[misshome]

Hi everyone! I was just wondering if all the car accidents out here in vegas is normal. I'm from a small town in Ohio and i'm not used to this. I find myself scared to drive around for fear of getting killed. Are the car accidents normal for a city of this size? Or am I just overreacting?

[RedWingsFan]

Car accidents are normal.... all big cities have more car accidents than smaller ones. It's normal, nothing unusual about it.

[desertgirl]

I've been told that many residents are not accustomed to driving in wet weather because it doesn't rain or snow too frequently here. You might hear of more accidents than normal whenever it rains.

[Jringo]

You just can't drive in the big city like your still in the small town........

[misshome]

i don't drive like i'm in a small town. i drive like a good driver, paying attention, following the laws of the road. People out here drive like complete idiots, i don't know how they passed their driving test.

[VegasNV]

car accidents are unreal in this town,, I have never lived in a city, but driven in cities and I cant imagine it being anything like this town,,, I literaly see an accident whenever I drive on the roads for more then a mile and I am not kidding,,,

[BobKovacs]

There's a lot of accidents there because of the high number of tourists and people who just recently moved there. You've got a lot of people driving around who aren't 100% sure of where they're heading, so the make last minute decisions when their exit/turn "suddenly" comes up. It's not like when you've been driving the same route to work every day for 5 years and you know to get over a few miles before your exit.

When I lived there from 94-99, there was at least one accident nearly every morning and afternoon, mostly in/around the spaghetti bowl, and probably 80% involved at least one car with out of state plates.

Also, someone mentioned rain/snow. If you're out and about when it starts to rain, be exceptionally cautious for two reasons:

- Since it rains so infrequently, the oils/rubber on the road never get cleaned off, so even the slightest rainfall makes the road as slick as ice. Even people who grew up in rain/snow (like I did), have a hard time getting used to the road conditions after a rain in Vegas.

- Even if you can handle the road and are aware of the problem, remember that 90% of the other people out there aren't. After even the slightest rain, you could almost be guaranteed to see an accident at virtually every intersection in town.

Bob

[RedWingsFan]

Speaking of tourists causing accidents - I do believe that is true! On and off the strip. On the strip they run out in front of you, jaywalk, sit still at lights, etc. But even off the strip they do things that are dangerous and cause accidents.

One time on my way driving down the freeway (locals will be familiar with this spot) I was going around the curve downtown on 95 (you can see the downtown skyline there). A car in front of me slammed on the breaks almost causing an accident and got off to the side. I and others behind him had to come to stop as well but I went slow to see what the heck was going on. An old woman jumped out of the passenger side with a camera to take a picture!

That was an accident waiting to happen.

[olecapt]

Anyone know if it is actually true? I can find no statistics that suggest it is...on traffic fatalities we are worse than CA but better than AZ or NM. A bit above the national average but not a lot.

Automobile Insurance is high but again not hugely so.

In the last 100,000 miles my wife and I have driven...almost all of it local around NW Vegas...we have had one minor fender bender...guy talking on a cellphone did not quite get it stopped in time.

I too feel I see a lot of accidents...but I felt that way in OC/LA as well. And the traffic here is just no way in the same class as say Chicago or NYC or Boston or LA.

[YGB]

I don't know about overall accidents. I do know we were briefed at my job that Vegas is ranked #2 in the nation for red light accidents/fatalities. Meaning the number of accidents due to people running the red light.