Bicyclists have right to lane

This week readers want to know if it's legal for bicyclists to ride side by side on the road, what that green substance on the side of the Las Vegas Beltway is, and what a person has to do to get a lien number verification form completed.

Melissa asks if it is legal for bicyclists to ride side by side on the road, especially if they are in the way of cars and slowing them down?

Capt. Richard Collins, head of the Metropolitan Police Department's traffic bureau, said that under Nevada law a bicycle is supposed to follow traffic laws, which means if a bicycle is riding in the lane of a road then the cyclist has a right to use that lane.

"As with motorcycles, if they choose to ride two abreast, they are legal and have a right to that lane," Collins said.

But in real life "most bicyclists prefer to ride on the shoulder or in a bike lane because of the inherent danger of being hit by a vehicle," Collins said.

A reader asks: A couple of times a year there is a pale green substance sprayed on the side of the Las Vegas Beltway, just north of Charleston. It could be done elsewhere, but from Charleston to the Summerlin Parkway is the only part I use much.

Not to worry, the Clark County public works department isn't repeatedly painting the Beltway's rock landscape green, said spokesman Bobby Shelton.

The green spray is weed killer, Shelton said. The county uses a green dye mixed with a weed-control liquid, which is actually clear.

"The county mixes a green dye with the clear liquid so that the maintenance folks can easily see where they have sprayed the weed control liquid," Shelton said.

The green dye dissolves in about two weeks and the rocks return to their natural color, he said.

I for one am pleased the color dissolves so quickly. The weed killer green dye shade is so last season.

Phil writes: I manage a storage facility and have a lien against a vehicle stored there. In order to sell it at auction, a lien number verification form must be completed and verified by a law enforcement officer or Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles inspector. I called the police and they said they don't do that anymore. I called the Department of Motor Vehicles and they told me they hadn't done that for over a year. Catch-22. How do I find out find out what the correct procedure is?

That's a doozy and I'm not sure you're going to like the answer.

I spoke with Tom Jacobs, spokesman for the DMV, and he said that if you can get the vehicle to an inspector, then the inspector can make the verification. "We don't make house calls," Jacobs said.

If you can get the car to the DMV then you have the law on your side and they have to do the inspection.

There are other options, too.

Nevada Revised Statutes 482.220 allows for a peace officer, an auto dealer, an auto rebuilder, an automobile wrecker, or a garage attendant or service station operator who is designated in writing by the motor vehicle director, to sign off on such a certificate.

The law even allows those folks, except a peace officer, to charge a $1 fee for the inspection.

Oooooo ... wow ... a whole buck! They should be lining up around the corner to get some of that action.

But since you are pursuing selling the vehicle at an auction through a lien, something tells me you don't have the keys.

And trying to get any of those folks out to the location of the vehicle isn't going to be easy, even with a crisp dollar bill.

Sarcasm aside, Jacobs admitted it wouldn't be easy to get some one out to help you. "It's kind of problematic," he said, suggesting that you would have to talk someone into it.

Try baking cookies.

Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2904.