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Taking note
Published January 28, 2010
One motorist drove 101 mph in front of Albertville Elementary School.
Another zoomed 98 mph on South Broad Street.
Albertville police Chief Benny Womack is taking note.
Police are gathering data from a new radar speed monitor placed in operation Jan 15. The monitor sits on the roadside and displays motorist speeds when vehicles approach.
“The natural reaction is, when you see it, to slow down, for most people,” Womack said. “Some people don’t. We’ve been surprised, not shocked, at some of the speeds that drivers have been clocked.”
Some of the feedback is eye-opening, particularly on South Broad Street, near Mount Vernon Baptist Church in the south part of the city.
From 1:40 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, the monitor counted 474 vehicles passing through the 35-mph portion of South Broad Street. The monitor clocked more than 60 percent, or 287 motorists, speeding. The median speed was 37 mph, and one motorist hit 98 mph.
“That did not surprise me because I live not too far from there,” Womack said. “South Broad is a cut-through for people going to Boaz.”
From 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Jan. 15, police set up the monitor in front of Albertville Elementary School to check the speeds in the northbound lane of Alabama 75. The speed limit is 35 mph. The results: 842 vehicles passed through the northbound lane during the time frame. The monitor clocked 12 percent, or 101 motorists, speeding. The median speed was 23 mph, but one motorist flew by at 101 mph.
“We’re really concerned about our school zones,” Womack said.
Police also set up the monitor on a dangerous stretch of U.S. 431 North near the Kilpatrick Road intersection. The monitor counted 3,792 vehicles in the northbound lanes from 10:20 a.m. to 3:50 p.m. on Jan. 20. The monitor clocked about 14 percent, or 554 vehicles, speeding over the 55-mph limit. The median speed was 50 mph and the maximum 77 mph.
“That was lower than I expected,” Womack said.
The department also has two smaller monitors for placement on hoods and trunks of police vehicles. A $10,000 donation by an anonymous donor made the purchases possible, giving the department valuable tools Womack wanted for a long time.
Now, instead of using manpower to perform tedious speed surveys, the department can effectively target trouble spots quicker.
Womack already has his eye on locations needing more police attention.
“We’re going to be concentrating more radar in these problem areas,” he said.
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