Raiders PSA On Road Safety Sends Message Of Driver Awareness Nearly Four Years After Ruggs DUI Crash Case; Raiders Coach Pete Carroll In PSA
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by Hugh Byrne
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Pete Carroll was at his desk at Raiders HQ and he looked into the camera with a message about a headline-grabbing issue that Las Vegas grapples with every day .
Carroll, the veteran NFL and college football coach in his first season with the Las Vegas Raiders, said he had something important to address during this Raiders-produced PSA.
“We need a winning playbook off the field and out on the road. That’s why we’re partnering with our community leaders to shine a light on an important issue,” Carroll said.
The issue? Road safety — and the seeming impossible goal of realizing zero fatalities on Las Vegas roads. After Carroll does the intro, Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft and Assistant Sheriff Fred Haas come on the PSA. Even lawyer Farhan Faqvi is part of the PSA discussing speeding and impaired driving.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10081282718666042
“That PSA was produced by the Raiders Organization,” said Kelsey McFarland, a Nevada Department of Transportation spokesperson in Las Vegas.
I saw the Carroll/road safety PSA on a local Las Vegas TV station recently after it was posted on social media Aug. 3.
The Raiders tackling the topic of driver safety and too many crashes on our local Las Vegas roads was a significant step forward for the NFL franchise in light of former Raiders player Henry Ruggs III killing a woman and her dog in early Nov. 2021 from driving under the influence and crashing his Corvette into Tina Tintor’s car in the early morning hours of Nov. 2.
Ruggs was the first player drafted by the Raiders as a Las Vegas-based NFL franchise and was the 12th player picked overall in the NFL in 2020. After he was arrested, he pled guilty to felony DUI causing death in 2023 and was sentenced to three to ten years in prison after hitting a speed of 156 mph before the fatal crash, according to police. Ruggs has since apologized to Tintor’s family and is eligible for parole in a year in August 2026.
It was against that backdrop in 2022 that LVSportsBiz.com suggested in a story that the Raiders launch a public safety campaign to tell Las Vegas motorists to drive more slowly, obey traffic laws and stop killing innocent people like the 23-year-old Tintor.
The Raiders are trying to carve an identity into the Las Vegas market and the team is following standard playbook of doling out free equipment to high school football players, paying for haircuts for back-to-school students and underwriting mental health counseling costs thanks to the Raiders Foundation. All admirable.
Contributions like those are worthy donations to a market that is raising more than $1 billion in public money in order to pay off the $750 million contributed by Southern Nevada to help the Raiders build their palatial domed stadium across I-15 from Mandalay Bay hotel-casino.
It was a strong statement by the Raiders to release a road safety PSA with Carroll leading off the video. Sadly and tragically, news stories of motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists getting killed and maimed on Las Vegas roads are common content in the local media. The Raiders ZeroFatalitiesNV.com PSA does not mention Ruggs or two other players accused by police of DUI in Las Vegas.
LVSportsBiz.com was seeking to interview Raiders team president Sandra Douglass Morgan about the road safety PSA, but she was not available Saturday when the Raiders hosted the San Francisco in the second of three preseason games. The 49ers defeated the Raiders, 22-19, on a 59-yard field goal on the in the game’s final play.
LVSportsBiz.com contacted ZeroFatalities, but did not hear back.
The Raiders can make a difference in saving lives on our public roads.
They have a giant platform to spread this message. The Raiders should use their clout to convince motorists to slow down, stop running red lights, never drink and drive, drop the cell phones and curb the angry, impatient, reckless and dangerous driving. Have road safety rallies at the stadium before events. Have Raiders players and alums show up at high schools to spread the road safety message.
Carroll is trying to rehab a Raiders team that won a mere four of 17 games last year.
But if his PSA message can save a few lives or crashes, his legacy could be more important that squeezing a few more wins this season than what the Raiders won in 2024.
Speaking of Carroll, this is what he had to say after the game about the Raiders’ three-point loss: “I thought this was a really good, hard fought game from start to finish, and we had some things that we needed to correct from the practice that we had, and we did.
“We played the running game very much more impactful than we did in the practice. The adjustments that the coaches made have worked out well. The players were able to adapt this in a couple days’ time against a really formidable running team that loves to run the football. I thought we did that really well. It was a terrific game back and forth the whole time.”
Maxx Crosby welcomed seeing rookie Ashton Jeanty’s power run for 13 yards in the first half.
“Yeah, it was crazy. Ashton [Jeanty] is a top 10 pick for a reason, so getting to see him get a little more breathing room in the backfield was awesome,” Crosby said. “He definitely runs the ball with an emphasis for sure. It was a hell of a run, and you just see him every day show up and get better. I love what that kid’s doing.”
Crosby said it was a “he has arrived moment”: “Yeah, ‘I’m here’ moment. No, he does it all the time, the way he runs the ball, he’s so compact and strong and twitchy in the hole. That’s why he had so much success with Boise State, so we’re really excited about him and we’re looking forward to him being a big part of what we’re doing.”
It’s old news at this point — fans of the visiting team at Allegiant Stadium make their presence known. A eyeball look showed about a 50/50 split between 49ers fans and Raiders faithful.
But there sure was a lot of red in the stadium.
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