Before a 12-year-old boy was killed in a tragic crash at Gregory and 71 Highway on March 27 by a man with 16 prior convictions for driving while his license was revoked, Kansas City Police had applied for a grant to go after drivers who repeatedly broke the law by driving with suspended or revoked licenses. The senseless death of Damian Slayton really drove home how important it is to get these dangerous drivers off the road. Driving is a privilege, and these drivers had that privilege taken away for a good reason. Compared with licensed drivers, unlicensed drivers are 4.9 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash, 3.7 times more likely to drive while impaired and 4.4 times more likely to be in hit-and-run crashes, according to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
Today, officers will conduct another driver's license checkpoint somewhere in the city, so be prepared. They conducted a similar checkpoint last week, May 6, for eastbound traffic on 39th Street at 71 Highway. They stopped a total of 903 cars and made the following arrests:
20 driving while revoked/suspended (six of whom were persistent offenders)
32 driving with no license
2 DUI (one was a persistent offender)
1 for crack possession
1 for marijuana possession
56 warrants
and
9 tickets for no insurance
Several more driver's license checkpoints are planned in the future.
Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org.
