Editorial: Law emerges from tragedy

Friday, May 6, 2005 | 5:24 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

May 7 - 8, 2005

In November 2003, during the Las Vegas Sun's extensive and ongoing reporting about this state's perennially high number of pedestrians hit and killed by reckless drivers, a deputy district attorney summed up a major flaw in Nevada's traffic laws. "If you drive through a stop sign and kill someone now, it's a traffic ticket. It's exactly the same as if you drive though a stop sign and don't hit anyone," Bruce Nelson, a prosecutor in vehicle-crime cases, told Sun reporters. We are gratified that Nelson's succinct observation is no longer true.

Gov. Kenny Guinn last week signed into law Assembly Bill 295, creating a vehicular manslaughter law for Nevada. Negligence behind the wheel that results in death can now be prosecuted as a misdemeanor. Drivers found guilty of violating the law will face penalties of six months in jail, a $1,000 fine and a year's suspension of their licenses. Similar bills had been proposed in three past legislative sessions, but failed each time.

This session, however, awareness had been heightened. Statistics compiled by this newspaper showed Nevada to be one of the most dangerous cities in the country for pedestrians and bicyclists. We documented a driving culture that has sprung up over the past several years in which pedestrians, bicyclists and other motorists are constantly at risk. In October 2003, for example, a driver passing a car hit two 13-year-old girls crossing a Las Vegas street, killing them. The driver was cited only for failure to yield and driving with an expired license.

The bill signed by Guinn was introduced by Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno. It contains protections for people involved in unavoidable accidents. But the next time a driver kills someone because he wasn't paying attention or was driving recklessly, there will be more coming his way than an inconsequential ticket. With this new law, drivers who don't think about the consequences of their behavior to others may at least think about the consequences to themselves, and drive more safely.