Breaking News: increase in traffic laws around East

The Prairie Village Police Department is beginning to increase enforcement of traffic laws around SM East through March 8.

This traffic safety campaign is sponsored by the Kansas Department of Transportation and is also taking place in Missouri and Oklahoma. The increased enforcement will take place primarily in the areas surrounding high schools.

“It’s mostly going to be targeting areas around high schools looking for speeding, texting and seat belt violations just to make sure that people, especially the high school students, are driving in a safe manner,” Prairie Village Police Department Traffic Sergeant Eric McCullough said.

Encouragement for this traffic enforcement came from the fact that the #1 killer of teens between the ages of 15 and 18 is auto-accidents related according to McCullough. Studies have also shown that citations are the best way for drivers to alter their driving behavior.

“Ultimately the goal of all traffic enforcement is to gain compliance with the traffic laws in order to reduce accidents,” McCullough said. “Obviously they cause property damage, injuries and the really bad ones, they cause deaths. And we want to avoid all of that if possible which is the whole goal of traffic enforcement, period.”