Submitted by Ken Watts
The first draft of the “community” proposal for the design of US 20 Ashton to SH 87 has been completed by the committee. The committee consists of 16 members of the community from Fremont County. The draft is now being reviewed to develop consensus on the solutions that were put forward. In some cases there were several solutions proposed that had merit. An example is solutions for the busier intersections in Island Park. There was lively debate on this topic. In an effort to inform people about the contents of the proposal, Ken’s Korner will begin publishing sections of the proposal. It is hoped that you will provide feedback and offer your ideas so that the proposal can be improved. The audience for the proposal is the Idaho Transportation Board (they hold the money) and local elected officials who represent us. There are 17 sections in the proposal so you will see many articles over the next few months. There was considerable committee discussion on speed limits. The article last week provided facts, from multiple sources, about safety and speed. This week’s article will cover camera systems to monitor speed on the highway. The committee is adamant that speed limits must be enforced but there is realization that there is not enough law enforcement officers to do this. Automated camera systems are a way to accomplish force multiplication and help reduce speeding. The following is information on these systems is from NHWA. “Among enforcement methods, speed cameras stand apart because they don't require the presence of an officer. By deploying cameras, communities are able to enforce speed limits much more consistently than they can using traditional enforcement. Most speed cameras measure the speed of a vehicle at a single spot. Fixed cameras use either radar or detectors embedded in the road surface to measure a vehicle's speed. Mobile cameras are placed at the roadside in marked or unmarked police cars, containers, poles, etc., and use radar or laser to measure speeds. Some communities require mobile cameras to be manned. In either fixed or mobile systems, if a vehicle is traveling faster than a predetermined speed, the date, time, location and speed are recorded along with a photo of the vehicle. More recent technology can measure average speeds over a certain distance. In this case, cameras located at two or more points record time-stamped images of all vehicles that pass them. Automatic license-plate recognition is used to match individual vehicles so that average speeds between the two points can be calculated. Time-stamped pictures of speeding vehicles are used as evidence of speeding. Point-to-point speed cameras have been used to enforce speed limits in countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom. Speed cameras usually are programmed so they will not be activated unless a vehicle is traveling significantly faster than the posted limit — typically 10 or 11 mph faster, although in certain places such as school zones the tolerance may be lower. Automated speed enforcement can substantially reduce speeding on a wide range of roads. IIHS studies of cameras on residential roads in Maryland, on a high-speed roadway in Arizona and on city streets in the District of Columbia found that the proportion of drivers exceeding speed limits by more than 10 mph declined by 70, 88 and 82 percent, respectively, six to eight months after cameras were introduced (Retting et al., 2008; Retting et al., 2008; Retting & Farmer, 2003).” Some people do not like the idea of speed cameras watching them. But let’s face it, cameras are watching us all the time. Do you have a Ring doorbell?? The community proposal asks for an ITD test case for speed cameras on US 20.
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