More than just talking turkey, this law enforcement officer in Las Vegas is walking the walk — the crosswalk, that is.
KVVU-TV and the Associated Press reported on the fifth annual event Tuesday in which a policeman dressed in a turkey costume crosses the street to remind drivers to yield to passengers. Drivers who fail to yield to the officer, dubbed “Butterball One,” are subject to receive a ticket from police waiting on the sides of the road.
“A ticket is the best education you will ever get, unfortunately,” Erin Breen of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas’ Transportation Research Center told the television station. “You don’t look at it that way when you get it, but chances are anyone who gets a ticket won’t be not stopping for a pedestrian again for a long time.”
So as not to appear arbitrary, Breen said law enforcement relies on a traffic cone placed before the intersection to determine which drivers literally have crossed the line.
Butterball One’s presence on the streets highlights a significant problem in Clark County, where Las Vegas is located — 46 individuals have died in automobile-pedestrian crashes there this year, KVVU reported, already exceeding the total number from last year.
