Highway 67 Electronic Speed Signs

Highway 67 Electronic Speed Signs

No doubt you have seen the wonderful electronic signs that tell you your speed on Highway 67 from Ramona to Lakeside which cost the state $2.6 million (S.D. Union Nov 22, 2008). That means the 11 signs cost (take a deep breath, get ready) $236,363.63 each and some lucky contractor found a job not affected by the state’s budget problems and now has enough money to move to Texas. No wonder the state has budget problems. One of the county’s cities just put one in for just over $11,000. So much for volume discounts. “Sometimes people can get going pretty fast and not realize it,” said Hayden Manning, a Caltrans spokesman. “The signs help make them aware. In addition to speeding, too many drivers make unsafe lane changes or try to pass other vehicles when they shouldn’t.” Certainly the guy in the white raised Ford F-150 pickup was damn well aware he was going 74 mph and making extremely unsafe lane changes weaving by me last week. Thanks to the sign I know exactly how fast he was going. There was no mention of why the signs don’t register 5-10 mph when you are going up into Ramona after 4 p.m. every weekday. But one recent pass at a constant speed with no other cars around had me going had me going 58, then 65, then 53 mph. Following a car at a constant speed had him going 55 and me going 58 mph. However some enterprising teenagers, presumably from Ramona, have invented a new driving competition using the signs. While their parents think they are studying late for finals at a friend’s house, they take the old man’s new car or if they’re lucky, the big honked out pickup that he bought or leased for them and set out down the road between 1 and 4 a.m. The object of the competition is to see if you can maintain double 9s on the approach to the signs without it wavering. This writer doesn’t know if the signs go to double 0 if they drive faster, but the signs evidently don’t explode from the overload because they are still there the next day, although some appear broken already. Actually if they can just put some kind of an arm on the signs to keep someone from crossing into my lane and hitting me head-on, I’ll think the $2.6 million was worth it. But now every time I drive by one I think I’m going way too fast- the only number I can see is 236,363.

©2009 Eric Stamets