There will be ‘no tolerance’ for traffic law violators on Rock Road for 1 day, cops say

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story said that the special enforcement would be on Wednesday. It will be Thursday.

Cops in the Wichita metro area will have “no tolerance” when enforcing traffic laws on Rock Road on Thursday, officials say.

Several law enforcement agencies will participate in a one-day traffic safety initiative along Rock Road between the southern and northern edges of Sedgwick County. Law enforcement officers will enforce all traffic laws, Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Tim Myers said, adding that it is a “no tolerance” initiative.

“No tolerance,” Myers said, means that all drivers who break traffic laws and are stopped as part of the operation will receive tickets. No warnings will be issued.

The Kansas Department of Transportation is sponsoring the special traffic enforcement, dubbed Operation Impact, Myers said in a release. The sheriff’s office will be joined by state troopers with the Kansas Highway Patrol and police officers from Wichita, Derby, Kechi and Mulvane.

The enforcement starts at midnight Thursday and runs all day. Rock Road will be patrolled between 119th Street South and 125th Street North, a distance of approximately 30 miles.

“KDOT and the participating law enforcement agencies strive to reduce the number of motor vehicle fatalities, injuries, and vehicle accidents,” Myers said in the news release.

Wichita police statistics show that some intersections along Rock Road had a high number of traffic crashes last year, compared with other intersections in the city.

From January through August 2018, the Kellogg and Rock intersection tied for the most accidents at 34. The intersection at 13th and Rock, at 19 accidents, had the most of any intersection not involving Kellogg, which is a federal highway.

The Rock intersections at 21st (14), K-96 (12) and Douglas (10) all had double-digit accidents in the first eight months of last year.

This story was originally published January 29, 2019 at 8:12 PM.