Speed Sentry deters campus speeding
By Amanda HickeyNews Editor
Campus Police has a new way to detect speeding around campus and to send messages to students, faculty and staff. All through one investment.
 Photo By Amanda Hickey The Speed Sentry and Instalert Rapid Messenger can be seen around campus on fair weather days. On Jan. 17, it could be found on University Drive by the track. |
‘It’s a radar device used for measuring traffic speed and it also provides us with data as far as how many vehicles pass through the area in a certain time limit, how many were speeding and how many were running the speed limit,” said Lt. McDuffie Cummings.
“I’m able to take the data collected and tell the officers when is the heaviest speed time… I can tell them exactly what time the cars are coming through and have them on standby,” continued Cummings.
The Instalert Rapid Messenger is a LED board that is fully programmable through a PDA. The Instalert Rapid Messenger can hold up to 25 word and graphic messages, according to alltrafficsolutions.com.
“I can just take the PDA and put different messages in it and it takes the messages and puts it on the Instalert,” said Cummings.
Among the messages the Instalert will relay to students are available parking and community service information.
The Speed Sentry also has the capability of providing Campus Police with photographs of the license plate and tags of the vehicles that speed by.
“We’ll hopefully have that in the near future,” said Cummings.
“Our two main areas are 1561 and Prospect Road, and it’s more or less a deterrent to speeding and to get them to slow down [and] to slow down traffic within campus itself,” continued Cummings.
Campus Police had been borrowing the town of Pembroke’s Speed Sentry, but saw a need to have one that belonged to the University.
They then bought one from Traffic Solutions based out of Charlotte.
Lt. Cummings and Chief David Helton worked together on getting the new technology.
“You’d be amazed at how many people actually travel through campus in a day’s time,” said Cummings.
 |
The print edition of The Pine Needle is published 14 times a year during the fall and spring semesters. Updated: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 © The University of North Carolina at Pembroke |
The Pine Needle PO Box 1510 Pembroke, NC 28372-1510 Phone: 910.521.6204 Fax: 910.522-5795 Email: pineneedle@uncp.edu |