SOUTHWEST LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A southwest Las Vegas parent who raised concerns about drivers failing to stop for children at a busy crosswalk says she wants more enforcement.
A local personal injury attorney says drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians can face serious consequences.
Lynda Barry spoke with Channel 13 earlier this week about concerns involving her children crossing Jones Boulevard between Hacienda Avenue and Russell Road.
WATCH | What Nevada law says about hitting a pedestrian in a crosswalk
Barry says she frequently hears from her children about close calls while they are in the crosswalk.
“Every day I’m hearing a story. ‘Mom, mom, this car almost hit me and I was in the crosswalk,’” Barry said.
She believes the problem is not the crosswalk itself, but drivers failing to slow down and stop.
“We can tell them to slow down all we want. I don’t think a driver really in their mind stops until they actually get a speeding ticket here, because they’ll realize, oh, police are there,” Barry said.
What are the legal consequences?
Nevada law requires drivers to exercise due care to avoid collisions with pedestrians and outlines circumstances in which drivers must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.
Under Nevada law, when a driver violates certain pedestrian-right-of-way provisions and that violation is the proximate cause of a collision with a pedestrian, the violation constitutes reckless driving.
Sean Claggett, a local personal injury attorney, says drivers have a responsibility to yield when approaching a crosswalk.
“When a driver comes up to a crosswalk, they have an absolute duty to yield,” Claggett said.
Claggett says the consequences can include criminal and civil penalties.
“The law in Nevada says if you hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk, you’re going to be guilty of reckless driving,” he said.
For a first offense under the applicable Nevada statute, a driver can face a fine of $250 to $1,000, 50 to 99 hours of community service and possible jail time of up to six months.
A pedestrian collision can also result in civil liability when someone is injured or killed.
Claggett says the consequences can extend beyond fines or other legal penalties.
“But unfortunately when we talk about consequences, that means someone has been hurt,” Claggett said. “So you’re going to have to live with that, that you may have killed a child because you were in a rush.”
