KCMO city council goes backwards on speeding ticket system

KCMO has traditionally allowed speeders to plea bargain their tickets down to nonmoving violations--allowing chronic speeders to avoid driver license points and insurance increases. Recently the city prosecutor reversed this traditional practice. Now, according to the KCStar:

Kansas City has run into a roadblock on its way to a more honest system for dealing with speeders and errant motorists. A clique of lawyers — accustomed to making easy money off a deceptive plea-bargain system—is doing its best to dismantle the reforms.

The City Council today is expected to vote on a resolution that would return to a flawed system that allows motorists who speed and violate other traffic laws to have up to four guilty pleas in a year without any effect on their driving record.

It’s a defining moment for Mayor Kay Barnes and council members. They can give the new, progressive policy the fair trial that it deserves, or they can return to the past, caving in to pressure from self-interested lawyers and their allies.

Well, what do you know, the city council did vote to reverse the policy and return it to the old way:

Kansas City has reopened the gate for speeders — and even drunken drivers — to plea bargain down to “defective equipment.”

Restrictions had been placed on the practice in the spring, but the City Council voted Thursday to reverse course.

Supporters of Thursday’s change said tightening up pleas had created a huge backlog of Municipal Court cases, potentially costing the city millions in lost revenue.

“Doing it the way we used to do it is the best way to do it,” said Councilman Terry Riley, who co-sponsored the resolution with Councilman George Blackwood.

The measure was approved 10-2, with Mayor Kay Barnes and Councilman Jim Glover voting no. Councilwoman Becky Nace was absent but had voted no in committee.

The very next week a study came out showing that Kansas Citians rate speeding traffic as the biggest crime problem in their neighborhoods--ahead of burglary and violent crime:

Kansas Citians believe speeding vehicles are the top crime problem facing their neighborhoods, according to survey results released Tuesday.

Burglary ranked second and violent crime third. . . .

Whipple said speeding cars represent a public safety issue, too.

“People can envision themselves getting in a wreck more easily than being involved in a violent crime,” she said.