Forncett SAM2 Sign - Is it effective?

Written by Phil Whiscombe.

sam-2We’ve been asked if the use of the sign actually has any effect on the speeding behaviour of drivers but this is difficult to prove conclusively without comparative data being obtained when the sign is not operating. However, the manufacturer advised that the sign could be put into ‘stealth’ mode which sounds sinister but simply means the vehicle numbers and speed data can continue to be logged without the speed display working. So when the sign was located on Mill Road in early June it was operated normally for the first week and in stealth mode for the second week. I won’t claim this to be a highly scientific exercise but the results are interesting. In the first week 48% of all vehicles were exceeding 35 mph and in the second week when the display was turned off this increased to 55%. So it does seem reasonable to infer that the sign does have a positive impact on driver behaviour — unfortunately this doesn’t disguise the fact that over the two weeks 78% of all drivers, some 7,459, exceeded the 30 mph limit with 219 exceeding 50 mph! This location remains the worst for speeding and clearly isn’t a particularly good place to be a pedestrian. 

For details and tables of the results please 

(click pics below to enlarge)