It is not about money? Hogwash. It is all about money, especially when the government is involved. People go to court and find out it is about money, as though it is the universal panacea. Money for a doctor's error, money for settling disagreements, money for a lost pair of pants.

What are our taxes used for anyway? The courthouse has a fee for everything. "Court costs" or docket fees represent another money grab if one is unfortunate enough to get their name on the role.

Speed limits might well be set for safety reasons, but they are often determined by how traffic moves. 900 tickets says speed trap to me.

And, no, I did not get one. I just don't like the way the legal system doesn't work.

Suggestion: take the money & build another round-a-bout on kasold. Just joking

The city should hire more officers to run speed traps all over town! Try the Clinton Speedway, I mean Parkway! Speeding is not the only problem on our streets, try ticking folks who are just downright rude aggressive drivers. You know the ones who cut in and out of traffic to get to the stop light before you. I guess being discourteous is not against the law. But reckless driving is.
I would bet that much time spent watching any street in Lawrence would net as may fines as Kasold did.

If drivers would "drive" the speed limits on every street could increase by at least 50%.
Put down the cell phones.
Turn off the subs.
Tell your kids to shut up.
Plan your trip, and know where you are going.
Try not to kill or die.

20 mph was stupid slow but some of the drivers out there are only qualified for that speed.

It was a "speed trap" without question. Most cities that run speed traps do it on the highway where travelers ticketed will never pass through again. Lawrence did it to it's own citizens that lived within the area. Traveling from north to south there was only one way to hold the car speed to 20 mpg going down the hill and that was to keep one foot on the brake. Take that foot off and the vehicle coasts to 30 or even 40 mph.
I traveled the road only twice during construction, both times on weekends when there was no construction being done and both times there were police cars (hidden out of view) running radar. The person ahead of me got stopped on a cold snowy day when the weather and weekend shut down 100% of the construction work. Try driving for 1 mile at 20 mph and see just how excrusciating it is to drive at that speed on a major thoroughfare.

It was definitely a speed trap!

Every single person who has followed this discussion should remember this when it comes time to express our opinion on the operation of our city government at the voting booth. Those "public servants" who have permitted such cynical profiteering do not have our best interests at heart. More revenue for them to throw around to their buddies.

How many opportunities for traffic cops to make a real difference on illegal, aggressive, distracted, red light running, speeding and the rest of the daily just plain stupid driving displays that we all witness ad nauseum were missed as they sat clocking people for going 26 miles per hour in an unattended "work" zone. Of course it is far easier for Barney to sit and skim revenue from suburban housewives, but aren't these other things truly more pressing concerns?

Make sure you reject this cynical behavior, or else it will just continue and worsen!

Leo, How can a police officer look a local neighbor in the eye and give them a ticket for $188 for driving 26 mph on a weekend of radar running when no construction is being done? Then say "have a nice day" as they drive away.

In the article, the persons in charge of construction AND the department of transportation asked the LPD to increase radar use in the construction area.

Wouldn't the "fellow neighbor" officer just be following the orders of his superior, who is only doing the same for his superior?

Sure, the cop is the guy looking at you when he writes the ticket and tells you to "have a nice day." But be sure to think about his position, and how he has to weigh his duty as a servant to the city, and his responsibility to the people.

In the article, it states that "at first, warnings were given." It is only after the KDOT and construction manager asked for more enforcement, that tickets were written.

Atleast, as far as this article states.

So don't blame the uni, they have a life just like you. Only you don't have the potential to be shot at just for trying to help innocent people everyday.

Or ridiculed in the paper for doing your job.

Hi everyone,

I just read the article and couldn't help but feel the need to comment. Is Kasold a speed trap? Sure, thats why its best to avoid using the street. You need to understand something alright. At the end of the month, the officers have to turn in an activity sheet that tells how many calls they have taken, how many reports they have written, how many traffic citations the have issued
and how many arrests the have. If they don't have something to show for their time, they get bad evaluations. If the person is a traffic officer, they won't be allowed to stay in traffic.

Is this proper traffic enforcement? No, it isn't. Proper traffic enforcement is done in the high accident areas like Sixth Street, 23rd St. and Iowa. Why don't they do it that way? You have to remember that were dealing the Lawrence Police. To me, they don't seem to be very well managed or supervised, I very seldom if ever see any sergeants out on patrol.

Since the speed limits in the high accidents are mostly 40-45 mph, they can't catch anybody speeding so they do it on the side streets where the speed limit is only 20 or 30 so they can catch somebody.

Anybody remember Officer Peck? I never knew the man but I'll say one thing though. He was probably one of the few real police officers that they ever had. I wish they still had him because we need someone like him to put the crack sellers behind bars where they belong. The man actually got fired for being too good. Pity!

Not to sound redundant but..........
City Manager David Corliss said through surveys, comments to elected officials and pleas at public meetings, it is clear people want stepped-up enforcement of the city's traffic laws. "And if you follow through on that, that means we are going to have more people getting speeding tickets," Corliss said.
The cities "traffic laws" not only apply to cars, trucks and other gas-powered means of conveyance. I did travel down Kasold, with brake on, a few times. Once of which I was passed by a bicycle!!!
I know most people think of autos when thinking about traffic laws, but all traffic has to obey the law and that includes bicycle and pedestrian traffic as well.
I can't count the numerous of time that I have been stopped at a stop sign and a bicycle either coming up from behind or on a cross street just flies through the intersection without stopping. Or, a pedestrian doesn't even look and walks right out into the street, most of the time their not even at a cross-walk.
If the city is trying to fill it's coffers with traffic fines we need more enforcement of "all" traffic. Granted if a bicycle or pedestrian comes up against an auto, the auto is going to win and knowing that they should be more careful or pay the fines as the rest of us have to do for violating the same law. Right?

Obviously speeding tickets are about money! Now, I agree that people should abide by the law, but you can't tell me that it's about "safety" when the speed limit is 20 mph!!! Again, people should drive the correct speed limit, but unfortunately the city of Lawrence is all about money, yet they have NO idea how to spend it wisely! Not to mention that it took almost a year-and-a-half to complete the mess on Kasold! How many times did you actually see people working when you were driving around at 20 mph? Now, at 20 mph, we're going slow enough we should've been able to capture the images of every single crew member hard at work!!! Ha! What a joke!

I paid double the fine and they reduced the speeding violation to a non-moving violation. Sounds like it is about the money to me.

And Peck was fired for "misleading" Judge Malone on a search warrant affidavit among other things. Natural consequences. If you can't trust a policeman's sworn word then the policeman is no longer useful.

While in Orlando, Fl. last summer we hit a lot of work zones on various streets, however their signs clearly stated "work zone...fines double... when workers are present." I know of three people who received tickets on that strectch of Kasold when there wasn't a worker to be found anywhere. I understand the 20 mph work zone concept and understand the concern for the workers safety (and agree), but writing tickets when there are no workers on duty is absolutely ridiculous, especially when it's well after dark and the workers have clearly called it a day. I avoided Kasold like the plague, refusing to give one cent to the city coffer!

I will admit to getting caught on Kasold. I was southbound coasting with my foot off the brake. My fault completly. I am responsible for controlling my vehicle. It was a Saturday with no work going on. I didn't complain or give the officer a hard time as many do. I also found from talking to others that like myself, many people who were ticketed on days with no work did not get the doubled fine. My fine and court costs ended up being around $90. Something like $56 of that was court cost. That is the part that is way out of line.

It would be just another cop doing his job if Dudley Do right Leo Souders wasn't the one giving tickets, I would almost guarantee he gave out half of those 900. Officer Leo has a reputation of hanging out in work zones and busting speeders, he did it all the time on 6th past wakarusa before it was finished. How nice that the city feels the need to have enough cops that they can just sit at places for hours at a time waiting for someone to go 6 miles per hour over the limit. Give me a break, they need the extra money to help pay for the extra cops.

My experience, driving Kasold at 20 mph during the construction period, was that I annoyed the drivers behind me who would honk and gesture.

It's not that difficult people, when you take your driver's test in order to gain the privilege to drive you are suppose to learn simple things like what the speed limit is. If you don't you should get a ticket and have your license taken a way for a while. What should be a concern are the people doing things while driving that are distracting like talking on the cell phone. I know of two accidents that happened on Kasold while the construction was going on during non construction hours, probably by people who feel they interpret the law for themselves and blabbing on the phone and since there was no shoulder at the time meant the whole road was closed for a while for everyone.
People in this area need to learn to relax and deal with driving 20mph for just a while and stop thinking that they really have anything that important going on that they are above the law. It is like living in JOCO anymore, suppose it comes from all the stress from all the debt they're in.

"How many of these tickets went to law abiding citizens and how many went to law breakers? What's wrong with PD doing their job?"

I agree. And while we're at it, let's put a cop at 9th & Mass to stop all those jaywalking SOBs. And in the next construction zone, let's make the speed limit 15 miles an hour, or maybe even 10. It'll be twice as safe. Just think how many more "law breakers" we'll catch. The extra revenue? Oh that's just a fortunate, accidental (no pun intended) by product.

We should lower the speed limit to 10-15 miles per hour. Therefore, the city could afford to give other individuals a 33% raise. I totally agree that if it is not about the money then have people give back to the community for speeding violations. Giving back to the community helps maybe not today, but tomorrow with the young individuals who have learned the wrong path and try to help them obtain the right path. Many children need to learn that people are willing to help and in turn as they become of age to help the children of their generation. I do not agree with people breaking the law by speeding, but let's make the offense punishable by community involvement instead of more money to roundabouts or other political causes unless god forbid the political causes are those related to the children of our community.

Let's face it...if the speed limit everwhere, even in town, was 80mph, there would be idiots who would have to go over it.

I don't see the problem. The construction was going on for 14 months. You couldn't figure out, in that length of time, what the speed limit was, and decide not to go over it?

I think they should take that money and put in video surveillance all around the city. That way police can see what is going all around. Just like in London.

I used to work for this department. And while I can defend (most) of the officers working there I can't defend the Chief or the City Management. When I was there the City Manager at the time would call up the Chief and complain that the tickets are low. In return Chief Olin would tell the Lieutenants to have the patrol officers write more tickets. As much as traffic enforcement makes the streets safer its still about money. It always has been and until Olin gets a backbone it always will.

I thought the job of the police was to prevent you from being accosted by an armed thug on your way to and from work, not become one. 20 miles an hour is ludicrous. Vehicles with automatic transmissions don't even shift into high gear at that speed. And lunacy is correct, it's more dangerous to have to keep your eyes on the dashboard than it is to set a rational speed limit and let you watch the road.

Someone should tell the jackass who set the limit at 20 that they have these things now called cars and they can actually travel at speeds exceeding 30 mph with great ease.

This is just another rip off of the taxpayer. Thieves!

I too drove through that area for 12 of the 14 months it was active just about every day, until I moved to China for the summer, and I never got a ticket. I usually drive pretty fast too. But, you see, there's this thing called "pattern recognition" by which you realize, when you see a police man on the street (as far as I can tell, in the exact same spot!) every day, that this particular spot would be a good place to, errr, drive the speed limit. Hell, you don't even have to do it for the whole stretch of the road! You can zoom up the hill, slam on the brakes just at the crest to bring you down to 20, then as soon as you get past the hill resume your previous speed. Not that I'm advocating this, understand, but it was hardly a hardship, and the idea that it was a "speed trap" is laughable. With the newspaper coverage, the day to day sameness, the many posted speeds, the GIANT construction area, if it was a speedtrap, it was one that said for a mile on either side "Look out! Secret Speed Trap Ahead! Please Do Not Watch Speed So We Can Trap You!"

Now quit your whining and just frickin' admit you simply don't like being told what to do. And that you don't like cops, especially traffic cops. It'll save you all that cognitive dissonance that's making you come up with these conspiracy theories. I'm in the same boat, but I admit it to myself. It's really rather liberating. (Not that, in the end, it makes much tangible difference in behavior)

Good Job!! It was marked 20 mph and a work zone. What more needs to be said. Speed limits do not make people run late. Plan ahead allow more time to reach a destination. If a charge is dropped from the record what message is that sending...you get 4 moving violations instead of 3?

So what about the neighborhoods?

"It was marked 20 mph and a work zone."

But, is any work being done? ;-)

"Many are quick to call this a "speed trap". 20 mph is not a "speed trap", its a "speed limit", a law!"

Let's choose a hundred foot section on Iowa street and make it 10 mph. Then we can say it's a "speed limit", a "law", and give out tickets. Think of all the money the city can make. It can help relieve the tax burden of the "poor".

Wow, this is disturbing and explains why driving in this town is becoming more dangerous, a complete lack of understanding that driving is a privilege not a right. Consider the speed limit out on Kasold a test that you don't get in the first place. Hopefully you learn there so when you blast down narrow brick streets in the rain that are also 20mph, in family neighborhoods, with cars parked on one side maybe you'll think you could really get a ticket in this town. I wish they'd use money to increase traffic patrols. Running red lights in this town is just the norm now days. I don't want to see the big tears after you kill somebody because you had to go consuming and speeding and running red lights is ok. We should automatically make riding the bus mandatory for people who think they are above the law and then we can take care of a number of problems in one swoop. They'd be packed!

Not as devious as as people who drive their vehicles in a lethal manner. When you think how many people are killed in car accidents vs guns it is odd we spend so much time freaking out about guns.

The plain fact is that if you hadn't been ignoring the speed limit, you wouldn't have gotten a ticket.

How simple is that to understand? Whether you agree with the speed limit in place in certain areas is beside the point. If you go over it, you risk getting a ticket.

"So why are more that 1 in 10 speeding tickets in Lawrence issued on this short stretch of road?"

Could it be that it's the attitude of the people that it's not anything to do with safety, but to make money and if it doesn't look like you'll get caught, there's nothing wrong with it. As I've said before, making silly nuisance laws only dilutes useful laws. People will soon think all laws are solely to make money and not to obey if there's a chance to not getting caught.

I also think people are getting tired of this "project" taking so long and sometimes it looks as if nothing is getting done. Or if the project was even needed. Why widen the road? Cars will only drive faster and they'll think they'll have to put a roundabout in it.

Aren't they putting a median in the middle? You know the same thing they took out of north lawrence because of some lame excuse, which was put in for some other lame excuse not too many years ago?

Put them in,
Take them out.
It helps make the money go 'round.

Crazyks: that's exactly how they run the radar. They are out on foot and flag you over when you are busted. Seen 'em doing that on Kentucky and Tennessee streets as well. As far as not being able to catch you on foot... Yep, just keep on driving and wait for the police to show up at your door later after they've run your license plate through their little computer system. Wonder how the fine for evading a LEO compares to the ticket you'd have gotten if you'd just pulled over. 20MPH was a pain, but it was clearly posted and most vehicles I know of are capable of going this speed for 1 mile if not even a little more. Plus, I believe most are equipped with steering mechanisms allowing the driver the option of other routes.
I wonder what all the posts would look like if the headline were "Construction Worker Killed by Speeding Motorist in Construction Zone"...

I still don't understand the problem.

Drive the speed limit, and you won't have a problem.

i agree with the whole enforce the limit when the crew IS there and to allow at least 30 mph when they're not working. this was such an inconvenient area to drive in with all the construction. it would be easier on those of us that live in lawrence and use familiar roads to have a decent outline of the detours, too. try driving by the hospital sometime. blah.