‘The risk doesn’t sink in,’ motorcycle deaths across Las Vegas on par to surpass total number in 2023: police

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Following a deadly weekend on Las Vegas valley roads, police statistics revealed that the number of deadly crashes involving motorcyclists in 2024 is on par to surpass last year’s total amount.

The most recent traffic action report from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) showed at least 20 motorcycle rider deaths within its jurisdiction in 2024 as of July 12. That is two more fatalities than the same time last year.

These reports are posted weekly, almost always listing this year’s pace ahead of 2023. It signifies that last year’s total amount of motorcycle fatalities, 33 deaths, could be met or exceeded by the end of this year.

It would be the first time since pandemic restrictions were lifted in 2021 that the annual total surpassed the previous year. Though these reports do not detail the factors of each death, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration claims a majority of motorcycle crashes nationally are caused by car drivers who do not see the motorcyclist they make contact with. It goes on to list speeding and impairment on the part of the motorcyclist as a factor in nearly half of these cases.

It’s unclear if those factors played a part in Friday’s deadly crash at Sunset and Jones or Sunday’s critical collision at Buffalo and Alta.

Damon Schuetze represents injured motorcyclists as a partner at Legal Ride. He said there’s a culture of “ride fast, die young” that’s inhibited an acknowledged persistence of drinking and driving and excessive speeding.

“More than half of the fatal and critical injury accidents involving us, there’s impaired riding on the part of the rider,” Schuetze said inside a North Las Vegas repair shop Monday morning. “The pushback I get, ‘I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I know how to ride.’ Okay. I can’t help that.”
“What I’m seeing is more and more calls where there’s no case.”

He also pointed the blame on drivers behind the wheel unwilling to share the road or take the time to look before merging. He adds that the necessary training for licensure costs too much for some drivers, who also have the ability to purchase a motorcycle without one.

“You don’t have to have a driver’s license. You just have to have credit or money and you can purchase a 200-horsepower motorcycle and go out on the street,” Schuetze said. “I don’t think there’s a lack of awareness of the risk, but the risk doesn’t sink in.”

As recent as 2018, one in five traffic fatalities were motorcycle riders.

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