by Geoff Fox
If you’ve driven west on Main Street or east on High Street lately, you may have noticed a digital sign with “Your Speed” on it and flashing lines or your speed.
These signs were recently installed on the speed limit sign at the old car wash on Main Street and between Virginia Avenue and Methodist Street on High Street as a way to get drivers to slow down.
“They work,” Town Manager Mike Faith said about the signs.
While they are speed control devices, Faith said the machines aren’t issuing citations and don’t follow the same requirements as those that do, such as the two by Hancock Middle-Senior High Schools and Hancock Elementary.
Faith said he needs to do some adjustments to the digital signs as the readout only hits 18 or 19 when cars go by no matter the speed.
He wants the sign to show someone going 35 milesper-hour in a 25 zone.
“We just got them hung up. I got to play with them a little bit,” he said. “I just haven’t had a chance yet.”
Speed cameras have to be calibrated all the time and the citation information has
to be validated by police before it can be issued.
Faith said when he goes by the signs; he notices he taps his brake.
“People go flying by it, they probably don’t know there’s a speed limit sign there,” Faith said.
The placement of the two signs wasn’t random as both spots are problems when it comes to people speeding.
But they won’t always be there, he added.
Faith said the signs will be switched to different locations every 30 days or so.
Future locations include Pennsylvania Avenue, Baptist Road, Fulton Street, and other problem areas.
The signs cost the town $6,720 for both signs. Because it was under the $15,000 level for public expenditures, there wasn’t a vote on the purchase.
The digital signs come with software where Faith and police can get data on the severity of the speeding.
In his Facebook live broadcasts, Faith said he’d probably give people the report from signs telling them they need to slow down.