Digital speed signs

[Skyryder]

Noticed that there is a new digital speed sighn outside Princess Marg. Hospital in Chch. There is also one in Centaurus Rd. That's two that I know in Chch. Any one know of the policy on this or is this just a prelude for speed camera placements. Do they record the number of speeding motorists, time etc. for evaluation purposes.

Skyryder

[Oakie]

The one in Centaurus Road has been there for 3 or so months now I guess. I go past it each day. Seems to a permanent fixture and I guess is just a road safety thing. I always feel like it is being a snitch when I go past it at over 50 kph and it flashes my speed for the world to see.

[vagrant]

There's one just down the road from Whenuapai too. A mate who is one of the local constabulary told me that they are set up to display speeds up to 10 km's over the limit and then show a slow down message.
(to prevent people trying to "clock" them):argh:
They do record all the speeds measured for trending purposes, I guess to work out if a particular road could benefit from from a higher Police presence?:whistle:

[Ocean1]

I like 'em, potentially very usefull. But they seem to be putting them in politically significant locations.

I'd rather see them sprouting up on high-risk corners. Would get my attention, as long as the target speeds were "reasonable" as opposed to the more usual "OHMYGODYOURADEADMANUNLESSYOUSTOPRIGHTNOW" sort.

[Wiki Drifter]

are set up to display speeds up to 10 km's over the limit and then show a slow down message.
(to prevent people trying to "clock" them)

oww where's the fun in that?

[limbimtimwim]

They seem to go up and stay up forever. With no speed camera coming along later. At least in Wellington.

Challenge for the locals:
Come down Garden Road and left onto Glenmore St and making the one there say "slow down".

Good fun.

[Swoop]

Do they say anything else apart from "SLOW"???:rolleyes:

[nudemetalz]

No, they don't record anything. They're only for road safety.
Good idea though.

[ceebie13]

Do they say anything else apart from "SLOW"???:rolleyes:

Yeah!! The one I approached said, "Ceebie, you are a pillar of law abiding motorcycle roadcraft, sweet as, mate! ...oh, nice bike too!"

[PrincessBandit]

I saw one for the first time ever over at Waitakere last week. I thought it was a great idea. Pity we'll never get them in Manukau (where we soooooo need them) - they'd be just too hard to resist for our vandalising mongrels.

[vifferman]

They've changed the setup on them over time.
The first ones I saw just displayed your speed. There was one in Ponsonby a few years back on the Shelly Beach off-ramp (I think they stuck it there for Finn's benefit), and it was fun to jam on the brakes as the car in front went past, then see how high you could get it in the 50m or so that left to accelerate.
The next one I saw had this kewl feature that when you wnet over 50km/h, it showed how many dollars you'd earned! :niceone:

Now they're really lame, and no fun at all - after you're 10km/h over, it just says "SLOW!"

[Clockwork]

Got one of these on the motorway exit ramp on Murphy street. If you past them fast enough they just ignore you completely.

[F5 Dave]

Yeah that one is stupid, no one has slowed down to 50 by then so it just says SLOW. So you don't learn anything from it. If it went up to 75 or something you would at least go hmm, ok maybe I am going a bit fast. I mean it's in the wrong place, wayy too early.

[eliot-ness]

The one in Orewa on the motorway access road was just a warning sign for a few months, then when drivers got complacent, they added a speed camera. it's still there, but of course it can't get a bike's number so nothing to worry about.:devil2:

[Coyote]

Good way to calibrate speedos. The VFR is reading a bit high supposedly.

Though in my typical conspiracy theorist mind, I'm thinking they purposely read a bit high so people will go just slightly over 60 on their speedos and get done for speeding cause their speedo is actually accurate. But that's just a silly thought...

[F5 Dave]

. . . but of course it can't get a bike's number so nothing to worry about.:devil2:

Until there are enough pictures of the front of bikes that it is splashed about the papers & the powers that be decide we all need front facing number plates (despite the difficulty of some bikes to fit such a plate) lest the road toll goes up & other such reasons involving revenue.

GPS is probably the best if performed over distance. I doubt if those roadside ones would be pessimistic. One can imagine the potential backlash if it turned out they were. Guvermint sponsoring baby killing display devices etc.

[Crisis management]

It's funny how we behave with them isn't it? When they first came out locally they would read your speed and I always used to slow down if it was reading over 60, now they just go to "slow down" at over 60 and i get mildly annoyed and speed up!

Human psyche, eh?

[Mikkel]

Yup, they're really good for finding your speedo deviation at various speeds. - And we all know how important knowing that can be!!!

[mowgli]

I find the one on Glenmore St in Wellington always reads about 5 low and picks me up really late if at all. I've heard that Hyo speedos are often out but I don't know how seriously to take this reading. 5 low at 50 would be 10 out at a hundy which would be pretty bad. I wonder if the low reading is related to the late pickup and the fact that by then I'm going past the box at an angle rather than directly toward it.

[Hitcher]

Memo to LTNZ: How are you supposed to calibrate your speedo on something that goes off-scale at 60kmh? And "Slow Down Now". What's that about? Where's the "Please"? Whatever happened to good old-fashioned manners?

[Ocean1]

Now that you mention it, (OK you didn't, shut up) I don't remember having seen one of those special magic speedo confirminating 5km pieces of road for a while, with the signs an' all. They still around? or don't the budget cover that any more?

[BOGAR]

They put them up to help inform people of what speed they are doing, to try and help get the speed down. The people i work for organise were they go, in and around Rotorua. (Except for the fact that it stopped working when it rained the other day:laugh:). It is just a nother device they like to use.
Borrow a GPS if you wont to check your speed. you may find it really is low. mines out by 7km at 100kmh

[Badjelly]

Memo to LTNZ: How are you supposed to calibrate your speedo on something that goes off-scale at 60kmh?

Do you think, just maybe, that a display that reads higher than 60 km/h might be seen by some people as a challenge? Not by any KBers, obviously.

[FROSTY]

What speed sighns?? The only sighns Ive ever seen say SLOW --Never have figgered out wot thats sposed to mean -and me on m:woohoo:y bicycle peddling too

[Badjelly]

The only signs I've ever seen say SLOW --Never have figgered out wot thats sposed to mean

You're going too SLOW. Duh.

[Monsterbishi]

Noticed that there is a new digital speed sighn outside Princess Marg. Hospital in Chch. There is also one in Centaurus Rd. That's two that I know in Chch. Any one know of the policy on this or is this just a prelude for speed camera placements. Do they record the number of speeding motorists, time etc. for evaluation purposes.

Skyryder

Haven't been involved with the Princess Marg. pole mount unit yet, but the Centaurus Rd site has been used to trial the new speed camera units that will be entering service soon.

Its long term use is as a warning device for that corner, people hit it too fast and end up coming off 2nd best.

The cities first plate recognition speed camera's will be fitted into the Lytellton tunnel this year, along with a additional 26 surveillance camera's

[grusomhat]

They put them up to help inform people of what speed they are doing, to try and help get the speed down. The people i work for organise were they go, in and around Rotorua. (Except for the fact that it stopped working when it rained the other day:laugh:). It is just a nother device they like to use.
Borrow a GPS if you wont to check your speed. you may find it really is low. mines out by 7km at 100kmh
I've worked mine out to be out by 20%. Nice and easy at 50 and 100k's but takes a bit of thinking at 60 and 70 and not as easy to keep a track of on the speedo.

[90s]

Over in West Auckland we have quite a few of these and they move them around a lot. The Gt North Rd one by the big cemetary is now on Titirangi Rd, where it has been for a few months.
At first cages slow to 50ks. Then by the 3rd time they realise there is not any 'penalty' and cruise by at 60+. This causes some unsafe situations because they are not being placed by schools or crossings but on wide open stretches.

And for bikes I am not confident they peg our speed right. For my bike they usually flicker between 49kph to 63kph, flash "SLOW DOWN" then back to 49kph.
All the time I do a steedy unvarying 50kph, which I think is handily 60kph on the speedo.
All clear?

Happen to anyone else or is my bike fitted with some type of stealth system?

[gw555]

Yeah a similar thing happens to me. I went past one the other day at, according to my speedo, 50km/h told me I was doing 67 so I went back past it, again according to my speedo at 60km/h and it said I was doing 41 so...............

[90s]

I wonder what a court would think if you defended your speeding fine on the basis that you assumed this gizmo said 50kph when in fact you were doing 80kph and you calibrated off its inaccurate reading ...

[homer]

oww where's the fun in that?

yes ive seen one there really wicked
you can go as fast as you want and watch it change
i actually saw it on 53km and flashing so i sped up as i wasnt sitting on about 59 km as i normally do ,this was very helpful as i didnt realise i had slowed that much

[Meekey_Mouse]

Good way to calibrate speedos. The VFR is reading a bit high supposedly.

Though in my typical conspiracy theorist mind, I'm thinking they purposely read a bit high so people will go just slightly over 60 on their speedos and get done for speeding cause their speedo is actually accurate. But that's just a silly thought...

We had one here on Spa Rd not so long ago... I wondered the same thing! For the machine to say I'm going 50kph I need to be on 57kph... Quite close to 60. It's probably just that my speedo is out... but that is quite a way outta whack :confused:

[Coyote]

We had one here on Spa Rd not so long ago... I wondered the same thing! For the machine to say I'm going 50kph I need to be on 57kph... Quite close to 60. It's probably just that my speedo is out... but that is quite a way outta whack :confused:
Was that on your RG150? Cause that's normal. 120kph on the speedo = 100kph real speed. It's one of the many things that gives the almighty RG it's character. I want one again.

[offrd]

WARNING

There is no calibration on those speed signs, Take a stab in the dark readings.

When i was linehaul driving the two i passed in Welly (one going in and one going out) gave different readings... While the speedo read the same past both.

One of our drivers thought his speedo was inaccurate by trusting the reading. 60k on his speedo was a sign speed of 50k .. The officer that pulled him up later for driving 10k over the limit still booked him for it after being told..

ENTRAPMENT!

I know my speedo was dead accurate... Speedo read 103km when on the govenor... So did the hawk....:nono:


Only thing those signs are good for

:ar15::ar15::ar15::ar15::ar15::ar15::ar15:

TARGET PRACTICE

:devil2:

[MaxCannon]

I've seen one of these somewhere local (Mt Eden ?) but I forget where exactly.
Anyhow- I've been past on the bike and in the car.
The car was picked up fine and the speedo and sign seemed pretty close.

The bike failed to register at all - I did a u turn and tried again and still got nothing.

This was months back so perhaps the calibration has been fixed now.

[bikemike]

Haven't been involved with the Princess Marg. pole mount unit yet, but the Centaurus Rd site has been used to trial the new speed camera units that will be entering service soon.

Its long term use is as a warning device for that corner, people hit it too fast and end up coming off 2nd best.

The cities first plate recognition speed camera's will be fitted into the Lytellton tunnel this year, along with a additional 26 surveillance camera's

What's too fast there...? I wonder how inappropriate this particular device might be at that corner.

I see most drivers cutting that corner and drifting wildly out of it at a speed comfortably under the 50kph limit. They are putting themselves into a conflict position regardless of their speed. I have regularly seen drivers slowing firmly for the sign (it's clearly visible well before the natural slowing point) and then cut the white line by one to three feet. This problem is exacerbated by the bus stops immediately prior to the corner in both directions (not usually at the same time) which moves all traffic towards the centre line, as well as the right-turners into Hillsborough. Then there is the extremely poor surface on the outer lane of that corner, which provides noticeably reduced grip (seat of the pants) even at sub-limit speeds.

There was a time during the trialling when a camera van and a mobile speed sign were placed at that location along with the new static speed display. This was immediately in advance of the westbound bus-stop and that in itself caused near misses that I saw, with the bus unable to fully parallel park and traffic still passing - potentially into the path of oncoming eastbound traffic.

Now, when this wonderful new sign shows you are travelling at a speed in excess of the legal limit it also shows 'LIMIT EXCEEDED'.
When you travel at a legal speed, it reads 'THANK YOU, SAFE'

In light of what I see at that junction every day, REGARDLESS of speed, that there sign is actually educating people to drive and ride badly. Seventy percent of the time or more, you would not actually pull drivers over after negotiating that corner under 50kph and tell them face to face 'Thank you, that was a safe bit of driving' and they should therefore not be getting that endorsement from a machine.

I'm sure that there would be better results with a centre-line rumble, a much bigger corner chevron sign, and, if they aren't going to improve the surface there, a loose surface sign. Though none of that would wash with Hans Monderman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Monderman) rip - what would he have done?

I can be unjustly opinionated just like the next guy; so if someone can convince me this is a good idea, please do :-)

See the line the drivers are taking on this Google Earth image

[vifferman]

Haven't been involved with the Princess Marg. pole mount unit yet, but the Centaurus Rd site has been used to trial the new speed camera units that will be entering service soon.

Its long term use is as a warning device for that corner, people hit it too fast and end up coming off 2nd best.
That reminds me: when we were in the Hunter Valley last August (visiting Casey Stoner), there were roadworks with speed detection and display thingos on them. As we approached, they said summat like: "Speed limit: 30km/h. Your speed: 235km/h. SLOW DOWN!"
I thought in this instance it was a very good use of the technology. Having them sitting on the side of some random piece of road and saying "SLOW" is just dumb.

[Monsterbishi]

WARNING

There is no calibration on those speed signs, Take a stab in the dark readings.

They are calibrated at least bi-annually, using, of all things, a tuning fork! It resonates at a set frequency that they then use as a baseline. Police speed radars are calibrated in the same way.

[offrd]

They are calibrated at least bi-annually, using, of all things, a tuning fork! It resonates at a set frequency that they then use as a baseline. Police speed radars are calibrated in the same way.

Well someone has to stop using the tuning fork for eating their smoko prior to calibrating the sign then. Obviously one sign was set before smoko and the other was after... The food stuck to the fork obviously changed its resonant frequency.. .:buggerd:

:2thumbsup

If they are calibrated twice a year i then they may have been corrected as its been a good few months now.... and someone may have put the tuning fork in the dish washer....