Commuters near schools may encounter more congestion on their daily drives with a new bell schedule taking effect in the Clark County School District, a traffic expert said ahead of the school year’s start on Monday.
“You’ll see more cars on the road at different times,” said Joseph Norby, director of the Regional Transportation Commission’s Freeway and Arterial System of Transportation. “We’re going to start seeing a lot more traffic in and around our school zones. Generally speaking, the traffic network is built … to accommodate fluctuations.”
With a few exceptions, elementary schools will start at 9:15 a.m., middle schools at 7:30 a.m., and high schools at 8:30 a.m. this school year after school district leaders announced the change in January.
For drivers who pass high schools to get to their 8 a.m. job, for example, “you’re now going to see some high school students commuting where you didn’t before,” Norby said.
He added that, with start times changing at nearly all schools, changes to traffic patterns across the valley should largely balance out.
“We don’t anticipate a huge, drastic change in traffic that we see on the roadway,” Norby said.
RTC will monitor traffic patterns around schools for the first few weeks of classes and work with local municipalities to modify traffic and pedestrian light timings as necessary, Norby said.
“If we run into a situation where things are backing up, or signalized intersections are not clearing the way they should, we’ll monitor those situations and be able to modify the traffic signals to be able to accommodate those changes in fluctuations,” Norby said.
The school district did not conduct a traffic analysis before approving the new start times, instead considering community input, employee feedback and research to decide on the new bell schedule, Jesse Welsh, deputy superintendent of teaching and learning, said in an emailed statement.
He also pointed to research showing a reduction in teen driver motor vehicle crashes when high school start times are pushed later in the morning.
“We understand this decision is a change and shifts traffic patterns,” Welsh said. “This decision was made after careful consideration of multiple factors, with the highest priority on improving student achievement.”
Norby said valley drivers also will have to adjust to school zones being largely reactivated during the week.
“You may have gotten accustomed over the last couple months during the summer to not seeing kids in crosswalks, not seeing crossing guards, not seeing folks in and around school zones,” Norby said. “Pay attention, slow down, have some patience and help protect yourself and those school-aged kids that are commuting to and from school.”
School zone safety changes
Drivers also can expect to find refreshed traffic infrastructure near schools and harsher penalties for school zone traffic infractions, according to Andrew Bennett, director of the Clark County Office of Traffic Safety.
The county has repainted crosswalks, made traffic signs more visible near schools and started distributing traffic safety educational materials to community members ahead of the school year’s start, Bennett said.
Clark County also has extended the activation time of school zone flashers to 50 minutes before and after school year, up from 30 minutes in prior years, he added.
These changes, and roughly 70 others, were recommended by a working group aimed at improving school zone traffic safety. Vehicles hit 427 students on their way to or from school last school year, data collected by district police shows.
Penalties have doubled for school zone traffic infractions — including U-turns, speeding and illegal parking in bike lanes — under a state law that went into effect July 1, Bennett said. Fines can now reach $1,000, he said, the highest fine amount allowed for a misdemeanor.
These penalties can apply even in school zones with signs calling for reduced speed limits “when children are present.” Those signs must be followed “when children are in a posted school zone or crossing zone on school days” under the new law, Bennett said.
Schools also are getting help from community partners to curb the rise in kids being hit by vehicles.
The Las Vegas Grand Prix said in July that it’ll commit $100,000 to Clark County’s new school zone safety education campaign, an investment that Bennett said is vital to ensuring safety. Clark County will use that money to fund several educational resources, ranging from e-bike safety tip cards to driving safety lessons for teens, Bennett said.
“The county’s leading the effort to ensure that we use those funds to have the most accurate, timely and accessible information into the hands of parents, students and principals,” Bennett said.
The city of Las Vegas also expanded its crossing guard coverage to five additional high schools within city limits.
Bennett offered advice to drivers who will encounter active school zones: “No U-turns, don’t pass another vehicle, obey the speed limit and watch out for pedestrians and crossing guards.”
Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.
