Kansas Truckers, Troopers Team up for TOPS Program
The Kansas Highway Patrol's Trucks on Patrol for Safety (TOPS) program is putting troopers into commercial truck cabs in an effort to improve safety. is rolling across highways throughout the state
The Kansas Highway Patrol's Trucks on Patrol for Safety (TOPS) program is putting troopers into commercial truck cabs in an effort to improve safety. is rolling across highways throughout the state.
The program, supported by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, was implemented in Kansas in 2007. The goal of TOPS is to help reduce injuries and deaths related to large truck crashes on Kansas' roadways.
The TOPS program provides troopers an opportunity to ride with professional truck drivers. The troopers onboard the large trucks have a front seat view to witness, document, and report violations to other troopers on patrol in the immediate area. Each vehicle is equipped with a temporary five-camera system that records violations by both passenger vehicles and other commercial vehicles. Through TOPS, troopers will enforce state laws and federal regulations in and around large trucks, as well as educate the motoring public of the dangers that exist around semis.
One of the primary focuses of the TOPS program is to raise the public's awareness of the added precautions that must be taken when sharing the road with large trucks. Because of the benefits of educating the public and striving to reduce traffic deaths on the highways, FMCSA is encouraging more states to get involved in programs similar to the TOPS program. To help raise awareness, this year's TOPS program includes a media campaign, which Kansas residents can expect to see and hear later this summer.
The first seven-week deployment of the program began April 9. During a second seven-week deployment this summer, violations observed in the first deployment will be re-evaluated to determine the program's effectiveness.
The TOPS program spent the final week of the year's first deployment traveling around the Kansas City metro area. There was a media conference at the Con-way Freight terminal on Friday, May 23, to discuss results for the program. Each week, the violation data is being tabulated and posted on the Kansas Highway Patrol's Web site.
As of May 16, the program had generated 335 passenger car citations and 598 warnings, with speeding the most common violation; and 67 citations and 164 warnings for commercial trucks, with unspecified "misdemeanors" the most common violation, followed by seat belt violations.
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