It seems that nearly every time I drive these days, I see those monitors that provide you with the speed you are traveling, in conjunction with the speed limit for that area. As a bonus, when you’re above the speed limit, the displayed speed flashes. If you’re way above (5mph+?) it flashes rapidly, as if just flashing won’t tell you – it has to blink to let you know you’re going as fast as you are.
What I really don’t get is that these monitoring devices are invariably on a relatively busy, but not too busy, street. That means that, more than often, there is a stream of cars headed by the device. As a result, I have no idea which one I am – even though I try to match up my speedometer to the sign to see if it matches. Maybe they ought to use some sort of technology so only the current measurement would be visible to you – otherwise I have no clue if it’s me, or one of the boneheads in front of or behind me!
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2 responses to “Are Speed Monitors Useful?”
Makes you wonder, though – is the speed limit valid at the point of the sign, or when the sign becomes visible? If the latter, what if you have less-than-perfect (or, for that matter, better-than-perfect) vision?
My less-than-brilliant city always sets them up exactly at the spot where the limit decreases, so it screams and flashes at me that I’m going over 35 while my limit is still 45. So I always (traffic allowing) go 45 up to three or four feet before the sign, and then slam on the brakes. Dunno if that’s exactly the behavior they were aiming for, though.