Sunday, April 04, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

ROAD WARRIOR: Bicycle laws may need to be revisited

Christopher McDaniel, 16, and his mother, Dawn Vazquez, stand at Grand Teton Drive and North El Capitan Way. At this corner, McDaniel was struck by a car and sustained an arm injury while riding a bicycle in a crosswalk last month. It's illegal in Nevada to ride a bike in a crosswalk. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

A car can be operated only by a licensed driver who is tested on the rules of the road. A bicycle can be operated by someone who knows their ABCs. Or doesn't.

A car has seat belts, rearview mirrors, horns, turn signals and layers of crash-resistant paneling. A bike usually has none of that stuff.

A car can go 100 mph if you tap your foot on the gas. A bike can go as fast as you can get your feet spinning.

So why, Dawn Vazquez asks, do authorities insist on making bicycling versus driving an apples-to-apples comparison?

"Everybody's saying a bicycle is considered an automobile," the Las Vegas mother said last week. "How can you compare a 3,000-pound vehicle to a 50-pound bike?"

It's a touchy subject for Vazquez, whose 16-year-old son was hit by a car while riding his bike across a crosswalk March 16 in northwest Las Vegas.

The teen, Christopher McDaniel, was not seriously injured, though the driver of the car left the scene after scrawling her name and phone number on a fast-food napkin and giving him other napkins with which to dab his bleeding arm.

Vazquez doesn't think that's right, but police do not consider it a hit-and-run. And it wasn't the only time a crosswalk became a bike danger zone last month. A March 22 SUV-bike crash on Tropicana Avenue left a 13-year-old boy badly hurt.

In both cases, police initially opted not to ticket either party since laws were broken by both the bicyclist and the driver. The driver entered the crosswalk with someone in it. And the bicyclist rode in the crosswalk instead of walking his bike across the street.

Amid public outcry, prosecutors later reconsidered and cited the Tropicana driver for failing to pay full attention to traffic. But no tickets appear to be forthcoming in the McDaniel accident, and that steams Vazquez.

Erin Breen, director of the UNLV Safe Community Partnership, said the bicyclists' mistakes hardly equal those of the drivers. "To me, you're much more culpable (as a driver). You have the car. It's a much bigger vehicle. ... We need to take a much closer look and get some definitions of who's responsible for what."

Not a bad idea, say police. "Yes, this is an area that perhaps should be revisited in the next Legislature, and perhaps some specific verbiage needs to be put in there," said Lt. Carlos Cordeiro, second-in-command of the Metropolitan Police Department's traffic division.

But until that happens, the law is the law. All rules regulating bicyclists in Nevada stem from a 47-year-old decree: Nevada Revised Statues Section 484.503. "Every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway has all of the rights and is subject to all the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle," it reads.

Basically, that means bike riders need to behave exactly like car drivers.

Vazquez thinks that's stupid. "How can they have a child who doesn't even have a driver's license or a permit abide by the same law as a motorist who has training?" she said. "How are they supposed to know the law? They don't know the laws. They're not driving. They know not to steal. They know not to lie. They know not to hurt another person."

And a bike is most certainly not a car. Not in speed, not in size, not in safety equipment.

"I can't disagree with some of those arguments," Cordeiro said. "Those laws have been laws on the books for a long, long time and were probably put there based on history. Like anything, things need to be revisited on a regular basis."

Vazquez now tells her kids to ride their bikes on the sidewalk, whether it's legal or not. "Because it's too dangerous in the streets. I've seen how people drive here in Las Vegas," she said.

Cordeiro thinks the community needs to work harder toward making safe spaces for bicyclists. "This should speak to our community leaders and emphasize the importance and significance of dedicated bike lanes in our community," Cordeiro said.

Until laws get changed and more bike lanes get built, parents, bicyclists and drivers need to watch out for themselves and one another.

"For parents, talk to your kids and seek out bicycle safety courses in the community. Make sure your kids wear helmets," Cordeiro said. "Kids need to be aware of the laws and follow the laws.

"Drivers need to be aware they are out on the streets operating these 2-ton vehicles and in this day and age with so many distractions that we face in our lives, the most important thing to focus on in your driving is your driving," Cordeiro said.

Vazquez tells drivers: "Pay attention. Stay off the cell phone. Pull over to the side. Quit eating when you drive. Quit putting your makeup on. There's so many things people do."

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call the Road Warrior at 387-2904, or e-mail him at roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com or

OSofradzija@reviewjournal.com. Please include your phone number.