Speed Trailer Study Shows Faster Speeds

Bayside Police are using a $15,000 piece of equipment that is supposed to force motorists to slow their speeds down.

Bayside’s speed trailer is part of a federally granted radar program that shows the speed of the car; the other side of the board can display messages for anything from traffic messages to more dramatic things.

Bayside’s Police Department website has an interactive map that shows where the trailers have been, the average speeds, and the number of cars that have been recorded by the trailer.  There are 12 points on the map currently, and not all of the average speeds are lower than the speed limit for the road.

Of the 12 speed trailers, eight of them recorded average speeds that were over the posted speed limit.

“They do help in the long run; we do get more people with them then we would without them,” said Lt. Tom Henkel, who reports the speeds of the trailers.

Henkel says that the trailers do operate as representing the department, and drivers know that their speeds are being recorded.

“Its like any other kind of force, while we can’t immediately nab them for their speed, we can send a force out to monitor the road in person,” says Henkel.