I know that there’s a perfectly legitimate reason for the two points of semi-complaint that I’m about to make. It’s just that those reasons are unclear to me. Perhaps if I followed local media a little more closely I’d know the answers and not have to embarrass myself with what must come across as profound civic ignorance. But then again, there’d have to be some local media.
I’m a Boomer. I’m supposed to complain about stuff.
Along Veterans Memorial Boulevard there are two speed warning signs, if that’s anywhere close to the correct term. One is situated in front of the Renfrew Armouries, or the Fairgrounds if you will, and advises motorists of their speed as they travel from the lights at Hall Street towards Dairy Queen, McDonalds, and those sorts of places. It’s been in operation for a period of time now, perhaps two years, maybe even more. It appears to do it’s job admirably so far as I can see. It also sits high enough off the ground that it would take one sum-bitch effort to vandalize it without being noticed.
A second one has surfaced, this one in front of the Beer Store, on the other side of the road, calming traffic as it approaches the school zone in front of Queen Elizabeth School. I have absolutely no difficulty with traffic-calming measures in advance of school zones.
I have two points I’d like to raise, one weaker than the other.
First, my weakest point, has to do with the speed at which the newer signs lights-up at you. Of course, it lights up on all vehicles passing by, in two different ways. A green message is a thumbs-up for being a good citizen in full compliance of the speed limit. It’s a good old-fashioned civic pat on the back, and probably triggers an endorphin response in drivers that infuses them with a split-second of good feelings. The other message, a red one, often accompanied by a symbol that indicates danger, is flashed at drivers who are barrelling down the boulevard at speeds in excess of the posted limit. A little bit of civic shame coming your way through your windshield, the idea being that you will be immediately guilted into reducing your speed accordingly.
The photo I provided here is the visual representation of the point I’m attempting to make. Despite a speed sign posting a limit of 50 km/hour maybe 40 metres beyond the warning sign, that warning sign is going to light you up all red and dangerous for approaching it at speeds less than 50 km/hour. My photo shows a warning at 48 km/hr, but I’ve seen it trigger a red response at vehicles approaching at 45 km/hour. It would have made for a more compelling photograph, but my execution isn’t what it once was.
I’m going to poke holes in my own first item of complaint.
First of all, this sign wasn’t just plunked there, there’s a perfectly legitimate rationale for it, and behind it, right? I’m sure all the king’s horses and all the king’s men endured torturously long meetings discussing the implementation of this sign, it’s location, and the setting of its speed warnings. In fact, one day, after the sign suddenly wasn’t operational for some reason, I witnessed three individuals, one cradling a laptop, in what was obviously deep discussion involving the sign. They were still there when I walked past again an hour later. This is serious work, undertaken by serious people, and whatever it was they decided, the sign was indeed, up and running again.
Still, getting a hazard warning at 45km/hr is a little jarring for the more sensitive among us, who might have felt that we deserved some of that green endorphin feeling for ourselves. Jeepers, I’d even think a speed of 50 /km/hr might qualify me for the municipal pat on the back, especially with that regular speed limit sign of 50 km/hr right there. I mean it’s right there.
Perhaps this its intentional, a message more for out-of towners, a means of frightening them into a “Holy shit I’m speeding!” response where they hit their brakes automatically, thereby slowing them down as they approach the school. It is, after all, a four-lane roadway, and those roadways tend to be zones where often 60 km/hr would be the limit. And perhaps a lot of people unfamiliar with Renfrew would just assume that this roadway is one of those. This sign, in that context, would have a terrific impact on speed reduction for such motorists, or so it would be hoped.
If that’s the case, then bravo! Whatever works, right? A little trickery like this isn’t going to hurt anybody, and it might save lives and potential injuries.
So much for Point #1.
As to my second point, which I believe has some merit, might I ask why they mounted the thing on such a short pole? The sign, which I assume is expensive, is easily accessible to anyone walking or biking or skateboarding by. The wires and other sensitive parts of it are within reach to anyone who can claim a height of perhaps 4’5” tall. Those folks shorter than that have a realistic shot at it too if they feel inclined to jump.
This thing is just begging to be vandalized. I’m actually surprised it hasn’t been already, and please, don’t get any ideas into your heads, because we’re all good citizens and none of us would ever reach up and give those cords a yank.
Plus, they probably have intricate and complex security systems in place. Cameras at different angle points, monitored by security personnel in front of a bank of screens, co-ordinating satellites cruising silently overhead, all to deter potential vandals. Which is great and everything but doesn’t take into account the mindset of most vandals or drunkards who may pass this thing and not be exactly thinking about the impressive layers of security.
But there’s also another potential scenario.
Maybe they just made a mistake and it started with the pole, as in the pole is entirely too short for this kind of thing to be placed upon without risk. You can tell me that they studied the sight-lines exhaustively and have calibrated the sign to be of maximum viewing height for approaching drivers, all well and good. Except if somebody cranks the wires or smashes the solar panel, you’ll have no sign at all, and what good is that? How many times are we prepared to send those same three people and their laptop out there to restore it once it’s damaged?
Maybe I completely sucked at Point #1, fair enough. But I think Point #2 has some validity.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 