A traffic safety expert is urging drivers to be vigilant while sharing the road with motorcycles after separate crashes killed two motorcyclists in the Las Vegas Valley less than 12 hours apart Saturday.
Erin Breen, the director of UNLV’s Road Equity Alliance and PedSafe Vegas, said that crashes involving motorcycles often stem in part from distracted driving and from drivers’ difficulty recognizing road users who are not in passenger vehicles.
“I keep track of these, and I can’t even tell you how many times I just write ‘FTY’ for failure to yield,” Breen said. “Our brains look for that vehicle, and that’s why, you know, we’ve run campaigns (telling drivers to) ‘look twice,’ but people don’t look twice.”
Kenneth Medina, 19, and Tyler Newmark, 20, were identified by the Clark County coroner’s office as the motorcyclists who died. Their families have created GoFundMe pages to help cover funeral and other expenses.
“No family is ever prepared to lose someone they love, especially someone so young,” said a GoFundMe page organized to help Medina’s family with funeral, burial and other expenses. “The pain of losing Kenneth so suddenly is something words cannot fully describe. His absence has left an unimaginable emptiness in the hearts of his family and friends.”
The North Las Vegas Police Department, without identifying Medina by name, said in a news release that a motorcyclist traveling east on a 2005 Suzuki GSX-R600 was turning left onto northbound McDaniel Street from Lake Mead Boulevard when a westbound 2013 white Toyota Scion xB struck the front of the bike at about 11:30 a.m.
Neither driver showed signs of impairment, police said.
The motorcyclist, who suffered life-threatening injuries, was transported to University Medical Center, where he later died.
A GoFundMe page was created to assist Newmark’s family with expenses including funeral and memorial costs.
“He was taken from us far too soon, and our hearts are shattered,” the GoFundMe page said. “Tyler was the kind of person who lit up a room, a loyal friend, a loving family member, and someone who always showed up for the people he cared about.”
The Metropolitan Police Department, which didn’t identify Newmark by name, said in a news release that a 21-year-old Las Vegas man was riding a 2025 Honda Rebel 300 when a 2024 Tesla Model 3 failed to yield to the motorcycle shortly before 7:55 p.m.
Police said the driver of the Tesla was making a left turn onto Hacienda Avenue after stopping at a stop sign on northbound Redwood Street, near South Rainbow Boulevard, when the collision happened. The motorcyclist was taken to UMC, where he was pronounced dead.
The driver of the Tesla showed no signs of impairment, according to the report.
Drivers of passenger vehicles in general need to take extra precautions to account for motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians, Breen said.
“If you’re the driver in a vehicle and you kill someone, I promise you it’s going to be the worst thing that you’ve ever been through, and you’re going to relive that for a very, very long time,” said Breen. “But people never think it’s going to be them.”
Contact Kalohe Danbara at kdanbara@reviewjournal.com.
