Patrol reports Thanksgiving holiday weekend activity
Kansas Highway Patrol personnel assisted 1,234 motorists over the holiday reporting period.
KHP released preliminary data from its Thanksgiving weekend holiday activity. The reporting period for the holiday weekend ran from 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 26, through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday.
During that time, KHP worked four fatal crashes, which killed five people. None of these crashes involved driving under the influence (DUI). There were also no DUI-related fatal crashes for the same period in 2014.
The five fatalities was up from two in 2014, when there were two fatal crashes.
The patrol reports 14 DUI arrests, compared to 24 in 2014; 472 speed citations, down from 1,090; 257 speed warnings, down from 875; 52 adult seat belt citations, compared to 189 the previous year; five teen seat belt citations both years; and five child restraint citations, compared to 26 the previous year.
The number of motorists assisted this year was up about 5 percent from 1,178 assisted in 2014.
The Kansas Highway Patrol responded to several injury accidents on icy roads in Ellsworth County over the extended holiday weekend. All of the people involved were wearing safety restraints.
The first was at 2:50 p.m. Friday on K-156, just south of Holyrood. Driver Larry Burse, 55, of Salina, lost control of a 1997 Chevrolet 1500 and slid into the path of a 2014 Kenworth semitrailer. Burse was not injured but his passenger, Wesley Wade Hudson, 58, of Salina was taken to Salina Regional Health Center with undetermined injuries. The semi was driven by William Russell Gilbert, 48, of Quenemo. Gilbert and a passenger were not injured.
The semi was removed by Ellsworth Service Center and the other vehicle was removed by Randy’s Body Shop.
Three accidents on Saturday all occurred on an icy stretch along Interstate 70 within 5 miles of K-14. All of the injured parties were taken to Ellsworth Medical Center.
At 6:28 p.m., there was an accident on I-70, 2 miles west of K-14.
Jodi L. Smith, 37, from Denver, Colo., was driving a westbound 1996 Ford Explorer and lost control when it hit a patch of ice. The Explorer went into the ditch and rolled. Smith was injured. The vehicle was removed by Randy’s Body Shop.
At 6:58 p.m., the driver of an eastbound 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara lost control 4 miles west of K-14. The vehicle went into the median and rolled. The driver was 54-year-old Denise J. Wilson from Springfield, Mo. She and passenger Kenneth L. Wilson Jr., 57, were injured. A 5-year-old girl in a child restraint seat was not injured.
The vehicle was removed by Ellsworth Service Center.
At 9:55 p.m., there was an accident in the eastbound lanes of I-70, 5 miles west of K-14. The driver of a 1999 Mitsubishi Montero, Tomi N. Tibbetts, 32, of Manhattan, lost control and the vehicle went off the roadway to the right and rolled. Tibbetts and her passengers Kirsten D. Cruz, 23, and Derek Hayes, 39, both of Olathe, sustained injuries and the vehicle was removed by Ellsworth Service Center.
