The Arkansas City Police Department was presented with their FIFTH consecutive, the 2015 AAA Kansas Community Traffic Safety Award. AAA Spokesperson Jim Hanni thanked Chief Dan Ward and Police Capt. Mark McCaslin and the Department for their superior efforts in traffic safety.
The Ark City Police Department was recognized this year for their active participation, six years now, in the highly successful SAFE teen seat belt program with Ark City High School; for their community education efforts, like their bicycle rodeo, the City Safety Fair, their DARE camp, educational pamphlets, safety tips on Facebook, and their rollover crash demonstration efforts.
They were also recognized for their EMR efforts—collaborating with EMR services when crashes occur for better control of a crash scene to aid EMR vehicles. Also for their enforcement efforts with Special Traffic Enforcement, their K-9 and bicycle units, and night time seat belt check lane.
In engineering, their Safe Pace Speed & Traffic Safety Data Collection Sign and their traffic & bus pattern design with USD 470.
Arkansas City is now one of only two communities in Kansas to qualify for a GOLD award since the award’s inception…demonstrating SUPERIOR efforts in addressing local traffic safety issues, FIVE YEARS IN A ROW.
Proof of their “superior” efforts is in the results:
- Click It Or Ticket violations: after having risen from 49 in 2010 to 378 in 2013, declined 42 percent last year, a tipping point that the community has gotten the message and more motorists are wearing their seat belts
- That’s borne out in adult seat belt surveys showing increased use.
- Because of their active SAFE program, teen seat belt use has made a strong improvement…the SAFE program belt use has risen from 73 to 86% over the past five years
- Crash injuries have dropped from 74 in 2010 to 52 in 2014
- And there have been NO FATALITIES in the past three years and NO FATALITIES in 4 of the past five years.
