People driving along Pond Shore Road might notice that the radar speed sign that used to remind them of their current speed as they passed is gone.
Public works liaison council Matt Estabrooks told council Monday night that the sign was stolen on August 30, the very same day a repaired radar speed sign was installed in the opposite direction on Pond Shore Road. The second, repaired sign has been removed until public works staff figure out a way to protect it against theft.
Town engineer Dwayne Acton said after the meeting that staff were considering trail cams, and talking with the manufacturer about other ways to secure or track the signs, including GPS. The speed sign cost the town about $4,000, though replacing it will cost slightly less, he said.
The radar speed signs have been the source of trouble before, due to issues retrieving speed data from the units, which stores the speed of each vehicle as it passes the sign. The engineering department recently was able to retrieve the data and has forwarded it to the RCMP.
Acton says he’s not sure where in the public works budget he will find the money to replace the sign, and he’s having a hard time imagining what someone might want with it. He said he’d welcome the return of the sign to the public works department, “no questions asked.”
At Monday’s meeting councillor Bill Evans restrained himself from profanity when commenting on the theft. “I’m just going to try really hard not to say something inappropriate,” said Evans, “but I am outraged that when we’re trying to do the right thing for people–this is literally trying to save people’s lives–somebody would take the opportunity to steal the equipment and thwart our efforts. I just think it’s unconscionable.”
Councillor Sabine Dietz was a bit more restrained in her comments on the theft, calling it “frustrating” and “beyond annoying”. Dietz was more interested in accessing the data retrieved from the now stolen unit. “When will we see the data?” asked Dietz. “I know we can’t see who sped, but it would be really good to know how much speeding is actually going on.” Dietz brought up discussions at the previous council over whether speeding was in fact a problem on Pond Shore Road after the RCMP and consulting engineers both reported that they didn’t see a problem. “I’d like to know what’s actually going on,” said Dietz.
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