8 = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NENEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN =9
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2003
TRAFFIC
Safety unit looks to decrease traffic violations
By Annie Bernethy
aberneth@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Slow down, you move too fast. Simon and Garfunkel sang it, but the Lawrence Police Department means it.
A newly created unit within the Lawrence Police Department began cracking down on the city's drivers late last November.
The Traffic Safety Unit, headed by Sgt. Randy Roberts and including five other police officers, specializes in traffic violations. It does not respond to any calls or emergencies, other than traffic emergencies, said Sgt. Mike Pattrick of the Lawrence Police Department.
Lawrence Police implemented the new unit to place an emphasis on the enforcement of traffic laws.
There has been plenty to enforce, according to statistics kept by the department.
From the unit's creation to May 16, 2003, the unit issued 579 speeding tickets and 211 DUIs. Before the unit was created, Lawrence Police issued 500 DUIs from October 2001 to October 2002, according to the department's Web site.
The number of speeding tickets for all of 2002 could not be tabulated because the new unit is the first to keep records of all the offenses, Pattrick said.
He said he wanted the new unit to make an impact, but he thought it was too early to tell.
The new unit wasn't developed because of problems with traffic enforcement, but merely because of an opportunity to get the grant, Pattrick said.
The money to fund this unit came from a grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation. It gives the city more than $1.7 million over the next three years to pay for expenses associated with the new unit, including the salaries of the officers. The city is also responsible for almost $450,000 in additional funding to pay for the unit.
Students like Anna Holcombe,
Lawrence senior, understand the consequences of speeding. She received a $235 speeding ticket last December.
"I had to work a week to make that," she said.
Although she paid a small fortune for speeding, Holcombe said she really hadn't noticed the increased patrolling.
Edited by Kevin Wiggs
TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS
A grant enabled the Lawrence Police Department to create a new unit to catch traffic violators. See the results:
November 2002 to May 2003
Incident Number of occurrences
Total Alcohol Related Crashes 30
Number of Fatal Crashes 3
Number of Personal Injury Crashes 72
Total Number of Crashes 356
Number of DUI Arrests 211
Hazardous Moving Violations 457
Safety Belt Violations 113
Child Restraint Violations 17
Speed Violations 579
Source: Lawrence Police Department
TRAFFIC
Traffic changes could slow drivers, help pedestrians
By Maggie Newcomer
mnewcomer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
New traffic restrictions in the University Place neighborhood could cause congestion for University of Kansas traffic.
Source: Lawrence City Commission
The Lawrence City Commission approved a motion June 3 for traffic calming devices to be installed throughout University Place, which is roughly bordered by campus on one side and 19th Street on the other.
The University has come up with a temporary solution if the traffic problem on Naismith Drive grows — installing a fourway stop at Naismith and Allen Fieldhouse drives.
Donovan Atkinson/Kansan
The traffic calming devices include a permanent roundabout, a pedestrian refuge island, temporary traffic calming circles and partial traffic diverters. University Place residents began planning their proposal in 1999.
John Mullens, assistant director of KU Public Safety, said the diverter at 18th and Missouri streets would force 1,000 cars to turn left onto Naismith Drive daily to get to 19th Street. Naismith Drive already has traffic problems, with around 14,000 cars traveling there every day, he said.
"We'll conduct a traffic study in the fall when everybody gets back to find alternate solutions," Mullens said.
Mullens said he was also concerned about how the changes would affect traffic around the Student Recreation Fitness Center, scheduled to open September 4.
Leslie Tuttle, a member of University Place Neighborhood Association, said the recreation center concerned residents because of the traffic increase it will likely bring. Tuttle said traffic in her neighborhood was predictable, peaking around 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. The recreation center could extend the traffic to all day, she said
Mullens said there was also a concern
"Large trucks can't make the turn from Sunnyside Avenue onto Sunflower Drive," he said. "It's almost a U-turn."
Delivery trucks need to use Sunflower Drive in the winter to make deliveries to the University's Facilities Operations, he said.
that the roundabout at 17th and Indiana streets would impede truck traffic on what was now a legal delivery route.
"If they can't make those deliveries, we can't heat the buildings," Mullens said.
Tuttle said the motivation behind
installing the calming devices was not to keep cars out of the neighborhood, but to make certain drivers obey the speed limit.
The traffic calming program also includes improved lighting and additional sidewalks that will benefit people who walk, bicycle or drive through University Place, said James Long, vice provost of facilities planning and management.
David Woosley, Lawrence's traffic engineer, said the temporary calming circles and partial diverters would be
installed by the end of June. The permanent roundabout would cost the city about $70,000 and would be constructed after the city commission allocates funds.
All the devices should be in place by the end of the summer.
Residents could file a request for the temporary devices to be made permanent if they work, Tuttle said.
"If they don't work,it's back to the drawing board,"she said.
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- Edited Kevin Wiggs