Nine dead, including children, after a six-car crash in Las Vegas By Reuters

By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) – Nine people died and six were injured after a six-car crash in north Las Vegas on Saturday when a Dodge Challenger traveling at a “high rate of speed” ran through a red light and crashed with multiple vehicles at an intersection.

The driver of the Dodge Challenger was among the dead, police said, adding that “speed is a factor” in the crash that took place on Saturday afternoon.

The ages of those who died ranged from juveniles to middle-aged adults, the police said in a press briefing late on Saturday. Two people were taken to a hospital where one died and the other was in critical condition.

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 US 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 don’t drive distracted,” he added.

The probe into the incident was ongoing.