EDGEWOOD, Ky. -- A portion of Dudley Road near Belle Meade is nicknamed "the Indiana Speedway" by a resident there. But, it could see a slowdown soon, thanks to a trio of high-tech new speed signs installed around the area.
Most people are familiar with signs that measure the speed of approaching vehicles and display it to the driver, reminding them to ease up on the gas when necessary. The new signs on Dudley Road do more than that: They collect aggregate data about general trends in the traffic they monitor.
Are cars in a particular area mostly driving over the speed limit? Under it? How many crashes take place in a given location? According to Edgewood Police Chief Tony Kramer, the new speed signs can tell authorities, through its cloud-based technology.
"The maximum speed of the vehicles going through there was 42 and the minimum was 3," he can tell by looking at the system.
Compare that to the old technology they used. That system required the Chief to change the batteries and download the data often.
"(They hold) about three days worth of data," he said. "We bring it in and physically download data off the computer."
Three of these new signs cost the city $10,000 -- they're not a small investment. But, Kramer said, they're a valuable one.
"It'll help us determine whether or not we need to do enforcement action," he said.
