Leon, Kansas Speed Traps

Traveling west on US 400 the trap starts at the Patterson ranch building. You will see this small building on the north or right hand side. The trap extends all the way past Jim’s Propane on the north or right hand side, past the cemetery on south, and finally past the school on the north. Apparently there are 7-8 “cops” for this small town of 500. Seems like a newspaper would do some investigative work on this. These cops are rude and unprofessional.

This is a rural Hwy with 65 mph speed limit. Changes to 50 without warning at Leon city limits, then changes to 45 mph just 100 yards or so later until you are past the school, then back up to 50 and finally back to 65. There is no apparent reason for the slow down as there are no houses or intersections. There is a road that leads to the school which is visible 1/4 mile or so off the road. This trap is known to be a great money maker for the town as it is so easy to miss the speed limit signs or get confused by the fact that there is no real reason to slow down.

This is with out a doubt, a speed trap it is strickly for revenue generating use. I’ve been told by the police that all they want to do is slow down the traffic so I said let me put up some signs one mile out from each end saying SPEED TRAP 1 MILE and that should slow traffic down with no problem, They told me that I cannot do that so what do you think this trap is for. I know I live there.

US Hwy. 400 is a super 2 lane, east/west hwy. with 65 mph limit. The limit drops to 50 mph along a one mile stretch as the hwy. passes about 3/4 of a mile south of the town of Leon. It is a flat, open area with no traffic control lights and no significant intersections.

4/2008

City of Leon, KS (pop. 700) located 1.5-miles north of Kansas State Highway 400, arbitrarily reduced the speed limit from 65 mph to 50 mph along a one-mile stretch of isolated highway south of the town. There is insignificant cross traffic to motivate the decrease in speed, and the signs are located behind bushes and trees in what seems to be an intentional attempt to hide them from eastbound travelers leaving Wichita. The westbound signs are more visible, but equally unmotivated as there are no homes, businesses or cross traffic along Highway 400 at that point that would alert travelers of the need to slow down. The El Dorado Times newspaper reported that 72% of the town’s revenues are generated from this speed trap.