Afternoon rush hour traffic was at a standstill following a fatal accident involving at least seven motorcycles and a passenger vehicle just after 1:40 p.m., on Friday afternoon.
The accident on State Route 160 near the state Route 159 intersection outside Blue Diamond in Clark County blocked the main road to and from Pahrump for hours, forcing many people wanting to reach Las Vegas to take the longer northern route on U. S. Highway 95.
State Trooper Chelsea Steunkel said traffic traveling along Route 160 at the time was backed up for several miles in both directions.
“Some of the drivers did use U.S. 95 as an alternate route, but we were letting traffic by along the shoulder of the highway at a slow rate of speed,” she said.
The northern route up Route 160 to U.S. 95 is approximately 99 miles, or 37 miles longer, to downtown Las Vegas than going over the Spring Mountains.
Emergency crews finally reopened the highway around 5:20 p.m.
The fatal accident also delayed the start of the Pahrump Valley High basketball game against visiting Sierra Vista by 90 minutes, according to Times photographer Horace Langford, Jr.
Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Loy Hixon said the rider of a 2005 Honda motorcycle traveling with a group of other riders may have started the fatal chain reaction.
“The rider of the Honda was traveling faster than a 2005 Suzuki and allowed the right front of the Honda to strike the left side of the 2005 Suzuki,” Hixon stated in a press release. “The Honda overturned and the rider was ejected. While the Honda, while sliding, it struck the right side of the Yamaha, where it also overturned and that rider was ejected. The front of the Kawasaki then struck one of the overturned motorcycles and it also overturned. The rider of the Kawasaki was ejected and while airborne, struck the rider of the 2005 Suzuki.”
Hixon also noted that the rider of a 2007 Suzuki actually reduced speed and laid the bike down on purpose to avoid a collision. That rider was also ejected, while one of the overturned motorcycles, while still in motion, struck the left side of a Chevy pickup travelling south to Pahrump near mile marker 16.
Those motorcycles were a black and yellow 2005 Suzuki, a black 2014 Yamaha, a red 2006 Kawasaki and a red and white 2007 Suzuki.
Hixon said the 18-year-old male rider of the Honda, from Las Vegas, was transported to University Medical Center by Mercy Air in critical condition.
As of late Saturday that rider was listed in stable condition.
The rider of the Kawasaki, identified as 18-year-old Kevin Rubio of North Las Vegas, succumbed to injuries and was pronounced dead on scene by the Clark County Coroner’s office.
Some motorists traveling between Pahrump and Las Vegas chose to take U.S. Highway 95 as an alternate route while emergency crews investigated the accident.
Friday’s accident marks the NHP’s 59th fatal vehicle collision in the agency’s southern command and the 12th involving a motorcycle.