• Slow Down at Brown

Today speed radar signs were installed at David A Brown Middle School. 

Savvy drivers [read: ego inflated jerks] will know that this is not a 'Red Light Camera' style sign with penalties attached, and will ignore them from the get go. Let's hope the number in that group is a small one.

Installation of the sign on the northbound side of Grand approaching the school.

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While out snapping some pics I bumped into Wildomar Public Works Superintendent Les Chapman. His concern is safety for the students.

As he was telling me, "If it isn't safe enough for my kids, it's not safe enough for anyone else." 

Les Chapman speaking with one of the installers about the fine tuning.

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We first heard about these signs when Council Member Bridgette Moore brought it up at the February city council meeting. Initially it seemed that the signs were dead in the water when the rest of the council didn't embrace the thought of adding anything to the budget. Then in March we received a PARSAC grant [Public Agency Risk Sharing Authority of California] thanks to diligent work by our City Clerk Debbie Lee. So we got these signs without adding to the budget.

Read the blog on it from March by clicking this link.

This driver thinks 44 is the new 25.

While out taking these pictures I found that every single car was more than 10 MPH over the speed limit. Some were traveling in excess of 50 MPH.

I did notice that the speeds decreased from the first radar reading until the last per car. So, if a car first registered at 44 MPH, it was likely that they'd slowed to 30ish by the time they past the sign. However, one guy only dropped from 50 to 49. Hey, he had places to be and speed laws (stop signs included) are just suggestions... right?

When I was there, school was in session and there were no students present. Two of my three children went to this school and I remember how congested it would get during drop off and pick up.

Les was telling me about a time when school was being let out, he saw cars lined all the way up both sides of the street, with teenagers everywhere and some arrogant driver drove over the double yellow line to pass up a few cars before the crossing guard got to the middle with the stop sign. Come on people, would you like others driving that way when your kids are about to cross the street? (wait, don't answer that...)

I asked Les about getting a more visible crosswalk in front of the school on Grand, and there is one slated to go in. I don't think it's the lighted one, but one that has the large stripes in the direction that traffic flows, instead of the two narrower ones that cross the street. Let's hope that makes a difference.

I believe this is the style that Les was talking about.

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Now what we need are unannounced visits from the local sheriff's deputies, ticket book in hand and pen clicked, about every other week to keep the scofflaws in check.

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I want to thank Kenny Mayes for tipping me off about this installation. Though he and I have our differences, we both want the best for our community. He also writes a blog, and it can be found at this link: http://www.wildomarconnected.com/wildomar

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