Editorial: Pedestrian protection

Thursday, June 24, 2004 | 9:02 a.m.

Recently in the Las Vegas Valley there have been heartbreaking and horrific instances of pedestrians being killed or critically injured after having been struck by vehicles. Just a week ago 65-year-old Dolores Moose died after being hit by a car as she was crossing Lake Mead Boulevard near Nellis Boulevard. Moose was on her way home after working the late shift at a local casino where she waited on tables, a job that she hoped would earn her enough money to buy a car. And on Monday night 52-year-old Fatu Taputu of Las Vegas was crossing Flamingo Road at Palos Verdes Street when he was struck by a Toyota Corolla. Metro Police say that the driver of the car, 24-year-old Christopher Ramirez, kept driving even though Taputu was stuck in the vehicle's windshield. Police add that the car carried Taputu for 400 feet before the victim eventually rolled off the veh icle. The driver of the car then backed over Taputu, with the vehicle dragging him for several feet. Taputu remains in crit! ical condition.

In addition to the life-threatening injuries suffered by Taputu, what also got our attention were the comments made by a Metro Police officer. Ramirez has been charged with felony hit-and-run and driving under the influence, but the officer said that if Ramirez had just stopped after hitting Taputu, all he would have been charged with was a misdemeanor DUI. As a recent Sun investigative series pointed out, what is so maddening about Nevada's traffic laws is that pedestrians are considered fair game for drivers if they're not in a crosswalk. That means all too often that drivers who hit pedestrians outside of a crosswalk don't get so much as a traffic citation, let alone spend any time in jail for killing somebody.

In light of how few crosswalks there are in this metropolitan area, and the fact that a good number of them are placed in locations inconvenient for pedestrians, our laws are backward. In terms of protection, our laws should treat pedestrians with the highest regard. The burden should be on the drivers not to hit pedestrians. People are no match for vehicles.

In Las Vegas we simply have too many residents who just don't care about anyone else when they're driving, one reason why law enforcement agencies recently stepped up the number of citations they've issued for speeding and reckless driving. In addition to getting people to change their driving habits with tougher enforcement of existing laws, we also need tougher laws when it comes to protecting pedestrians. It's unfortunate, but it appears we've reached a tipping point where people need to have the fear of prison time in order to get them to act responsibly when they get behind the wheel of a vehicle.