Track’s future unclear after child’s death

Wednesday, July 2, 2003 | 11:11 a.m.

The Las Vegas Motor Speedway closed two of its tracks Tuesday night and canceled the first scheduled event since a motorcycle accident last week claimed the life of a 5-year-old boy.

Tyler David Santos died of injuries sustained in a fall at the "pee wee" motocross track last Wednesday. Tuesday's canceled events included a practice scheduled for children at that track and another practice scheduled at the adult motocross track.

But both tracks were closed until further notice, Jeff Motley, a spokesman for the speedway, said. He would not comment further on the matter.

Meanwhile Tyler Santos' parents say they want the track reopened for other children to enjoy the sport, but not until conditions they believe contributed to their son's accident are remedied.

Tyler Santos was riding a 50cc motorcycle last week at a practice when he overshot a turn and went down an embankment and crashed. He died from injuries sustained in the accident.

"We're not suing these people," said Jocelyn Santos, Tyler's mother. "What we want is to have them take care of the track for the future."

Bern Santos, Tyler's father, said that the "pee wee" track had several dangerous turns like the one his son took before falling down an embankment. The track level should be lowered in general, he said.

Metro Detective Oscar Chavez, who is investigating the accident, said the embankment had a 45 percent grade and was 21 feet long. The course had a total of eight turns and about 13 jumps, he said.

"We didn't realize before how unsafe this was," Bern Santos said.

Still, he said he was working with Club MX -- the group that maintains the track and supervises events -- to get speedway officials to reverse their decision on closing the track.

Motley said Tuesday night Club MX and the speedway were "'attempting to work out an agreement ... to reopen the tracks."

Chris Powell, general manager of the speedway, said "I'd like to believe we'll have some type of agreement by their next scheduled practice, which is Tuesday."

Powell said he was attempting to reach a lease agreement with Club MX. Currently the club and the speedway operate under a joint venture, said Todd Gould, president of the club.

Gould said he had retained an attorney to seek legal action to reopen the track if it remains closed next week, when another practice is scheduled for Tuesday night.

"The speedway has no legal right to shut the track down," said Las Vegas attorney Donald "Butch" Williams, who said he would consider filing for a lawsuit asking a court to reopen the track.

Tyler's family supports the move.

"If they close the track, kids are going to ride out in the desert, and that will be more unsafe," Bern Santos said.

Gould said his group was "re-evaluating" the track as a result of the fatal accident, as well as its safety rules and guidelines and its minimum age, which is currently 4 years old.

The club's rules and standards indicate all riders must wear a helmet, shatterproof goggles, protective pants and boots. But Bern Santos said he thinks young children should also wear neck braces, which Tyler was wearing at the time of the accident.

The rules and standards say nothing about the minimum training needed for children to ride motorbikes, however.

Morris Crane, manager of training systems for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Dirtbike School, which has a Las Vegas branch, said "dirt-bikes have traditionally been father trains son -- but we're trying to break that mold."

The Las Vegas school offers a half-day course on basic safety principles to children ages 6 and older six. The foundation has determined that children younger than six do not "comprehend the concept of risk management," according to Mike Mount, spokesman.

In its two years in Las Vegas, the school has had 23 students under 16 years of age, Crane said.

Gould said at least 100 youths under the age of 16 ride two to three nights a week throughout the year at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Tom Lindsey, spokesman for the American Motorcylist Association, an organization that oversees more than 4,000 events per year nationwide -- but not the weekly practices at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- said there are no national standards for the minimum age at which children can ride 50cc motorcycles, the type Tyler Santos was riding when he died.

"It is a motor sport that involves risk, Lindsey said. "Training, supervision and equipment can mitigate that risk."

At the same time, he said, the question of age limits is one the sport itself should answer.

"It's not a societal question -- it's a question to ask thousands of enthusiastic parents and participants," he said.

District Attorney David Roger, who has recently issued a number of rulings on parents who endangered their children, said that he had not received any indication from Metro Police on this case about whether charges should be pressed against the Santoses for endangering Tyler by allowing him to ride at the track.

Chavez said he was not considering sending the case onto the district attorney for charges. He said that his investigation led him to conclude that "little Tyler wasn't familiar the bike he was riding ... which he had had for three months" prior to the accident.

Bern Santos said he taught Tyler to ride motorbikes two years ago.

Pat Moore, who works with the National Motosport Association, said that the age of a participant in a given event "just depends on whether they can handle the bike" and that participants "could be as young as 4."

Moore also said that statistics are not kept on the number of accidents involving children.

"We don't keep track of accidents," she said. "There's no reason to."

Bern Santos said that he thinks his son was old enough to ride a 50cc motorcycle, which is capable of reaching speeds of up to 40 mph. He said his son started riding motorbikes at 3 years old.

"It just depends on the individual," he said. He also said that the motorcycles rarely go more than 20 mph on the track.

But Suzanne Barnard, vice president of public policy for American Humane, a national child advocacy organization, said the question of the age at which children should be allowed to participate in such sports needs to be raised.

"You've got to ask what kind of judgment and decision-making abilities a 5-year-old has," Barnard said.

"I would want to know -- is a 5-year-old capable decision-making to keep himself safe? And what are the standards for children's safety in this sport?"