the UNLV Traffic Research Institute held a roundtable discussion with the cities of Henderson, North Las Vegas and Clark County on the issue.

Crossing guards are hired by an independent contractor and then funded by each municipality throughout Southern Nevada. Naft said that only primary schools have security guards.

“Very few high schools in the United States actually have security guards. There are many things that make our territory a perfect storm; we have really wide, fast, straight roads that lead to increased speed, we usually have shift work, which has a whole new set of dynamics, especially when you have kids in this community that go to school really early. You also have a transient population that changes. But you still have people coming from different places with different driving styles and different behaviors towards vulnerable road users, including cyclists, pedestrians and of course students,” said Naft.

Leaders are working to launch a study to analyze traffic trends and crashes in high school zones. Lawsuits across Southern Nevada are also facing an obstacle that FOX5 has reported for months: a shortage of guards.

“At the end of the day, it’s taxpayer dollars, and you have to have the data to prove it’s necessary and important. There’s a financial component to it. Not that you can put a price on a child’s life, but the real concerns in There are concerns about recruiting security guards,” he said.

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