Las Vegas mother channels grief into motorcycle safety advocacy after son’s tragic death
Andrea “Annie” Houston will never forget her son Caleb’s smile. “He was my gorgeous boy, but inside his heart was pure,” Houston said. The 20-year-old automotive student had just started his dream job at Firestone and was planning to propose to his high school girlfriend of five years.
But on December 17, 2024, car troubles changed everything. Caleb took his motorcycle to work instead of his usual vehicle, and at approximately 6:30 a.m., his life was cut short in a crash at the intersection of Durango Drive and Sunset Road.
A mother’s devastating loss
Houston’s 20-year-old son, Caleb Houston, died on December 17 around 6:30 a.m. when his motorcycle hit a Jeep turning left in front of him on a flashing yellow light at the intersection, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police. The Jeep driver remained at the scene and showed no signs of impairment.
Six hours after the crash, Houston learned she had lost her eldest son. “I saw pictures of a blurred out body on the road. Then I saw a white sheet over the body in the road,” she recalled. “I’m thinking my son is laying on the ground while all these people were complaining that they were late to work.”
The Clark County coroner identified the motorcyclist as Caleb Houston. The motorcyclist’s death marked the 153rd traffic-related death in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s jurisdiction for 2024.
Turning pain into purpose
Rather than retreat into grief, Houston has become a vocal advocate for motorcycle safety. She’s begun visiting the Durango and Sunset intersection, holding signs reading “Look twice save a life” and handing out stickers and bracelets to drivers at red lights.
“I don’t want another parent, brother, sister, child, to go through what we’re going through right now,” Houston said. “It’s not that I lost my son, but I lost my son’s future. I lost grandkids. I lost my daughter-in-law. I lost – we lost so much”
Houston has connected with BikerDown, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping injured motorcycle riders and their families. BikerDown was founded in 2011 by avid motorcycle rider Laurie Montoya who was on a ride when several bikers went down.
A growing crisis on Las Vegas roads
Caleb’s death is part of an alarming trend. Data from the state shows he is one of 61 motorcyclists killed in Clark County in 2024. A 22 percent increase from 2023. The problem has worsened in 2025, with traffic data from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows 14 deaths in 2025 compared to 10 in 2024 as of April 13. That is a 40 percent increase.
Motorcycle-related fatalities in Clark County are up 6% from 2024. As of March 31, 2025, there have been 21 fatalities in Clark County, according to recent data from Nevada Department of Transportation and LVMPD.
The statistics paint a grim picture for motorcycle safety in Las Vegas, where approximately 80,000 motorcycles are registered among Nevada’s 2.7 million vehicles.
The human cost of distracted driving
BikerDown founder Laurie Montoya emphasizes that most motorcycle accidents aren’t the rider’s fault. “It’s not the bike’s fault that riders are going down,” said Laurie Montoya, President & Founder of Biker Down Foundation. “Certainly there’s statistics that would show there’s rider error, and certainly at times they ride irresponsibly. But 85 percent of Motorcycle accidents are caused by distracted driving.”
Montoya founded BikerDown after experiencing a ride where multiple friends crashed and nobody had proper first aid equipment or knew how to help. “When I was first riding, one of my girlfriends got into an accident. There was 12 bikes and not one person had a trauma kit and not one person knew how to render proper first aid,” BikerDown founder/CEO Laurie Montoya said.
The organization now provides medical equipment, legal advice, emotional support, and fundraising assistance to motorcycle crash victims and their families across multiple states, including Nevada.
Calls for infrastructure changes
Houston believes specific changes are needed to prevent more tragedies. She’s particularly concerned about flashing yellow left turn arrows at intersections like Durango and Sunset, where her son was killed. These signals allow drivers to turn left after yielding to oncoming traffic, but can create dangerous situations when drivers misjudge motorcycle speed and distance.
“Many people all want to get home just like you, so sometimes take a pause. We all don’t need to drive so aggressively,” Houston said.
She also advocates for increased police presence on surface streets rather than just highways, arguing that “it’s not the highways that are causing all the issues. It’s all these backroads.”
The road ahead
Houston plans to continue her advocacy work, potentially expanding to other dangerous intersections throughout the Las Vegas Valley where motorcyclists have died. Her message is simple but powerful: awareness and care can save lives.
Houston plans to continue visiting not only the Sunset and Durango intersection but potentially others around the valley where motorcyclists have died to steer the community toward a culture of awareness and care.
For Houston, this work represents more than just advocacy—it’s how she honors her son’s memory while trying to prevent other families from experiencing the same devastating loss. As she puts it, she doesn’t want money or attention, just for drivers to “look twice, save a life.”
In a city where motorcycle deaths continue to rise, Houston’s voice represents the human cost of traffic violence and the urgent need for change on Las Vegas roads.
Image Source: https://www.fox5vegas.com/2025/07/22/las-vegas-mother-opens-up-about-road-safety-after-son-dies-motorcycle-crash/
Category: Local News
Subcategory: Traffic & Safety
Date: 07/22/2025
