PORTLAND, Oregon – The city of Stamford, Connecticut, recently purchased ten new radar speed signs to support their ongoing school safety initiatives. That brings the total number of city-owned speed displays to thirty-four. They soon hope to have enough radar speed signs installed along their various school zone routes to slow cars around each of their twenty public school buildings.
Stamford bought their first radar speed sign about nine years ago, after conducting field testing on several different models. They ultimately chose radar speed displays manufactured by Information Display Company, a U.S. manufacturer. According to Veera Karukonda, signal systems engineer for the city of Stamford, the SpeedCheck radar speed signs were chosen for several reasons.
“A comparative analysis found that the SpeedCheck speed sign provided the best construction and most visible display among those we tested,” said Karukonda. “The size, shape, and design of the SpeedCheck display created the most official looking sign among the test group and it offered many of the features we were looking for. We were also impressed with the dedicated service that we received from Information Display Company’s support staff.”
In the past, the city’s team of signal engineers had to manually open and adjust each radar speed sign when upgrades or scheduling changes needed to be implemented. Now with Information Display Company’s Display Manager™ Onsite, which uses Bluetooth wireless technology, the engineers make firmware upgrades and scheduling changes from the comfort of their car. The city also invested in the DisplayManager Central Office option that, when in operation, will allow city engineers to monitor, adjust and control each sign from their office desktop using the Internet.
Each of the radar speed signs is installed along with two flashing warning lights; one above and one below the speed display. Both the sign and the flashing lights’ operation time are run by the SpeedCheck scheduling program. During school hours, the lights automatically begin to flash and the speed signs remind drivers of their passing speed. Most importantly, the radar speed signs refocus driver attention away from various distractions and back on their own driving in the school zone ahead. In a recent study conducted by Safe Kids USA, one in six drivers traveling through one of several active school zones was observed in a state of distraction. According to the accompanying report, statistics show that even small distractions can dramatically increase the chance of an accident. When it comes to kids safety a distracted speeding driver can be a matter of life or death.
