Positive feedback:
EPD hopes new radar sign will raise drivers’ awareness
tlyons@eldoradonews.com
Vehicles heading north on Timberlane Wednesday slowed down considerably as they passed the former El Dorado High School campus north of Main Street.
Perched by the side of the road on the school’s south parking lot was the El Dorado Police Department’s new radar feedback sign, which flashed the speed of drivers as they passed.
A News-Times reporter was clocked going 38 miles per hour in a 30-mile-perhour zone – with permission from the police, of course.
Capt. Kevin Holt, public information officer for the EPD, OK’d the demonstration as he described the features of the new sign, which was purchased with a private grant to the EPD.
He said the EPD will use the sign, not to write speeding tickets, but more as a speed awareness/education tool to help motorists slow down and to help them recognize how easy it is to speed, often unknowingly. Officers will target areas where they’ve received a high volume of complaints, including resi-
dential neighborhoods.
“It’s a warning tool we’ll use to educate the public about how fast they’re going. People sometimes don’t realize how easy it is to go faster than 25 in a 25-mile-per-hour zone. We’ll pick out spots where we can put it and get it out of the way, out of the street,” Holt said, pointing to the radar feedback sign, which sat atop a trailer that was hitched to a black and white EPD pickup.
He said that if the sign detects a problem with speeding in a particular area, an officer will then be sent to the spot with a speed radar gun for traffic enforcement purposes.
“Places where we’ve gotten complaints, we’ve sent officers out before, but it’s difficult to catch because they see the officer there,” Holt said.
He said the sign can collect data, such as speed and the number of vehicles that pass through a certain area in a given time, that can be used to better control traffic flow in the city.
For instance, on some city streets, speed limit signs are few and far between, so drivers often do not know they’re speeding.
“In one area, it’ll say 35, but by the time you make it to another area on the same street, it’ll be 25, but there’s no sign posted telling you when it changes because the sign that says 35 is way back on another part of the road,” Holt said.
“We’ll work with the public works department on that, and as we’re working through this, we’ll put them up in particular neighborhoods, we’ll see where the speed signs are, and if there are not enough we’ll put up more. Or we’ll see if we need to move them,” Holt said.
After the radar feedback sign was delivered to El Dorado two weeks ago, Holt said he contacted the Arkansas Highways and Transportation Department, who sent an official to El Dorado on Monday to conduct an assessment of speed limit signs on U.S. 167B (West Avenue through El Dorado).
“Based on their data and their own rules, he said there should have been more signs in place so people can see where the speed limit actually changes,” Holt said, adding that radar feedback signs are commonly used in larger cities, including Little Rock.
He said the EPD is still learning how to operate the sign and working to determine where to set it up first, noting that Wednesday was the second time the sign had been placed outside.
The EPD will begin randomly setting up the sign next week, particularly as the new school year gets under way in El Dorado.
“We don’t want to confuse people. We don’t want them looking at the sign as they’re watching out for the kids. It’s to go along with them paying more attention to their driving,” Holt said, reiterating that the primary purpose of the sign is to raise awareness about speeding.
“It’s a neat tool. It’s something we really appreciate that we were able to get with the grant that we got. If we can get people to slow down to prevent accidents, we’d do that just as soon as write tickets,” he said.