A six-vehicle crash killed nine people and left one person in critical condition in a wreck that police in Nevada said was caused by a driver who was speeding.
The driver of a Dodge Challenger also ran a red light before the collision Saturday afternoon, which involved 15 people, North Las Vegas Police spokesman Alexander Cuevas told reporters at a news conference.
“We have not seen a mass casualty traffic collision like this before,” Cuevas said at the briefing around 11 p.m. local time.
The crash was reported at 3 p.m., Cuevas said, after the driver “struck multiple vehicles, causing a chaotic event.” Some of the vehicles struck were pushed into a vacant lot on the intersection.
The ages of the people who died ranged from young juveniles to middle-aged adults. Two people were taken to a hospital where one died and the other was in critical condition, Cuevas said.
It was not yet known whether the driver of the Dodge was impaired.
The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) on Thursday released a strategy designed to cut the soaring number of traffic deaths on American roads that it called a "crisis."
In October, USDOT said deaths jumped 18.4% in the first six months of 2021 from the same period a year earlier, for the most deadly first half on U.S. roads since 2006 and the largest six-month increase recorded in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System's history, which has been in use since 1975.
"Please making this a safer community by slowing down, (and) paying attention to speed limits," officer Alexander Cuevas from the North Las Vegas Police Department told the press briefing.
"Please do not drive distracted," he added.
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