More Kansans traveling means a risk of more traffic deaths over a holiday period. Still, the state’s eight fatalities on streets and roadways over the four-day weekend — up from three during Thanksgiving 2005 — suggest drivers need to exercise a lot more care. During the period, the Kansas Highway Patrol also logged 44 drunken driving arrests, 2,685 speeding tickets and 284 seat belt violations. Troopers also wrote 90 tickets for failure to properly secure kids in vehicles. Of course, tailgating, speeding and other excesses are visible on area streets every day. If Kansans don’t want to drive safely for themselves, they can at least better buckle up their kids.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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36 Comments
Rhonda is our editorial alarmist. She inspired the term “Rhonda’s fainting couch”.
What’s wrong with her comment? I happen to agree.
So glad to see that Rhonda could not find the story in the WE she had to read other newspapers to come up with this blog.
Just goes to show you that the WE no longer has anything in the way of reporters.
I just wish she had included Right of Way violations, which are second only to drunk driving as causes of deaths in Kansas, and exceed dui crashes.
Proof comes from KS DOT..over the past 15 years, there have been slightly over 17,200 DUI crashes in Kansas. During that same time period, there have been over 60,000 right of way violation accidents.
The inherent problem here, is that DUI crashes can be anything.. into a house, a pole, a ditch, etc. But ROW violation accidents by definition means running into someone else.
On average, 63 deaths per year are caused by ROW violations, 88 deaths are caused by drunk driving. (again, stats from KS DOT)
the problem is, with a ROW violation, the fine is less than $100…yet the innocent victim is just as dead as if they had been killed by a drunk driver.
The most recent example, the couple on a motorcycle killed by the left turning SUV. Usually about a $50 fine..no jail time.. and the innocent victims are dead.
It is time to follow Iowa and Nebraska in changing the laws to criminalize murder in Kansas.
Is it really the function of goverment to force people to buckle up? Let Darwin have his way. It’s more of the Nanny State mentality and I’m sick of it.
On frigid days like we’re having, cops deserve cold weather pay and more. Not something I’d want to do. My hats off to them for their courageous service.
All you store owners, have the coffee pots on the ready and the stove warmed up, give our police a welcome when they come in for some shelter.
Fleet,I agree. While I wear my seatbelt every time I drive, I do NOT think it’s the government’s job to make me do it. I’m only hurting myself if I don’t buckle up. Let Darwinism run its natural course…
Sometimes, I stand on the top rung of my ladder while picking cherries out of the tree in my backyard - clearly against the warning label on my ladder. Will the government soon be ticketing me for that?
Golfnut-About 15 years ago, I started wearing my seatbelt all the time. I feel kind of like a convert, but it is not the goverments job to protect me from me. You are a right thinking American.
This and days when it is really pouring rain are the kinda days I wish I had a lot of money. I like how Drew Carey thought on this one.
Run a stop sign just so the cop has to stand outside to write a ticket:)
JR-I’ve pretty much just quit responding to you. Other than hate, you offer very little to this board.
Now, I’m rethinking my above statement. You DO offer more than hate to this board.
Add “stupidity” to the list.
Golfnuts
You may feel free to disappear from the blog entirely. Aint nobody gonna miss ya.
JR, i second that maybe he will take fleettwwoodd with him
There ya go Dennis.
Half the reason I posted what I did is I KNEW one of the ankle biters would jump on it.
Sometimes it’s so easy, I’m ashamed of myself!
Hey ya gotta use Rhonda’s rants for something.
dennis, jr-Libs = supporters of free speech if your speech is the same as their’sKumbaya!
Sort of like the Bill-O right. We only want to hear what we agree with.
Not
Bill O’Reilly is an idiot.
Wow. We finally agree on something.
Raptor, accidents happen. Statistically everyone on this board will be in one major accident in their lifetime. That means that half of us will be guilty of causing it. You’re fortunate if it doesn’t end in a death.
So do you want to put half of us in prison for murder?
I’ve seen some of the most bizzare accidents in all my years as an EMT. There have only been a handful of times I felt a criminal charge should have been brought.
There are some things that should be held accountable- like falling asleep while driving, or speeding, or DUI, but the majority of them just happen.
Now civil, I agree, if the accident caused damage, yes, they should financially be responsible. But not criminally unless there was gross negligence.
Soooo…you are saying a $50 fine is appropriate for turning in front of someone and killing them?
OH trust me, they’ll end up paying more in a wrongful death claim. Hope they have good insurance. They could get out of paying anything if the people on the motorcycle weren’t wearing helmets too.
Would a 50 dollar fine be ok if nobody was killed? Yes. Motorcycles are NOTORIOUSLY hard to see sometimes. Raptor, even you could hit a motorcycle someday. Remember you could be on the receiving end of what you’re asking for here.
It was an accident, the accident had tragic outcomes. I’m sorry. It happens.
By the way, make sure your headrests are positioned appropriately for your height each time you get into a vehicle. If you get hit and get whiplash, and your headrests aren’t used properly, you could LOSE your right to claim damages for the accident. The reason being, those are designed to keep you safe, and if you’re not using them correctly, you could be held as much as at fault for your own injuries.
Get out of it if no helmets were worn? That makes as much sense as telling a drunk driver it is ok to kill someone if the victim is not wearing a suit of armor. Blaming the victim is flat out wrong. Blaming the victim because a driver was careless, in a hurry, on a cell phone or whatever else that caused a death is totally inexcusable. Period.
I’m not blaming the victim, but they are just as responsible if they’re not doing things to help their safety as well.
And that is how the rulings have been being handled. I’m serious.
Motorcycle riders know the risks they take when they get on those bikes, they KNOW they are more likely to get hit, and they also know very well they’re more likely to die if they do get hit.
If they’re not wearing a helmet, we have a word for them- FOD’s…Future Organ Donors. There is a reason why that term is so popular nationwide.
Wear your seatbelts, Period. For the rest of us working class who have to support your thrown out doctors bills, buckle up. Those who say it isn’t the governments job refuse to wear them,my money says they are the same ones who lack the moral and ethical responsibility for the rest of us. What is so hard to just Buckle up?
In both cases, this is about choices.
I choose NOT to wear a seat belt. I find them uncomfortable and aggravating of some earlier stomach injuries.
Raptor chooses to ride a motorcycle. I will argue ALL DAY that we should all be more careful and aware of motorcydlists and epecially bicyclists. But extra criminal prosecution in accidents? No.
I have to side with raptor. The passenger in the SUV saw the cyclist and warned the driver; the driver ignored the warning. Since the cycle was coming from the left the driver had a clearer view than the passenger. Cycles are NOT that hard to see. Suburban Assault Vehicle drivers need to pay attention. Just because a collision with a small vehicle will not hurt them they don’t care.
This reminds me of the case where a guy in a truck ran down two bicyclists near Towne East. I think the term for that is manslaughter.
The above comments only prove that people in general think with their emotions and not their brains. ONe is intellectually challenged if he does not wear a seat belt or a helmet with ALL scientific evidence proving it boosts your odds of living by more than double. Yes, in America you have the right to be stupid, but don’t try to make the rest of us think it is because you actually have a rational reason for being so, it is just emotional drivel.
Doc - I tend to agree with you about helmets and definitely do about seat belts. That, however, does not change my position that a driver should run people down or pull out in front of them.
My one problem with helmets: back when I biked I used my peripheral vision and hearing to warn me of irresponsible drivers. A helmet can deminish that.
Ben are you saying the driver INTENTIONALLY hit the motorcyclist?
I don’t believe that.
Reckless disregard. Just like the charges against the guy that ran down the bicyclists.
If I were alleging INTENTIONALLY I would have said Murder 1, not manslaughter.
I’ve seen it happen, that doesn’t mean he ignored her. My husband not long ago was driving down the road, and I saw a deer along the side of the road. I yelled “watch out” and he just was like duhhhhhh and didn’t even slow or anything. By that time we had already passed it and the danger was over. Just because one says ‘watch out’ doesn’t mean the driver had time to react.
I don’t think that is considered reckless disregard either.
Accidents just happen. If I get killed tomorrow on the road, I don’t want it to ruin someone’s life unless being grossly negligent. Not every death needs to be avenged. I’m not going to get on the bandwagon to be marching drivers out to the gallows for an ACCIDENT.
I’m also going to utilize every safety feature in my vehicle so that I have better odds of surviving too.
This driver went through a stop and pulled out. Plenty of time to look. I have had drivers of large vehicles look straight at me and pull out from a driveway. I find that happpens most frequently when the disparity in vehicle size is large so the driver pulling out knows he won’t get hurt. The fact is that there is an awful lot of reckless driving out thhere - it is worse than speeding which is what the cops like to go after.
If a drunk driver causes an accident do you say “ACCIDENTS HAPPEN” and let him go? I doubt it, especially if it resulted in death. They prosecute for manslaughter.
BTW - I, like you, wear my seat belts. However, since I drive a fuel-efficient car I have to be vigilant for Suburban Assault Vehicles with cell phones paying zero attention to their surroundings. Those drivers tell me that my Civic is invisible. Unfortunately, if i speed on Kellogg the cops won’t have any trouble at all seeing me.
Ben of course on the drunk driver, that’s gross negligence.
Agreed. As is running stop signs. And runnig a stop sign includes stopping and pulling out when people are coming. I would also add cell phones; studies have shown that driving under the influence of cell phone is as bad as DUI.
g’nite p-mom. Had a good discussion; I don’t know that we are as far apart as we seem here.