Officials tout bike measure

A bicycle, according to state law, is a vehicle.

Riders must obey the same traffic laws that drivers do. They’re supposed to signal when they turn, stop at red lights, that sort of thing.

Which means they’re also sharing the roads with cars and trucks. This is dangerous.

Take Ryan Pretner, for example. He’s one of hundreds of local bicyclists, literally, who’ve been involved in crashes with cars and trucks in the last few years.

“I’m lucky to be alive,” Pretner said Thursday at an event to publicize laws that protect bicyclists. The publicity is a preview for an event Saturday that could see hundreds of bike riders descend on downtown Las Vegas.

Pretner, now 41 and suffering from the results of a traumatic brain injury, was part of a push in the Legislature three years ago to get a new law passed.

The law has been in effect for two years now, said Sgt. Todd Raybuck with the Las Vegas police traffic bureau. He said it requires drivers to change lanes if they come upon a bicyclist and it’s safe to do so. If there’s no other lane, or if it isn’t safe, the driver must give at least three feet of space to the bike rider, he said.

Dawn Nielsen, with the Henderson Bicycle Advisory Committee, said it can be downright scary riding a bike on the roads.

Sometimes, a car will try to squeeze by when there isn’t enough space. Or worse, the driver will purposely swerve toward the bicyclist, she said.

But things are changing. She said Henderson is striving toward becoming a Bicycle Friendly Community, a designation awarded by the League of American Bicyclists.

There’s also the new 3-foot law, and there are new bike lanes and bike trails all over town.

David Swallow, engineering director with the Regional Transportation Commission, said there are 400 miles of bike lanes, 80 miles of bike routes, and 180 miles of bike trails added locally in the last few years.

Pretner, the man who was injured, used to use many of those lanes and trails often. In addition to working for the Nevada Department of Transportation, he also rode as many as 200 miles a week, he said. He raced and he was teaching his son how to ride competitively.

He was riding in a bike lane on St. Rose Parkway when a pickup truck came up behind him. The truck’s right-side mirror hit him in the back of the head, and he went flying.

The impact shattered his skull, even though he was wearing a helmet. He spent months in a coma, and now, more than four years later, he’s still not fully recovered.

His speech and movements are delayed, and his memory fails all the time.

He pleaded with local drivers to pay attention and to follow the new law.

“Three feet is not much to give to a cyclist to save a life,” he said.

Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.