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Police Hope Education Effort Helps Motorists Slow Down

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By CARL ORTH

The Suncoast News

Published: February 14, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - If drivers don't see the light from a speed-radar trailer and slow down, they might see the flashing lights of a patrol car in their rear-view mirrors instead.

The New Port Richey Police Department wanted to remind motorists the speed limit along Main Street is 25 mph, Capt. Jeff Harrington said. So police parked one of the department's two trailers on Main Street near Van Buren Street late last week.

The radar device measures the speed of oncoming cars and then displays that speed with 2-foot-tall LED letters.

The speed-radar trailer on Main Street will likely be rotated to another location.

Police were concerned about traffic zipping along a long stretch of Main Street east of city hall, between the signals at Madison and Congress streets. "It's a relatively wide-open segment," Harrington said.

If drivers don't get the educational message, "there may be a more proactive approach," Harrington said. Drivers who don't slow down might find themselves getting speeding tickets. Officers use three unmarked squad cars during traffic patrols.

The department used a Florida Department of Transportation grant to pay for the two speed-measuring trailers it purchased, Harrington said.

"We deploy these speed trailers to neighborhoods and areas where speeding is a concern," Harrington said in an e-mail.

The trailers also help police collect data on how fast most vehicles travel on a street and the traffic flow volume. Police then can adjust traffic enforcement efforts.

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