Police to patrol areas in KC this weekend in effort to reduce fatal crashes. Here’s where
Kansas City police will be out Saturday patrolling for impaired drivers as part of an operation to reduce deadly crashes.
From 8 p.m. Saturday to 4 a.m. Sunday, officers will be stationed at the corridor between Interstate 70 and Interstate 435. They will also be patrolling U.S 71 Highway between 31st and 55th streets, along with the surrounding streets. Those areas have experienced an increase of fatal car wrecks, according to Kansas City Police Department Sgt. Michael Ward.
There have been nearly twice as many vehicle fatalities this year compared to this time last year, with 31 reported as of April 2022 and 17 during same period in 2021, he said. Last year, there were 85 traffic fatalities in Kansas City, according to a department news release.
Ward expects more traffic from Easter weekend to result in more crashes.
“You’re going to have a lot of people traveling to relatives houses and visiting family,” he said.
Officers will be looking for excessive speeding and people not wearing seat belts, which have been the primary contributors to the rise in fatal crashes.
Three more operations will take place later this year in areas with high fatalities, but those locations and times have yet to be determined.
The operation is a joint effort between the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and the Kansas City Police Department.
The two locations to be patrolled this weekend were among a list of 13 of the most dangerous areas for crashes identified by The Star last month.
The city signed onto Vision Zero in 2020, with a goal of eliminating traffic fatalities by 2030.
