THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 19, 1997 TAG: 9701190708
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 35 lines
It looks like a dishwasher on wheels. Only more judgmental.
Chesapeake motorists have been catching sight of a strangely shaped addition to their city streets - a new portable speed detector being used by police to deter speeding.
The Chesapeake Police Department is setting up the traffic monitor - which flashes cars' speeds as they pass - on a different streeti every day, said First Sgt. Richard Johnson of the traffic enforcement section. Police are targeting school zones, high-speed areas and intersections where there have been many accidents, he said. Two weeks ago, police set up the sign near Great Bridge Elementary School. On Wednesday, the traffic monitor gauged speeds on Battlefield Boulevard.
For now, the device's purpose is educational, he said. Police do not plan to use the radar signal to catch law-breakers.
And while nothing slows down a leadfoot like the sight of flashing red and blue lights in the rear-view mirror, Johnson hopes that just seeing their speed publicly displayed on a large electronic sign will shock drivers into slowing down.
``It's not there to scare people,'' Johnson said. ``We just want to raise people's awareness. People get going and they forget about their speed. This may shock them a little. We're hoping it will slow them down.''
The radar sign - an $11,000 demonstration model - is on loan from the manufacturer to the police department for the next three weeks, Johnson said. Although a speed detector is not in the police department's budget - yet - it is on Johnson's wish list.
``I'd love for us to have one'' in Chesapeake, Johnson said. ``We may see it in our budget next year.''