(WICHITA, Kan.) — New legislation could make it more expensive to get a speeding ticket.
Senate Bill 342, would allow certain stretches of roads to become safety corridors, where fines would be doubled.
The speed limit on Kellogg is 60, but some think that's a little slow. "You're driving the speed limit and somebody blows past you and you know they're going 5, 10 or 15 miles over the speed limit at least," said driver David Black. And police say too often those who drive over the speed limit cause accidents.
"In the past three years, our fatalities on Kellogg have increased. In 2009 we had two fatalities on Kellogg, in 2010 we had four and last year we had five fatalities," said Captain Rusty Leeds with Wichita police.
According to KDOT, there were more than 14,00 accidents on a 13 mile stretch of Kellogg over two years, that's from the Butler, Sedgwick County line to I-235 in west Wichita. And that's why K-Dot wants a law that allows certain stretches of roads to be designated as safety corridors.
The law would allow cities to tell KDOT certain roads are dangerous because of people speeding and accidents. The department would study the road and decide if it should become a safety corridor. Kellogg is a possibility if the law passes. "We generally experience a higher volume of serious accidents on Kellogg than we do in other parts of town," Leeds said. If a road become a safety corridor and you get a ticketed for speeding the fine could be doubled.
