2007-22
MEDIA ADVISORY :  May 22 , 2007
FROM:   The Kansas Highway Patrol
CONTACT:   Captain Daniel D. Meyer (785) 296-7189
Lieutenant John A. Eichkorn (785) 296-6800

Trucks on Patrol for Safety Rolls into Metro Area

TOPS program Looking for Violations

The Kansas Highway Patrol’s newest safety program, Trucks on Patrol for Safety (TOPS), will be traveling the Kansas City metro area until Friday. Following the week-long deployment, there will be a news conference in Kansas City on Friday, May 25, 2007, at 10 a.m. The conference will be held at the Swift Transportation Company, Inc. terminal at 9000 Woodend Road, in Kansas City, Kansas.

The Patrol is partnering with commercial vehicle companies and drivers to equip the companies’ large trucks with a temporary five-camera system. Troopers will board a large truck equipped with the camera system and will relay information to other troopers in KHP patrol units who will enforce crash-causing violations observed from the large trucks.

The truck and camera system will be on display, in addition to other photo opportunities with Kansas Highway Patrol troopers and Swift Transportation Company, Inc. trucks. Interviews to discuss the success of the program will be available as well. Statistics collected from enforcement action from the past six weeks of the program will be released at that time, as well.

The Kansas Highway Patrol has set a goal to reduce the number of fatality, injury, and property damage crashes in the state. The TOPS program was instituted with this goal in mind.