Oklahoma State University is taking a new approach to monitoring speeding on campus. The OSU Police Department entered a joint effort with Student Affairs, Risk Management and the Physical Plant to install electronic speed display signs at several locations on campus. The electric speed signs use a radar mechanism to alert drivers of their speed. The numbers on the signs flash and in some cases spell out the words “slow down,” when a driver is exceeding the posted speed limit.

Lieutenant L.P. Jones of the OSU Police Department says the signs are designed to increase driving safety on campus. “Sometimes when people are driving they really don’t look down at their speedometer and sometimes do not realize they are speeding,” said Jones. “But with these signs in place there it is a bright display right in the view of their windshield.”

The first sign was installed on McElroy Street last summer, since then five more signs have been installed and a seventh will soon be installed. The street locations of the signs were chosen based on the amount of traffic the areas receive. Both vehicle and pedestrian traffic is considered in the process. Many of the signs are located where students often walk and other signs are located near the family apartments where children are frequently playing. The signs help because the university hopes to promote voluntary compliance to speed laws, which would allow officers to spend more time concentrating their efforts on other enforcement instead of traffic.

“Outside of safety, our other main goal is to issue fewer citations,” Jones said. “A ticket, especially in our current economic situation can hurt your pocketbook; these signs are our way of reminding people to follow traffic laws without giving citations.”

(Binghampton, N.Y.) Radar speed signs first installed more than four years ago continue to operate effectively and maintenance free according to campus police at Binghamton University. In 2005, four radar speed signs were placed on the university campus as part of several University measures aimed at ensuring pedestrian safety. University police say the radar speed signs, all manufactured by Information Display Company, continue to be highly effective at slowing cars at all four locations throughout the heavily trafficked campus.

“We had some initial concern that drivers would eventually become used to the radar speed signs and that the displays would lose their effectiveness over time,” said Timothy R. Faughnan, Deputy Chief of Police, Binghamton University, “but that has certainly not been the case. Years later, we still see brake lights come on as the signs remind drivers to observe their current rate of speed and make adjustments as needed.”

The University installed the four displays near campus crosswalks where pedestrian traffic is particularly high and posted speed limits are reduced. The displays tell passing drivers their actual speed and flash the numbers if the driver exceeds a pre-set limit.”