Madras Elementary School is located in Madras, OR. The school is located on Highway 97, an exceptionally busy highway that runs through the middle of town.
A recent change in Oregon State law required that the Department of Transportation select between:
- Reducing the speed limit in front of the school 24 hours per day;
- Deploying a confusing array of signs specifying when school zone speeds were in effect; or
- Install signs stating the reduced speed limit “when lights flashing”.
Permanently reducing the speed limit on the highway was unrealistic, and the state rejected the sign array. The flashing beacons seemed to be the only option, but the price of running power to the locations was prohibitive. Ultimately, the Oregon DOT decided that two of Carmanah’s R829 solar-powered LED school zone flashers were the perfect solution.
Other than the low costs of installation relative to hardwired systems, another key reason for selecting the R829 was the product’s simple, elegant design. Competitive solar-powered lighting consisted of complicated kits requiring large panels, cabinets full of batteries, separate timers, and other gear that must be configured. With its compact, integrated designs and proprietary electronics and software, Carmanah is able to offer much more sophisticated – yet simple to use – solutions.