Family mourns student killed by hit-and-run driver

Speaking through a family interpreter, Teresa Ramos told FOX5 about her godson, 15-year-old Alex Martinez, who was struck by a hit-and-run driver near Nellis and Lake Mead boulevards on Thursday night.Martinez, a student at Desert Pines High School, was killed after he and his passenger were thrown off their moped by the impact.

"He's not going to come back," Ramos said.The passenger, who Ramos said was Martinez's cousin, had minor injuries.
"This time it was someone from [our] family. Maybe later, you never know, it could be somebody out there from your family or your children," Ramos said.Police do not have a suspect, but are still searching for the driver.
"
[I] want somebody to come forward and help us find who the killer is," Ramos said.The accident marked the 112th traffic fatality of 2013 in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's jurisdiction, and it's part of a growing trend involving motorbikes.

"In 2013, in [our] jurisdiction, almost 25 percent of the fatalities are the result of moped or motorcycle drivers," Officer Larry Hadfield, a spokesperson for Metro, said.
At the Harley Davidson dealership in Henderson, motorcycle instructor Larry Loyd said that statistic doesn't surprise him.
"I've ridden in Asia, I've ridden in Europe. This has been the most challenging place for me to ride," Loyd said.

Loyd said often car and truck drivers don't give motorcycles and mopeds enough space, which has caused many of these accidents.

"So what happens is that allows car drivers to sometimes invade our right of way by turning left in front of us or pulling out from a side road, because they just have misjudged our approach speed or our distance from them," Loyd told FOX5.
Loyd recommends that all drivers give more of a buffer zone.