We’ve had the speed reading signs on West 39th Street between Main Street and Lincoln Avenue for some time, and now there is one on Lincoln above 58th Street. What good are they? If your car is the only one on the road, the sign may accurately tell you how fast you are going, but if there is any traffic, there’s no way to tell which car the sign is responding to. Also, the eastbound sign on 39th generally reports your speed as you pass the sign, so you cannot see it. The person behind you sees it. I know people in the neighborhood love these signs, because they requested the one on Lincoln, but are they actually useful?
— Cam
Well, Cam, the idea is for the signs to act as educational devices to raise driver awareness and support efforts to calm traffic. They are not intended to replace the speedometer, according to Loretta Callahan, Public Works spokeswoman for Vancouver.
“The purpose is to call attention to the vehicle’s speed and prompt the driver to slow down if exceeding the posted amount,” she wrote in an email. “They do not give readings for all vehicles all the time — where there are multiple-lane streets and/or when vehicles are following very close to each other, for example.”
The signs on 39th were installed as part of a pedestrian and traffic safety project completed in 2011, a project that also included Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades, signing, striping, stormwater and pedestrian signal improvements, according to Callahan. She added that the two signs on West 39th were checked and are working properly.
