LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Las Vegas Metro Police called it ‘a week of heartbreak on our roads’ — a series of deadly crashes, just days apart, and multiple victims were motorcyclists.
Police reported a total of five fatal motorcycle crashes in the valley in a span of 10 days. Three of those motorcyclists were killed in crashes on back-to-back days: October 5, 6 and 7.
“There’s so much risk in riding a motorcycle,” said Justin McDonald with the Nevada Rider Motorcycle Safety Program. “You’re less protected, you don’t have a cage around you. You’re less visible because you’re small, and you have to balance the bike because you only have two wheels.”
Metro Police posted on social media about this tragic week on our roads, saying “these aren’t just numbers — they are lives lost and families shattered.”
One victim was 44-year-old Michael Robinson — a father on a motorcycle, who was killed when a car made a left turn in front of him. Police say his family, following behind him, witnessed the whole thing.
“The data shows, as far as this year 2024, it’s mostly right-of-way violations, where a car driver’s going straight, and a motorcyclist would turn in front of them, and the car driver hits them,” said McDonald. “So sometimes the car driver is not obeying the law, not following lights; sometimes it’s the motorcyclist.”
Another issue is lane splitting and lane filtering — riding between cars in moving traffic or weaving through standstill traffic — which are both illegal in Nevada.
“And since it’s not legal here, car drivers are not looking for motorcycles to do that and it’s unsafe, especially when nobody knows you’re going to do it,” said McDonald.
To combat the deadly trend on our roads, the Nevada Rider Motorcycle Safety Program offers free and low-cost motorcycle classes across the state.
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