Radar love?

OUR OPINION
Published: June 19, 2008

There is nothing like making people aware of their bad behavior to get them to cut it out. When it comes to speeding, this is especially true.

Radar signs that show people how fast they are going have a tendency to get people to slow down, and the City of Manassas is considering making such signs permanent in certain parts of the city.

The council postponed a vote Monday on whether or not to place four radar signs on the residential end of Grant Avenue and on Sudley Road between Main Street and Portner Avenue.People tend to speed through the area and sooner or later, and the combination of speeding and residents is going to collide to form tragedy. The radar signs could prevent that.

Some council members were hesitant to purchase the signs. Aesthetics, the slippery slope defense and the proposal’s failure in the finance committee were the reasons for the reluctance.

Appearance should never trump safety, so aesthetics should not be a defense against purchasing the signs. Large digital numbers might be an eyesore, but a mangled pedestrian is even more of a strain
on the eye.

Council member Andy Harrover asked, “What’s next,” if the signs go up. Well, that is entirely up to the council. It has the ability to decide if anything comes next or if maybe, eventually, the radar signs
could come down. Though they are a permanent move, in politics even permanence is transitory.

The 2-1 failure of the proposal in the finance committee is troubling and efforts should be made to resolve whatever issue held up support. Combined, the signs will only cost about $14,500 total. This is
miniscule price to pay for some residential peace of mind and safer streets.

Obviously radar signs cannot be a solution to every speed zone in the City of Manassas.B ut where residence and speeding are combined and enforcement isn’t enough to do the job, radar signs are a

viable solution. Maybe one day such measures will not be necessary, but until that day comes, we say let people see their actions in large, digital numbers. It might be ugly, but it will be effective.