Road rage bill termed unnecessary

Kiley Russell

Wednesday, March 31, 1999 | 9:04 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Existing Nevada traffic laws make a bill to reduce cases of road rage unnecessary, a Washoe County deputy public defender has told lawmakers.

"We're adding a metro Las Vegas problem in Nevada law that we really don't see in northern Nevada," deputy public defender John Morrow told the Assembly Transportation Committee during a hearing Tuesday on AB457.

Morrow argued that the bill isn't even needed in southern Nevada because existing laws against reckless driving and other traffic offenses already cover cases of road rage.

"We really don't need this legislation to control traffic. The existing legislation we have is more than enough to get this done," Morrow said.

"The wording is vague and it would be very tough to get a case like this in a court of law," Morrow added, referring to part of the bill that defines aggressive driving as the "operation of a motor vehicle that endangers or is likely to endanger persons or property."

But the bill's author, Assemblyman David Parks, D-Las Vegas, said 87 people died in the Las Vegas area and 16 died in the Reno area in 1996 because of aggressive drivers. He added his bill would give law enforcement another tool to keep the state's highways safe.

"It's usually a very insignificant situation that sets off the aggressive driving," Parks said, adding that he was inspired to draft his legislation from "just seeing the erratic driving behavior of people in southern Nevada.

Under the bill's provisions, anyone convicted of a first offense of road rage could lose a driver's license for up to 30 days and be forced into a traffic safety course.

For the second offense, angry drivers would lose their licenses for up to one year. In both instances, offenders would be subject to existing fines and jail time already in law for reckless driving or related offenses.