Overland Park ? A man ticketed for merging late in a construction zone has filed a lawsuit challenging the way Overland Park applies its “no passing zones,” asking that the city be banned from enforcing the law on highways.

Linus L. Baker, a Stilwell lawyer, was ticketed last year after he merged near the front of a line of cars in a highway construction zone. After successfully fighting the ticket, he wants his victory to apply to others similarly cited.

In his lawsuit, filed in February in Johnson County District Court, Baker seeks to stop Overland Park from enforcing its “no-passing zones” ordinance in highway construction sites. The lawsuit also seeks to have the city reimburse thousands of dollars in fines and fees paid by drivers prosecuted under the ordinance.

An Overland Park official did not immediately return calls seeking comment Tuesday.

After Baker challenged his ticket last year, a Johnson County district judge ruled in his favor. Judge John P. Bennett found, among other things, that the city’s ordinance was vague as applied to the type of highway Baker was on.

Overland Park conceded the ordinance was probably not designed with multilane, divided roadways in mind. The city did not appeal the judgment.

Baker contends reasonable drivers don’t know what the no-passing signs mean when it comes to when they have to merge. He also said the enforcement of the ordinance was arbitrary and capricious.

He says the city is misapplying the law to create a merging buffer zone, or what Baker calls a “be polite zone.”

Baker says he is a polite driver, which the officer even noted on the ticket. But he doesn’t see the point of joining a long line of cars in one lane when the other lane has yet to close.

The issue of late mergers is a perennial problem for highway officials and early mergers. Highway officials see such laws as necessary for the safety of drivers and construction zone workers.

Late mergers create shock waves where everybody has to stop or slow down, said Steven Schrock, assistant professor with the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at Kansas University. That shock wave rolls back upstream and can create dangerous situations.

Law enforcement officials say drivers should merge as soon as possible in no-passing highway construction zones. But Kansas’ no-passing statute and the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices do not say how quickly a driver is expected to merge.

Enforcement of that statute, as well as others that would be applicable to work zone safety, is left up to the discretion of the officer, said Cait Purinton-Day, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Highway Patrol.