Cops’ answer to road hogs messy, mostly

Decade-old law aimed at aggressive drivers is rarely used because it’s tough to enforce

Wed, Aug 6, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Chris Morris

Prepare yourself for some Las Vegas logic: Here, in a city certain its motorists are the worst, getting a ticket for aggressive driving is almost impossible. Not because it doesn’t happen, but because it’s hard to fit the bill. It’s hard, basically, to be bad enough, aggressive enough, given the constraints of the law.

Reader poll

NHP wants to ensue bill brakes road rage (3-19-1999)

Nevada Traffic Laws: NRS484.3765 Aggressive Driving

So, surprise, surprise, 10 years after Nevada became the second state in the nation to enact an aggressive-driving law, police say they really don’t use it all that much. Sure, it’s nice to have another law to lob at someone, but frankly, law enforcement officers say the ticket isn’t worth the risk to the public.

Here’s why: You have to break a lot of road rules in a short period to meet the parameters for aggressive driving in Nevada. First, you must be speeding. No problem. But then you have to commit at least two additional driving infractions — tailgating, say, while whipping across lanes without turning on your blinker, or running a red light and then running off the road. Again, not difficult for your hostile Hummer owner. The hard part, however, is doing it all within the space of one mile.

Before she can write a ticket for aggressive driving, a police officer has to be certain the infractions happened within 5,280 feet. One inch over, and the whole thing is blown. Of the 13 states that have aggressive-driving laws, Nevada is the only one that insists the offenses happen within a specific distance. And that distance is part of the reason why Nevada Highway Patrol troopers don’t write many tickets for aggressive driving, agency spokesman Kevin Honea explained.

Try to see it from behind the wheel of a black and white Crown Vic: A bright yellow Mustang blows by at 40 mph over the speed limit. Are you going to follow the driver for a mile in the hope of catching him make two more mistakes? Are you going to let your eyes bounce between your odometer and the road and the yellow Mustang and the cars it is almost clipping to make sure it’s all happening within a mile? Are you just going to hold your breath and let it happen?

“As a rule of thumb,” Honea said, “we like to get that vehicle stopped as soon as we can.”

The Nevada Highway Patrol doesn’t keep statistics on how often its officers write aggressive-driving tickets, but Honea says it’s not all that often. The North Las Vegas Police Department doesn’t keep those kinds of statistics either, but Officer Tim Milligan says he hasn’t written one in at least four months. In the same period, however, he has written many tickets for aggressive driving’s cousin: reckless driving. This is because reckless driving is easier to catch — it’s basically wild speeding. That’s it.

Metro traffic police do keep track: From Jan. 1, 2007, through Sunday, officers wrote 382 aggressive-driving citations. In that same time frame, they wrote 835 reckless-driving tickets — more than double the number of aggressive tickets.

Fines for reckless and aggressive driving are identical — anywhere from $250 for the first offense to $2,000 for the third. It’s the penalties that accompany the fees that differ. First-time aggressive drivers must pay for traffic school and can have their licenses revoked for up to a month. Second-time aggressive drivers will have their licenses revoked for a year. Reckless drivers, racers in particular, can be given up to 99 hours of community service and up to six months in jail for the first offense. For each subsequent reckless racing offense, the community service and time in jail get longer.

So why did Nevada lawmakers write in the one-mile rule? Well, a careful combing of meeting minutes from 1999’s 70th session of the Legislature, when Assemblyman David Parks, D-Las Vegas, proposed the bill, reveals this much: “There had been some confusion on how long a single continuous period of driving was.”

Nine years later, Parks recalls there were concerns that law enforcement could exploit the law — could follow someone for 15 miles, waiting to pounce on the slightest problem. It was “intended to be a limitation placed on any abusive use of the law,” Parks said.

Instead, best-laid plans backfired. Law enforcement can’t abuse the law, but it can’t really use it either.

In Arizona, the first state to enact aggressive-driving laws, law enforcement officers can follow drivers for as long as they want. That’s to catch them making mistakes, but also to see whether they’re going to correct themselves with a little scrutiny, Department of Public Safety spokesman Harold Sanders said. Incidentally, Arizona Highway Patrol troopers regularly write tickets for aggressive driving — the citation accounts for 10 percent to 15 percent of all moving violations, Sanders says.

When Sanders heard about Nevada’s one-mile rule, by the way, he was perplexed.

“If we had anything close to that, that would hinder us,” he said. “That would really be a nightmare to fit that criterion.”

Parks now wonders whether it’s time to craft an amendment to his original law, which might be a smart move for a guy running to take over Dina Titus’ Senate seat. Getting tough on Nevada’s aggressive drivers isn’t the sort of thing that turns off voters.

Last year, lawmakers actually did look at the aggressive-driving law. Tucked inside a bill sponsored by Sen. Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, was a proposed amendment to the law setting fixed minimum penalties for breaking it. The proposal passed. In other words, lawmakers succeeded in making the law harsher.

Now if someone would just make it easier to use.

Discussion: 10 comments so far…

By PatriciaLV

8/6/08 at 4:01 a.m.

Suggest removal

One mile? Hell I've seen them do it in one block.

And so have Metro officers.

Face it, we live in a town where you'll get a ticket for wearing your seatbelt incorrectly, but it's OK to have seven kids in the back of your UNCOVERED pick-up truck.

It's a town where people actually have to be REMINDED not to leave their kids in cars. (The head spins on that one.)

It's a town where someone wants to mandate that EVERYONE who owns a pool has to have a fence built around it whether or not they have kids.

But aggressive driving? It's almost celebrated. I'm pretty sure more people have died from aggressive driving in this town than all of the above combined.
By Sunlizard

8/6/08 at 8:09 a.m.

Suggest removal

The police actually drive like thatin Vegas. Will they write themselves up?

Why not enforce stopping at crosswalks? That would make sense for a city of drunks like Vegas...
By That_Anonymous_Guy

8/6/08 at 9:05 a.m.

Suggest removal

C'mon... driving here isn't so hard once you know the universal laws of the Las Vegas driver:

1. I am the most important person in the universe. All other drivers must get the hell out of my way.
2. Turn signals are optional.
3. Same for red lights.
4. Right turns may be made from any lane of traffic. Worried about cutting off three lanes of rush hour traffic? See Rule 1.
5. Absolutely no one is permitted to travel at or near the speed limit. You must exceed or go under the posted limit by at least 15 mph at all times.
6. If you're the first car at a light, don't bother paying attention to the light. You'll know when to go when cars behind you begin honking. But be sure to flip them off before you move, for they have violated Rule 1.
7. Never, under ANY circumstances, permit traffic to merge onto the freeway in front of you.

Thus endeth today's lesson.
By harske

8/6/08 at 9:33 a.m.

Suggest removal

This has to be the most assinine thing I've seen in quite some time. Who in their right mind passed this law? The only way I see for a trooper to be able to conclusively prove multiple infractions in the space given is during accident reconstruction, and that's outrageous. Figures. One more example of the importance of maintaining our civil liberties coming at the expense of innocent and law-abiding citizens. How stupid to have a law aimed at protecting people be utterly un-enforceable. I'd like to say I'm surprised, but as a sad testament to what I'm learning about Las Vegas since I moved here last December, I'm not.
By PatriciaLV

8/6/08 at 10:31 a.m.

Suggest removal

LMAO, That_Anonymous_Guy. I needed that one :)
By boftx

8/6/08 at 2:33 p.m.

Suggest removal

I've come to the conclusion that most people moving to Vegas are running from at least 3 or 4 outstanding traffic warrants in other states. How else can you explain the astounding number of horrible drivers?
By eddiebumtech

8/6/08 at 3:48 p.m.

Suggest removal

I don.t see that many aggressive drivers. Much much more often is see people driving too slow. It's very frustration going less than 35 on a 45 mph road with 3 lanes. Some people see an opening and blast around, now they are the bad guy. How many people have no clue that driving too slow is against the law? Some times they are on their cell phone or just talking to someone in the car, or just don't know the speed limit. These people need to pay attention. We all need to be better drivers. Should it be harder to get a drivers license?
By annienonymouse

8/7/08 at 6:03 a.m.

Suggest removal

Traffic was backed up on the 215 as usual. I thought there was an accident up ahead. Alas, there was none. There she was, in the center lane, talking on her cell phone driving at least 45mph. The back up was other vehicles going around her.

As far as the comment from eddiebumtech goes, I see aggressive drivers daily. I see tailgating daily. I see drivers that are clueless daily. But most importantly, I don't see anyone being pulled over daily.

That_Anonymous_Guy hit it right on. Very humorous and sadly very true.
By wilson

8/8/08 at 6:08 p.m.

Suggest removal

NEVADA CORRUPTIONS a new website.

http://nevadacorruptions.proboards83.com...

http://noelwaters.blogspot.com

(unsolved murders of young girls in nevada and california can be found posted here with photo's)
By PatriciaLV

8/10/08 at 9:45 a.m.

Suggest removal

wilson, please STOP spamming every thread with those links. I (rather politely) asked you on one of those threads to try to find a more appropriate thread on which to post them.

They have NOTHING to do with the subject of this one.