I am not sure how much this thing cost to install but it is in the wrong place and malfunctioning already. I approached it at 30mph and it told me I was doing 21mph - what is the point of it - if it displays incorrect speeds.
If, you are going to have it - put it on the approach to the village where cars are barreling down Bunwell Road way past the 40mph speed limit!!
Listening to the acceleration and speed of traffic on Saturday night I'd hazard a guess that it was being used for a 'game' of who could get the fastest speed!
This is a new unit agreed to be shared between ourselves and six other sites in the Wymondham parish
I was unaware it had arrived but i have personally checked it and it seems to be working fine showing green speeds at 30 or below and red speeds of 31 - 40 ? with the words slow down appearing when it is tripped.
Speeds above this level are NOT shown to stop boy racers ( I include both genders here) who childishly try to get the highest speed registered against them as some kind of perverted game.
The unit will be circulated between the 7 sites on a regular basis and in the meantime we will also have the mobile unit from County, which is also on circulation
Where the units are located is dictated to us by the Highways and unfortunately, unlike the speed watch units it only registers on coming vehicles. It cannot be put up anywhere we like but the Bunwell road is the Spooner row hotspot as evidenced by speedwatch sessions by a considerable margin. John Turner and Diana Hockaday did a splendid job getting this unit provided which obviously works all the time it is on station
We did try very hard to get a permanent unit but the money was not available and let us hope we can improve upon this arrangement at sometime in the future.
I accept the situation is not perfect but it was the best we could do at the time
Maybe someone could also get the registration no. of the idiot on the motorbike who has been up/down Bunwell Road repeatedly with the backfiring engine.
As Julian Halls has said, the Speed Awareness Monitor (SAM) is not perfect; I am hopeful that it will do some good. We tried to get 2 permanent SAM units installed, but the best compromise offer was a share in a mobile one.
One advantage of a mobile one is that, because it moves from place to place, the first sight of in a new place may surprise a driver and slow them down.
Maybe we could also get a flashing sign to advise motorists at the chicanes that it is not a place to "play chicken", most seem to ignore the give way to traffic leaving the village and prefer to drive head on towards you with a blank expression on their faces and wonder why you are flashing your lights at them....!!
