Melksham Town Council has installed four new speed indicator devices (SIDs) around town as part of a plan to improve road safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
The Council purchased the units to replace faulty signs that were seen around town earlier this year. The sophisticated radar technology is capable of locating and measuring vehicle speeds from up to 200 yards away. Not only will motorists be advised of their speed when driving past the units, but the Council will also be tracking data that is stored by the SID.
Town Mayor, councillor Jon Hubbard who joined amenities team workers Paul Wallace and Joe Reece to watch the unit go up on Spa Road said, “Residents of Melksham are rightly concerned about the amount of speeding that takes place on our town’s streets. These signs are proven to work, and they will help make our streets safer for residents and visitors alike.”
The roll-out of these units has long been something that Cllr Hubbard has worked towards, since tabling a motion to council in late 2019, calling for the erection of the speed signs. That lead to a resolution to purchase seven devices for deployment across major speeding hotspots in and around town.
The project has been beset, first by manufacturing delays and second by product failure, eventually resulting in the council engaging the services of a new supplier.
Commenting on the delays, Melksham Town Council officer, Jeff Mills, said, “It’s been extremely frustrating, not least for those residents who live in traffic hotspots, but it looks like we are finally ‘off to the races’, so to speak. After all of the problems we had with the initial purchase, it was terrific to see the signs up and running during testing last week. The vast majority of motorists I observed reduced their speed to within the limit before passing the sign, which was great to see.”
The units will be moved regularly to maximise their effectiveness, and will sporadically morph into ‘spy mode’ where the devices appear to be switched off, but continue to measure the speed of passing traffic.
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