Construction zone speed traps

If you drive through a construction zone in Douglas County this summer, you’d better slow down.

A law enforcement officer armed with a radar gun is probably watching you. And someone up ahead is waiting to pull you over for speeding.

Sheriff’s officers, sometimes assisted by the Kansas Highway Patrol and Lawrence police, are trying to rein in traffic violators, especially in work zones. Officers have been busy on two stretches of Kansas Highway 10 near O’Connell Road at the east edge of Lawrence and east of Eudora.

“We’re just trying to enforce the laws and make people aware that there are construction zones out there and people are working. They need to slow down,” Sheriff’s Lt. Doug Woods said.

The sheriff’s office received a $10,500 grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation for reimbursement of overtime pay for officers enforcing laws in construction zones. The grant is good from June 1 to Aug. 1. Last year the state allocated funds to the county for the same purpose after two highway workers were killed in a hit-and-run accident on U.S. Highway 59 at Pleasant Grove, Woods said.

Officers pulled over 20 to 30 vehicles on Wednesday, Woods estimated. Speeds varied. The highest that day was 75 mph in a 60 mph work zone, he said.

On eastbound K-10 near O’Connell Road the speed limit is 40 mph. On the westbound side it is 50 mph. It is 60 mph in both directions through the Eudora stretch.

Someone driving 15 mph over the speed limit would receive a normal fine of $60. In a work zone that fine doubles to $120. Add to that a $66 court fee.

Most drivers who were stopped admitted they weren’t paying attention, Woods said.

“They are focused on other things, whether it be cell phones or whatever else is going on,” he said. “Maybe it (the work zone) sneaks up on them before people realize it. There is plenty of signage out there. There is no question about that.”

Some drivers don’t even see the officers running the radar gun, even though they often are standing in plain sight, or sitting on a tractor in the median, Woods said. One driver was asked if he saw the two deputies monitoring traffic when he passed by them.

“He said, no, the only thing he saw were two people getting their mail,” Woods said.