Warning first, a ticket later

Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, May 22, 2002

On roads where speedy driving is notorious, keeping speed in check may now be as simple as keeping your eyes on the side of the road.

Having made appearances on Cultus Bay, Humphrey, East Harbor, Bayview and Maxwelton Roads, many South Whidbey drivers may have come across the mobile electronic radar, which is being moved periodically to various busy roads on South Whidbey. Island County Sheriff’s Office and Island County Public Works are cooperating to make the project possible. Officials with both agencies hope the electronic billboard will slow drivers down.

The tall, wheeled, orange radar device with its oversized screen is an eye-catching beacon sitting close to the right side of the road, plainly in view of those who drive toward it. As drivers approach the radar-equipped billboard, they can monitor their speeds register on the screen and watch the numbers fluctuate in tandem with their own speedometers. Drivers may even slow down if the numbers are higher than the speed limit.

Or do they? On an island with numerous straight, open roads, the temptation to speed is not uncommon. However, some local drivers believe the radar will help to improve road safety conditions.

Langley’s Harry Jester said the radar billboard appears to be an effective instrument which catches the attention of those who drive past it.

“It isn’t a negative distraction at all,” he said. “I believe it is a good idea for the community I live in.”

Clinton resident Pat Westling, who regularly drove past the radar when it was on Bayview Road not long ago, also said it caught her attention. She said moving the billboard around is a good idea because drivers might eventually tune it out after seeing it in the same area for more than a few weeks.

Other drivers agree that with the island’s growing population of people and their vehicles, a tool such as the radar that improves speeding awareness is both useful and worthwhile.

“At neighborhood meetings the biggest complaint is the traffic,” Jan Smith, the Island County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, said.

Straight, long residential roads, like Double Bluff and East Harbor, are often runways for dangerously fast drivers, according to Smith. The sheriff’s office uses the roads’ reputations for speeding, along with complaints from residents in those areas, to decide where to place the radar next. Smith said the electronic radar’s function is strictly educational, a way to promote drivers’ self-awareness of their own speeds.

The radar is not being used to ticket drivers, as in major cities where camera and radar setups are used by law enforcement to remotely ticket speeders.

Where and when the billboard and radar setup will appear next is not certain. Island County Engineer Dick Snyder said the billboard is primarily used to display cautionary messages for construction zone traffic control; its role as a speed advisory, though beneficial to the community, is secondary. One of two billboards the county purchased last year, it may have to go back to on warning duty during the upcoming road construction season.

In the meantime, the radar will continue to act as the first part to an education on speeding, that is, until drivers keep on speeding and get ticketed by patrol officers.

“Then that’s part two of the education,” Snyder said.

RADAR

Matt Johnson / staff photo

A radar-enhanced electronic billboard on Bayview Road lets a driver know that he is adhering to the speed limit. The billboard is part of a speed education and enforcement program jointly undertaken by the Island County Sheriff’s Office and Island County Public Works.