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Sedgwick County commissioners plan request for state traffic study after rise in crashes on K‑42
Summary
Sedgwick County commissioners and the sheriff's office flagged a rise in crashes along K‑42, citing intersection 'failure to yield' crashes and distracted driving; commissioners said they will request a state traffic study to gather data for future safety changes.
Sedgwick County Commissioner Jeff Luball (District 2) and Commissioner Stephanie Wise (District 3) said Tuesday they will ask the state to perform a traffic study of K‑42 after county law-enforcement data showed an increase in crashes along the corridor.
Brandon Stitt of the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office told the commissioners the sheriff's office had investigated 31 crashes along K‑42 through mid‑July, and attributed 15 of those to a failure to yield the right of way. "In of those 31, we've had 1 fatality," Stitt said, adding that Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) data counted 42 crashes within the county portion of K‑42 during the same period. "We had 65 total crashes with 1 fatality and 14 injuries and 48 non injury crashes along K 42 in 2024," he said.
The commissioners and Stitt focused on driver behavior and visibility as leading contributors. Luball said constituents report speeding and difficulty pulling out onto K‑42, and Wise said sunlight can blind drivers traveling into Wichita. Stitt cited distracted driving and failure to re‑scan intersections after stopping as common causes: "People are forgetting that when they get to an intersection ... they are stopping and then either they're not looking again," he said.
Stitt also noted seasonal and environmental risks, advising drivers to "watch for deer" in fall and to scan ditches. He urged drivers to obey no‑passing zones and to avoid overtaking on hills or near intersections. Commissioners said they have worked with Public Works and "intend to have a study done at the state where they can do a traffic study on K 42 so that we can get better data and help us make future decisions on the highway," Luball said.
The discussion was framed as a mix of reported crash data, safety guidance, and a next step to seek a state‑level traffic study; no formal vote was recorded during the remarks. The sheriff's office and county staff did not provide an exact timeline for requesting the study or for any resulting engineering or enforcement actions.
The commission's comments also noted specific geography for the county's scope along K‑42: Stitt said county investigations typically begin at Hoover and extend to the Sumner County line near 119th Street South. He called distracted driving one of the "big" factors and encouraged drivers to "put the phone down."
