!Work Zone 3a

Speed Displays Prove Highly Effective At Slowing Traffic

During Road Projects That Put Workers And Drivers At Risk

BEAVERTON, OR – February 1, 2010 – The city of Medford, Oregon has taken a huge step toward improving the safety of their workers. Given the dangers that speeding traffic often imposes on their work crews, the city’s public works department tried using a speedcheck radar speed sign during a particularly hazardous street repair project. The positive impact that the speed display had on slowing drivers and increasing worker safety was so dramatic that the city now regularly uses speedcheck radar speed signs to increase work zone safety whenever traffic speeds are an issue.

Tad Blanton, the field operations supervisor for Medford’s Public Works first considered employing radar speed signs after attending a demonstration given by Information Display Company, a leading manufacturer of traffic display technologies. IDC then loaned Blanton a portable display for a thirty-day trial period.

 

“The effectiveness of the speedcheck radar speed sign was dramatic and immediate,” said Blanton. “We first set one up during a storm drain repair project we had on a busy four lane road. The crew came back saying it was absolutely unbelievable the difference the speedcheck sign made on getting drivers to slow down. I know a traditional warning sign wouldn’t have had nearly the same effect.”

According to Blanton, the speed display they purchased from IDC three years ago continues to work exactly the way it was intended to do on the first day they tried it out.

“From the start, we were absolutely thrilled at how easy it was to set up and how effective it was at slowing drivers,” said Blanton.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, nearly 1,000 people are killed and more than 40,000 injured each year as a result of motor vehicle crashes in work zones. The majority of these cases involve excessive speeds.

“Radar speed signs are becoming standard safety equipment for a growing number of government agencies that work in and around environments where traffic safety is a concern,” said Gary ODell, president of Information Display Company. “Our Try-Before-You-By program provides a risk-free way for interested parties to see first hand how effective our speed displays can be at slowing cars and increasing work zone safety.”

For links to studies regarding the effectiveness of radar speed signs in work zone settings visit http://www.informationdisplay.com/traffic_calming_research-studies.php. For more information on high-quality radar speed signs or IDC’s Try-Before-You-Buy SpeedCheck loaner program visit the Information Display Company website at www.informationdisplay.com or call (503) 421-8325.

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