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Another item from today's commute. I'm outbound (westbound) on Charleston, crossing Rainbow Blvd at 5.55 pm. The traffic's stalling just beyond the intersection in all three lanes. After clearing the last lane of Rainbow, I can start to see the next traffic light, just a couple of blocks ahead, at Antelope. The traffic light is dark, not working, so all motorists entering that intersection default to treating it as a 4-way stop intersection. Correct behavior by the motorists. However, due to this being the evening rush, the traffic has by now backed up further, not that far from potentially blocking Rainbow traffic.
As I get to the dark traffic light, I see a LVPD squad car, with a lone cop inside, the car standing in the left-turn lane southbound on Antelope. He's watching, er, monitoring, the situation. All the motorists are behaving just fine as they creep up to and through the intersection.
However, the traffic continues to back up behind me and threaten gridlock back at Rainbow. Does this cop doing the monitoring know this? Is it too hot at this time of day (maybe 100 degrees) for him to get out of his squad car and check out the situation further? Even though there is actually a 7-11 convenience store on that very corner where he could get a large bottle of water FIRST before he ventures out?
This is what I mean about thinking like a "city" rather than a small town. This cop could be making a difference in this situation by GETTING OUT OF THE SQUAD CAR and actually directing the traffic flow. This is not a situation where a 4-way stop protocol is the best traffic flow pattern to follow. The gridlock is just creating more opportunities for accidents, more smog, more frustration for hundreds of people.
Is this situation not covered in the training for LVPD street cops? If not, why not?
In this kind of situation ONE COP can make a big difference without doing a huge amount of work.
Another item from today's commute. I'm outbound (westbound) on Charleston, crossing Rainbow Blvd at 5.55 pm. The traffic's stalling just beyond the intersection in all three lanes. After clearing the last lane of Rainbow, I can start to see the next traffic light, just a couple of blocks ahead, at Antelope. The traffic light is dark, not working, so all motorists entering that intersection default to treating it as a 4-way stop intersection. Correct behavior by the motorists. However, due to this being the evening rush, the traffic has by now backed up further, not that far from potentially blocking Rainbow traffic.
As I get to the dark traffic light, I see a LVPD squad car, with a lone cop inside, the car standing in the left-turn lane southbound on Antelope. He's watching, er, monitoring, the situation. All the motorists are behaving just fine as they creep up to and through the intersection.
However, the traffic continues to back up behind me and threaten gridlock back at Rainbow. Does this cop doing the monitoring know this? Is it too hot at this time of day (maybe 100 degrees) for him to get out of his squad car and check out the situation further? Even though there is actually a 7-11 convenience store on that very corner where he could get a large bottle of water FIRST before he ventures out?
This is what I mean about thinking like a "city" rather than a small town. This cop could be making a difference in this situation by GETTING OUT OF THE SQUAD CAR and actually directing the traffic flow. This is not a situation where a 4-way stop protocol is the best traffic flow pattern to follow. The gridlock is just creating more opportunities for accidents, more smog, more frustration for hundreds of people.
Is this situation not covered in the training for LVPD street cops? If not, why not?
In this kind of situation ONE COP can make a big difference without doing a huge amount of work.
//PT
Well a little more complex than that. Charleston is a state route. Traffic enforcement etc. on state routes is the task of the Nevada Highway Patrol. NHP however is notoriously short handed in Las Vegas...because all the other police departments recruit their people with higher salaries.
Further individual patrol cars have assingments that often do not include traffic control except in an emergency. Slow traffic is not an emergency. If you want enough cops to take care of such duties all you have to do is vote to increase taxes enough to increase the force by a third or so. Then they will be glad to provide people for such tasks.
It is a very low tax state. But you pay for that when the cop does not jump out to direct traffic.
Charleston Blvd as state highway. Right, I've heard that one before, from the LV city manager for roads. About why he hasn't already moved all the CAT bus stops into turnouts to avoid more traffic congestion.
You're telling me that LVMPD can't pull me over for speeding on Charleston? I don't think so. I've seen it happen.
And it shouldn't take an emergency for a cop to leave his squad car.
If there are this many rules for LVMPD cops to do their jobs, God help us.
Charleston Blvd as state highway. Right, I've heard that one before, from the LV city manager for roads. About why he hasn't already moved all the CAT bus stops into turnouts to avoid more traffic congestion.
You're telling me that LVMPD can't pull me over for speeding on Charleston? I don't think so. I've seen it happen.
And it shouldn't take an emergency for a cop to leave his squad car.
If there are this many rules for LVMPD cops to do their jobs, God help us.
Sorry PT..I know it is painful...but they really don't care how you would like to see it run.
LVMP almost never direct traffic. In a really big deal they may run out their volunteers who do direct traffic. But it is not in their job description.
You might petition your commissioner to organize and structure a traffic police force but we do not have one at the moment.
And there is no rule. Other than directing traffic around a bad signal is not a police department responsibility.
NHP will on rare occasion direct traffic through a complex problem. But LVMP does not do that as far as I can tell.
You can take one citizen who demands that an officer direct traffic. Then, take another who says the officer should be handling speeding problems on their street instead of directing traffic. On top of that, another person complains that the police need to attack a gang problem in a certain area instead of standing in the street. After that, another resident expects the police to tackle the robbery problem in another area or the bums ion their doorstep. It all ends up being a matter of priorities for the policeman and everyone starts to complain because the police are not directing all of their attention to their particular but legitimate pet problem. They only have so much attention and budget to spread around so they can't be everything to everyone at all times.
In the meantime, by your own admission, traffic was flowing without problem. People were reverting back to their training, taking their turns at the intersection, and things were moving. They may not have been moving at the pace you wanted them to move, but they were moving. What more could you ask other than to have the appropriate bureau come out and fix the trilight?
Also, I do see him doing his job in the described situation. Just by his presence, people were behaving themselves. Had he not been there, the likelyhood that people would be disobeying the rules and putting other motorists in danger would be greatly increased.
Whether you like it or not, the officer does not have to jump at your beck and call. He has the discretion to tackle his job as he sees fit. In this case, he was monitoring a protential problem that wasn't an actual problem at the time and he was likely prepared to address remedial driver training should someone not follow the rules and cause problems for other motorists . . . i.e., chase down an offender and write a ticket. That's his job since everything was working as it should under your described conditions.
In the meantime, he was also available to immediately address other more life threatening situations. He could quickly vacate the area and zip off to a crime-in-progress situation instead of being delayed by trying to turn the traffic direction back over to the responsibilities of the motorists. Such a delay, nor matter if it amounts to even one minute, could mean the difference between life and death. I would rather have him quickly respond to a situation where I was engaged with a violent suspect than have to wait an additional minute because you had to get home for your evening libation 5 minutes early. Having been in such a situation more than once, I can certainly tell you that one minute can mean the difference between life and death, and that in all cases one minute seems like one hour when a life is in the balance.
So, welcome to Nevada and every other state in the union. About the only way to ensure that each an every little pet complaint by all citizens were handled at all times under all conditions, no matter how big, small, or imagined, would be to have a policeman on every corner, at every midblock area, and at the front door of every apartment complex in the city. I know that's something I wouldn't want and I would hope others wouldn't want it, too.
In the meantime, if you think such a situation should be handled differently, you're free to go directly to the policy makers for your Police Department or Traffic Control Department (if there is one in Las Vegas), and discuss a change in policy. It's your city, as one stakeholder amongst all stakeholders, so if you can get more value placed on your concerns than any other concerns from other stakeholders, you can get the policy changed.
Until then, don't blame the policeman. He has a difficult enough job to do when he deals with crooks, crazies, and bums, without also having to deal with minor complaints that at most amount only to an inconvenience. From my perspective, I would thank him for taking appropriate action during the described situation, becuase I know he needs your support in light of the daily garbage he has to take in order to insulate you from the aforementioned crooks, crazies, and bums.
In some respects, that might be his real job . . . to effectively insulate you from the real horrors and major problems of society so that you have the luxury to complain about the little issues. So, as you sit home tongiht with your evening libation in hand, perhaps 5 minutes late due to a traffic delay, please lift a toast to the policeman whose actions got you home safely and unsullied. IMO, that would be the nice thing to do.
Charleston Blvd as state highway. Right, I've heard that one before, from the LV city manager for roads. About why he hasn't already moved all the CAT bus stops into turnouts to avoid more traffic congestion.
You're telling me that LVMPD can't pull me over for speeding on Charleston? I don't think so. I've seen it happen.
And it shouldn't take an emergency for a cop to leave his squad car.
If there are this many rules for LVMPD cops to do their jobs, God help us.
Actually the turnouts can cause more congestion and inconvenience the bus riders, because then nobody gives a chance for the bus to enter the street again, I have seen it on Sahara and waited 15 min in a bus turnout because of that...
This type of thing happens all the time at Eastern and Vegas Valley when the light goes out, you are supposed to treat it like a 4-way stop, just because a light went out, you shouldn't complain about the cops, you should complain about NV Power and have them explain why on a busy street such as Eastern or Charleston a light went out...stuff like this happens, so you make the best out of it, like wait as if it was a four way stop like you're supposed to...Traffic was doing just fine, what it was supposed to do, so the officer wouldn't have to deal with it and could answer something more important...
The only complaint I've ever had in Nevada (well, except for newbies who come to Nevada for what we have to offer then they want to turn it into the lousy place that they left behind because they couldn't stand it there anymore)...but the only complaint I've had is nobody is in charge of the roads.
I've bitched about the cop thing for 43 years PT, so you might as well relax and get used to it. You'll see eight cop cars at an accident site with hundreds of drivers trying to negotiate around, while they stand there and shoot the sh** laughing and joking with each other smoking cigarettes. The only cops you'll ever see directing traffic are the ones hired to work a special event.
Bus turnouts should have been in place years ago. Also, they shouldn't put bus stops in unpaved dirt lots where you trip over construction garbage and get your shoes dirty standing there with nothing to protect you from the sun and looking like a fool. You don't have to worry about the bus getting back into traffic because they just pull out in front of you without looking anyway and force you to swerve into the next lane. In fact, I believe that busses are the single worst cause of traffic congestion in this town, and lack of turnouts is the main reason. That and they always put the stops too close to the corner where they block traffic from both streets.
The other thing is signage. Chances are if there is a sign it is wrong, and for sure it will be in the wrong location...or there just isn't a sign where one is needed. Having worked for the State I learned not to mention signs to anyone because for some insane reason they just go off on you if you wish to communicate something useful to people. This happens in most State offices where they deal with the public as well as on the highways.
Take the signs at the off ramp of Spring Mountain and I-15 heading north. If you were new here you would think that to go east you would take the right lane, and to go west you'd take the left lane. But thanks to the wisdom of NDOT (or lack thereof) it is just the opposite. But you aren't told this until you are about to split your car in half by hitting the Jersey wall that separates the two ramps.
There should be signs right where you exit I-15 (notice he didn't say THE 15...another pet peeve), and then again before you are suddenly forced to change lanes at the last split second if you can think that fast. Then they continue this insanity at the spot where you have to make another split second lane change if you really wanted to get onto Highland Avenue. It's like that all over the state. I hate to compare our fair state with a sewage disposal like California, but at least there they tell you twenty times which lane you need to be in miles before you need to be in it.
Another thing is a complete lack of standards in placing orange markers in the road at construction sites. You just have to try and figure out for yourself where they want you to drive. There is usually no warning ahead of time that your lane is about to end, and if you are out on one of our lonely desert highways, the lane you're in might turn into a tall pile of dirt with no lights, or warning sign at all.
I'm happy to take my chances in the open ranges and hope that the cows stay off the highway rather than see all our open space fenced in; but I do believe that if they can put up warning signs for cattle on the road they can surely let you know ahead of time when the road is about to end, or a lane change is necessary.
I agree about the bus stop thing in lots, where I live, none of the stops have benches or shelters and most are in dirt lots along Las Vegas Blvd, actually there isn't much of a sidewalk either on the Las Vegas Blvd either, at least south of Warm Springs...
signage is another thing, but at least its not like NJ where there's a million No Turn signs, even in places where someone must be stupid to have made a turn in a spot where that sign is...
I witnessed a similar event on S. Jones and the 215 intersection (power outage) and thought it highly dangerous and wondered why no PD as well. The above replies are well informed and make good sense. Glad this topic came up as it was a "new to vegas" sight that bothered me with great wonderment.
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