Last week, we took a little dig at the city of Henderson. We said that because some of them were driving badly and causing auto accidents, law enforcement agencies were ramping up efforts there to monitor certain intersections and issue traffic citations.

Well this week, we probably owe the good citizens of Henderson an apology. Not because they didn’t deserve the extra enforcement initiative… but because we singled out Henderson’s drivers. Because in reality, the rest of the valley apparently isn’t driving safely either.

The evidence comes from an announcement yesterday that the Southern Nevada Traffic Task Force is being revived in response to an alarmingly-high rate of fatalities from auto accidents. Authorities point out that 65 people have died on valley roads in 2013, or about one every day and a half.

As a result, Metro Police, North Las Vegas Police, Henderson Police, and the Nevada Highway Patrol kicked off another enforcement initiative today which runs through May 22. Extra officers will be stationed at various roadway stretches where collisions have occurred in recent months. In Las Vegas, they’ll be focusing on South Desert Inn Road to Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Beltway west to Rainbow Boulevard – looking for offenses such as running red lights, speeding, drunk driving, and texting while driving.

Therefore, we should extend the same message to everyone in southern Nevada that we did to Henderson last week: slow down and obey the traffic laws, and the law enforcement folks will move on and find other areas to concentrate on.