Essential for Safer Driving on Winding Roads

While all drivers are familiar with rectangular black-and-white speed limit signs, which provide the maximum speed permitted by law, there’s another type of speed  sign that’s just as important, particularly on winding highways or rural roads that transect more densely populated areas. These signs are known as advisory speed signs, and they can be used to signal to drivers that speeds should be reduced ahead of a potential hazard (e.g. a sharp curve, driveways with low visibility, etc.). 

As these signs are “advisory,” and not “regulatory” (i.e. they are not enforceable) driver compliance can be low. According to the FWHA, “On familiar highways, drivers come to learn that they can comfortably exceed the advisory speed for most curves. The concern is that these drivers may occasionally travel on roadways that are less familiar to them and where the advisory speed is posted at the maximum safe speed. These unfamiliar drivers may find themselves traveling too fast for conditions and experience a crash.”

One way of disrupting this dangerous driving behavior and increasing compliance is to use a dynamic radar speed sign, which mounts below the standard yellow advisory signs, and displays flashing digits to grab drivers’ attention. The sign continuously displays the advised speed until a driver exceeds the preset limit. The display then alternates flashing the advised speed with a “slow down” message. Like our best-selling “YOUR SPEED” radar signs, advisory speed signs offer departments a proven and effective traffic calming tool to reduce driver speeds on a wide variety of roadways and conditions.