Wrecks, deadly incidents common on highway

Franklin County Sheriff Craig Davis has seen death on U.S. 59.

He’s seen several fatality accidents as a member of law enforcement and as someone who lived along the highway near a location prone to wrecks.

In most of the wrecks, one car drove left of center and struck another head on.

And Franklin County’s portion of U.S. 59 north of Ottawa isn’t as dangerous as the portion in Douglas County, Davis said.

“But we did have our share of bad accidents and fatalities,” Davis said.

U.S. 59 between Ottawa and Lawrence has an accident rate 25 percent higher than other similar roadways in Kansas, according to a Kansas Department of Transportation study.

From 1995 to 1999, U.S. 59 averaged an accident every 4.9 days, an injury every 9.5 days and a death every 5.4 months, the study found.

Contributing factors include high traffic numbers — about 10,000 vehicles a day — and a road configuration of narrow lanes, no shoulders, and frequent hills and curves.

“[Drivers} are passing when they shouldn’t be passing,” Davis said. “People get in too big a hurry.”