Creating the crime of engaging in a street stunt, providing criminal penalties therefor and adding engaging in a street stunt to the list of crimes included in fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.
SB 62 creates a new Kansas crime called “engaging in a street stunt,” aimed at coordinated driving behavior by two or more vehicles that disrupts traffic in an intersection or roadway. The offense is defined by a “course of conduct” involving three or more specified traffic-related acts, such as running signals, improper lane use, reckless driving, speeding, impeding traffic, driving in circles near pedestrians or occupied vehicles, or similar conduct, and it applies when that conduct causes other motorists to stop or take evasive action, damages property, or injures a person. The bill expressly excludes constitutionally protected activity and conduct necessary to accomplish a lawful purpose.
The bill establishes escalating criminal penalties. A first offense involving disruption of traffic without damage or injury is a Class A person misdemeanor, while a second or subsequent conviction becomes a severity level 10 person felony. If the conduct results in property damage or injury, the offense is a severity level 9 person felony on a first conviction and severity level 5 person felony on a repeat conviction. The bill also allows a person who engages in a street stunt to be separately prosecuted for any other resulting Chapter 21 offense, such as assault, battery, criminal damage to property, or disorderly conduct.
SB 62 also amends Kansas’s fleeing and eluding statute, K.S.A. 8-1568, to add attempting to elude police while committing a street stunt as a felony offense. Under the amended law, a driver who flees police in connection with a street stunt is guilty of a severity level 9 person felony. The bill retains and reorganizes existing fleeing-and-eluding penalties for other aggravating conduct, including reckless driving, accidents, property damage, five or more moving violations, stolen vehicles, wrong-way driving, and dangerous lane departures or intersection violations. It also preserves the requirement that police signals be given by marked vehicles or uniformed officers and continues the public-awareness requirement for driver licensing materials.
The bill’s impact is to expand Kansas criminal law to specifically target street takeovers, sideshows, and other coordinated stunt-driving activity, while increasing penalties for repeat conduct and for incidents that cause harm. It would create new person-felony exposure for drivers and potentially for participants in coordinated vehicle activity, and it would give prosecutors an additional charge when such conduct leads to police pursuit. It also updates the state’s traffic and criminal code cross-references by repealing the existing version of K.S.A. 8-1568 and replacing it with the amended text.
No committee transcript or vote history was provided, so there is no recorded debate or roll-call evidence here to indicate support or opposition. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears to be framed as a public-safety and enforcement bill focused on dangerous driving behavior, with likely support from those concerned about traffic disruption and roadway injuries. Potential points of contention include the breadth of the “course of conduct” definition, the inclusion of relatively common traffic violations as part of the offense, and whether the felony penalties are proportionate for conduct that may not always involve injury or property damage.
SB 62 would add a new criminal offense to Kansas law for coordinated “street stunt” driving and would amend K.S.A. 8-1568 to make eluding police while committing that offense a felony. It increases criminal exposure for drivers engaged in disruptive group driving, creates repeat-offender enhancements, and preserves the ability to charge related offenses arising from the same conduct. The bill would primarily affect motorists, passengers involved in street takeovers, law enforcement, and prosecutors, and it would require the Department of Revenue to continue public awareness efforts tied to driver licensing.
No committee discussion or vote record was provided, so the formal legislative sentiment cannot be measured from the available history. The bill’s structure and caption suggest a strong public-safety rationale and likely support from lawmakers seeking to deter street takeovers and dangerous driving. At the same time, the absence of recorded debate means there is no documented evidence here of specific support, opposition, or amendments, and any assessment of sentiment is limited to the bill’s apparent enforcement-oriented purpose.
The main likely points of contention are the scope and clarity of the new “street stunt” definition, especially the use of a broad “course of conduct” standard that can include several ordinary traffic violations when combined in a particular pattern. Critics could question whether the statute risks sweeping in conduct that is reckless but not necessarily organized as a stunt, or whether the felony penalties are too severe for first-time offenses that do not cause injury or damage. Supporters are likely to emphasize the public-safety threat posed by street takeovers, the danger to bystanders and other drivers, and the need for stronger deterrence and police-pursuit penalties.