KWCH - Kansas News and Weather - Wichita Police Cracking Down on Speeders/Drunk Drivers

Wichita Police Cracking Down on Speeders/Drunk Drivers

By John Boyd (WICHITA, Kan.)

Wichita Police are cracking down on speeders and drunk drivers.  The department announced Thursday that it started a month-long crack down on drivers who speed along Kellogg.

Captain Darren Moore, the acting chief of the Field Services Division says the department will aggressively target drunk drivers beginning with the Independence Day holiday weekend.

"Speeding and aggressive driving on Kellogg have taken a heavy toll on our community," said Moore.  "Over the last two years between January 1 and June 30 there have been a total of 145 injury crashes on Kellogg.  In 2008, 7 people died in traffic crashes on Kellogg.  So far this year, two people have lost their lives on Kellogg.  It is not accurate to say these deaths are the results of ‘accidents' since in every instance the cause of the crash was due to such factors as drunken drinking, speeding, inattentive driving, making an unsafe lane change, failure to drive within a single lane or running off the roadway."

Wichita Police say officers from all four patrol bureaus will conduct RADAR and LiDAR speed enforcement operations throughout the month of July.  The operation will concentrate on different parts of Kellogg at different times between the east and west city limits.

The Wichita Police Department began targeting speeders on Kellogg Wednesday morning.  During the operation, conducted in both the eastbound and westbound lanes of Kellogg in the 5000 and 6000 blocks, officers issued a total of 59 citations and made one arrest for driving on a suspended license.  The top speeds clocked during the operation were 80, 87 and 95 miles per hour.  The speed limit in the area is 60 miles per hour.

In addition, Moore said the department will begin July with a crack down on impaired driving. The Wichita Police Department will conduct a DUI saturation patrol in the Patrol North Bureau beginning at 10:00 p.m. Friday night and ending at approximately 2:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.  Another anti-DUI operation will be conducted later in July in the Patrol South Bureau.