Candlelight vigil ceremony honors 136 people killed on Nevada highways

The Nevada Highway Patrol’s Southern Command held its inaugural candlelight vigil outside its Sunset Road headquarters. Similar events took place in Elko and Reno.

Seventy-one of those who died in Nevada fell under the Highway Patrol’s Southern Command. That’s one less fatality than the jurisdiction had last year.

Several officials spoke, among them state Sen. Aaron Ford, who lit the ceremonial first candle. Troopers then lit the remaining battery-powered candles, which were placed in paper bags with cut-out designs. Each bore the name of a person who died and the date of the crash.

Those in attendance included law enforcement officials from multiple agencies, judges, community representatives, legislative representatives, and friends and family of those who died.

“We report these statistics, but they’re so much more than a statistic,” trooper Chelsea Stuenkel said. “They’re people’s lives.”

Stuenkel said one of the best preventive measures drivers can take is to wear a seat belt. Out of the 49 vehicular crashes in 2016, 24 victims were not wearing seat belts.

“It’s one of the only things, besides being a safe driver yourself, that you can do to protect yourself against other drivers on the road,” she said.

Desireé Iñiquez attended the vigil with family members to mourn her father, 59-year-old Larry Long, who was struck and killed by a semitrailer while riding his motorcycle in October.

“I have never had such a wonderful outpouring from people I didn’t know,” Iñiquez said tearfully after the ceremony. “I really don’t know of any other place that has ever done something like that.”

Contact Brooke Wanser at bwanser@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Bwanser_LVRJ on Twitter.