31 Mar 2020
The Tucson Department of Transportation intends to put six new radar detectors mounted on trailers to remind motorists to keep an eye on their speed on the city’s streets and roadways.
Tucson’s KGUN 9 News reports that according to TDOT Traffic Safety Manager Blake Olofson, the detectors won’t be issuing citations, but it will be keeping track of how fast motorists are going. There’s no camera involved. There’s no way we can know who’s going by it just records speed and number of cars,” Olofson said.
Of specific concern for the city are quiet residential neighborhoods like the area of Fort Lowell. Area residents say that they’re happy to see the radar trailers that can help remind motorists to mind their speed on streets that have posted speed limits of 25 or 30 miles per hour.
One area resident, Wes Phillips, told KGUN reporter, Craig Smith, that the radar detectors even helped her to remember to slow down around town.
A spokesman for the city, Leonard Hehir, said that speed bumps on residential streets might be a better way to slow down drivers who tend to have a lead foot. At an estimated $6,000 per trailer, however, Hehir believes that the radar detectors may prove to be a worthwhile investment for Tucson.
Tucson Traffic Safety and local law enforcement intend to move the trailers around town as a way to get more motorists to slow down.