Traffic safety leaders joined forces with iconic local mascots Wednesday to send an urgent message to drivers in school zones: “Be kind, be alert, save a life.”
“Far too often, adults are putting children in harm’s way,” said Erin Breen, director of PedSafe Vegas. “Everyone should expect children to be children. It’s in their job description to be unpredictable, to not look before they run.”
Vehicles have already hit 45 kids in the first month of the school year, one less than this time last year, according to data compiled by the Clark County School District Police Department. The data shows 432 kids were hit by vehicles in the 2025-26 school year.
School police Lt. Bryan Zink urged safe driving in school zones and reminded drivers of recent changes to school zone laws during a press conference at Lummis Elementary School in Summerlin.
“When you enter one of our school zones, if you’re speeding, you do an illegal U-turn, you overtake a car, you double park, if you get that ticket, it’s gonna be double the amount of money that it was last year,” Zink said. “It’s sad that it had to come to that, but unfortunately, sometimes through enforcement, hitting people in the pocketbook is the most effective way.”
The mascots, including Chance from the Vegas Golden Knights, Stomper from the Oakland A’s and McGruff the Crime Dog held signs outside seven Summerlin schools on Wednesday morning encouraging drivers to “slow your roll” and “ease up on the gas.”
“Slow down in school zones, plan your route, leave home with enough time and drive as if every child were your own,” said Gina Campbell, principal of Lummis Elementary.
Students hit by vehicles while riding e-scooters or e-bicycles accounted for 26 of the 45 collisions so far this school year. Metropolitan Police Department Capt. Jarvis Dudley called on kids riding e-devices to wear helmets, learn traffic safety laws and follow the 15 miles per hour speed limit on sidewalks.
Dudley urged parents to enforce these laws on their kids for their own sakes.
“Make sure your children have the correct safety equipment and they understand what they’re supposed to do, because you parents can also be held responsible for injuries and violations of laws that their children commence,” Dudley said. “If you violate those laws, you will be held accountable.”
Zink said school police works with local police departments to enforce traffic laws in school zones.
“We really go out and hammer traffic,” Zink said. “The only reason we’re doing it — it’s not a revenue stream — it’s just we gotta keep our kids safe. We’ve got to make sure that this generation of children can make it to and from our schools safely so that they can grow up and become great adults in our society.”
Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.
