Suwanee To Install Speed Radar Signs on PIB
Expected to happen in early 2013, the move is based on traffic patterns and previous experiments with the signs.
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Suwanee officials plan to install radar signs at two locations on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard soon to alert drivers to their speeds.
Officials said Thursday (November 15) at a City Council workshop that the signs that show motorists their speeds will be placed at the northbound and southbound city limits on PIB. That would mean north of Tench Road and south of the Fresh Market store.
Suwanee Police records consistently show that three intersections along PIB -- Suwanee Dam Road, Moore Road and McGinnis Ferry Road -- have the most accidents of any within city limits.
City Manager Marty Allen said the move is aimed to "change (motorists') behavior over time."
What do you think of this move by Suwanee? Would you like to see the signs used elsewhere? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Public Works Director James Miller, whose department will maintain the signs, said they should be in place in early 2013.
The city began using Dynamic Driver Feedback signs on five city streets in 2010. Data was collected with the signs not displaying speeds, then when the signs were displaying speeds. A comparison showed "consistent decreases in daily average speeds" on four of the streets, according to city documents.
Also, the city is not recommending location changes for any of the existing radar signs..
The streets where the signs began measuring speeds in December 2010 are:
- Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road southbound near Suwanee Creek;
- Smithtown Road northwest between Leaf Lake Drive and Timberload Drive;
- Main Street southwest bound near PlayTown Park;
- Settles Bridge Road northwest between Barony Drive and Short Street;
- McGinnis Ferry Road northwest bound near McGinnis Reserve.
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William Combs
10:15 am on Friday, November 16, 2012
I have looked at the various speed zones up and down PIB from GA 20 to I-285. The most inconsistent and "unreasonable" section is around the three intersections in your article, where the limit is 55. If there ever was a place where the speed limit needs to be reduced to 45, it is that section of PIB. Why does the county think that area has such a high accident rate? It is because of the level of traffic entering and leaving the road. That area has exploded with development during the past 10 years.
Steve Burns
10:23 am on Friday, November 16, 2012
William, the Suwanee Police often have made this same point. Thanks.
Joy Calloway
2:26 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
William and the SPD are correct. Reducing the speed limit would make more of a difference, and changing the speed limit signs would cost a lot less than putting the radar signs up.
Steve Burns
2:40 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
Joy, Gwinnett County sets the speed limit on PIB. So Suwanee officials have no control over the speed limit signs. Suwanee can only attempt to slow down the motorists.
Ross Crawford
11:52 am on Saturday, November 17, 2012
I'd rather see Gwinnett replace all the traffic lights with the green turn arrows, with those that have two separate signals. One with only the green or red turn arrows, and the other with only the standard red, yellow and green lights. The most dangerous intersections, have drivers who missed the initial green turn arrow, turning in front of oncoming traffic. My daughter had a driver turn directly in front of her at one of these intersections, totaling her car and breaking her wrist. Had the other type signal been in place, there would have been no accident. The radar signs, unless they are issuing tickets through the mail for speeders, are just not that effective. Drivers will slow about 100 feet in front of the sign, but once past, speed back up to the speed they were traveling.