How we reported this story

The Review-journal sought to evaluate how frequently vehicles injured children walking and biking near Las Vegas Valley public schools, around times that classes began and ended.

Statewide crash data from 2015 through 2019 was obtained from the Nevada Department of Transportation.

The newspaper focused on crashes in the Las Vegas Valley where vehicles struck pedestrians or bicyclists who were ages 5 to 17 years old. The children must have reported some level of injury to police to be included in the analysis.

The results were narrowed to crashes within one-quarter mile of Clark County School District campuses in the Valley, a radius approximately the length of a single lap around an outdoor track. Special education schools, alternative programs and schools that opened after the 20192020 school year were not included. Roughly 300 campuses remained.

The Review-journal narrowed its focus to crashes that happened on scheduled school days, during hours when students likely would have been traveling to or from school. That ranged from 6 to 9 a.m. and 1 to 5 p.m.

Struck children were grouped by their ages. Ages 5 to 10 were categorized as elementary school, ages 11 to 13 as middle school and ages 14 to 17 as high school.