By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Seat belt fines are going up in Hays.
What had been a $10 fine–among the lowest in the nation–will soon triple to $30, thanks to a new state law.
Effective July 1, the law established a new Seat Belt Safety Fund which will be funded by requiring cities to pay $20 into the newly created fund for each local seat belt fine.
City Attorney John Bird told city commissioners last week the city’s 2016 Standard Traffic Ordinance needs to be amended to provide for the change in fine.
The League of Municipalities will incorporate the change in the next version of the Standard Traffic Ordinance, which will be issued in late 2017. The ordinance to be presented this week to commissioners is considered a “stop-gap measure” until the Standard Ordinance is passed later this year.
The new Seat Belt Safety Fund is administered by the Kansas Secretary of Transportation and will fund an expansion of the student-driven Seatbelts Are For Everyone (SAFE) program, making it available to every high school in Kansas.
Hays High School has participated in SAFE for several years. It started in 2009 in Crawford County to address low occupant restraint use among young drivers.
In 2016 in Kansas, 435 people died in motor vehicle crashes according to the Kansas Highway Patrol, making it one of the top ten causes of unintentional death in Kansas and the number one killer of teens. According to the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT), 71 percent of all people killed or seriously injured in Kansas traffic crashes are unrestrained.
Commissioners will also be asked to consider a recommendation to increase court costs.
According to research by Police Chief Don Scheibler, the current court costs of $80 per case in Hays Municipal Court are significantly less than the costs in other comparable municipal courts, and in the Ellis County District Court. Ellis County District Court currently charges between $103 and $148 per case.
Scheibler and city staff are recommending an ordinance to increase costs per case in Hays Municipal Court from $80 to $100 to better reflect the actual costs of cases filed in Municipal Court and other administrative costs.
Other agenda items for the July 13 Hays city commission meeting include a recommended nuisance property abatement of the former Ambassador Hotel, 3603 Vine Street.
The complete agenda may be seen here. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in Hays City Hall, 1507 Main.