Brisbane City Council’s Portable Speed Warning Signs project is part of Lord Mayor Graham Quirk’s commitment to making Brisbane’s suburban streets safer.

This initiative aims to promote safety through driver awareness and minimise speeding on neighbourhood roads. This will be achieved through the use of portable speed warning signs at various locations throughout Brisbane.

The Lord Mayor's 2016/2017 budget allocated $30,000 towards the Portable Speed Warning Sign project within Doboy.

I'm pleased to advise that this enabled the purchase of an additional sign to the Doboy Ward's rotation. As a result the Doboy Ward now has 3 signs that can be moved to new and exisiting sites across the Ward.

The new sign will be rotated across six new sites over the 2016/2017 financial year, with the two existing signs rotated across the ten existing sites.

NEW SIGN SITES FOR 2016/2017

1. Queensport Road (northbound near #100) - scheduled move date July 2016

2. Hemmant-Tingalpa Rd - scheduled move date October 2016

3. Arenga St - scheduled move date December 2016

4. Stanley Rd - scheduled move date February 2016

5. Meadowlands Rd - scheduled move date April 2017

6. Rawlinson Street - scheduled move date June 2017

EXISTING SIGNS SITE MOVES FOR 2016/2017

1. John Street - scheduled move date August 2016

2. Watervale Pde - scheduled move date August 2016

3. Bognor Rd - scheduled move date October 2016

4. Bethel St - scheduled move date October 2016

5. Murarrie Rd - scheduled move date December 2016

6. Eversholt St - scheduled move date December 2016

7. Youngs Rd - scheduled move date February 2016

8. Hardgraeves Rd - scheduled move date February 2016

9. Queensport Rd - scheduled move date May 2016

10. Hemmant-Tingalpa Rd - scheduled move date May 2016

HOW LOCATIONS ARE SELECTED

Portable speed warning signs are not suitable for all locations within the road network. A list of possible locations for the speed warning signs are provided by local councillors, resident feedback and Council’s Transport Planning and Strategy (TPS) branch. A site assessment is undertaken to determine if an appropriate physical location can be found. Factors considered in the site assessment process include: •visual impact on adjacent residents •sufficient vehicle visibility (presence of obstructions such as trees and other traffic signs) •clearance from driveways and infrastructure such as power poles and service pits •clearance from low-hanging power lines and television cables •adequate sunlight for the sign's solar panels •separation between other traffic signs to ensure drivers have sufficient time to read messages.

HOW THE SIGNS WORK

Council's portable speed warning signs work in the following manner: •the default setting for the sign is blank •as a motorist approaches the sign, their speed is detected by a radar and one of the following three messages is displayed: ◦if the motorist is driving at or below the posted speed limit, a smiley face message is displayed ◦if the motorist is driving above the posted speed limit by up to 9km/hr, the vehicles speed is displayed below a ‘SLOW DOWN’ message ◦if the motorist is driving 10km/hr or more above the posted speed limit, only a ‘SLOW DOWN’ message is displayed.

The speed readings are not used to issue any infringement notices. The purpose of the speed radar is to enable feedback to motorists of driver speed.

Speed warning signs are expected to be installed for at least one month before moving to a new location. This time will allow enough time to positively affect motorist behaviour. Signs may return to a previously installed location if speeding becomes an issue again.

Directly affected residents will be notified before each speed warning sign is installed and reinstalled.

PROJECT BENEFITS

The program will increase motorists' awareness of their travelling speed and adhere to the speed limit in locations with identified speed issues across Brisbane. To date the program has shown a marked decrease in the number of motorists travelling over the speed limit after passing the signs. The portable speed warning signs have showed an average speed reduction of more than 9km/hr across all sites since the program began in November 2013.

SUGGEST A NEW LOCATION

If speeding is an issue in your street and you would like to suggest a new location for a portable speed warning sign, please contact my office on 07 3407 8800 or via doboy.ward@bcc.qld.gov.au.

MORE INFORMATION

If you would like to provide comments or ask questions or find out more about the Portable Speed Warning Signs project, you can:

• phone Council on 07 3403 8888

• email the project team here

• write to: Portable Speed Warning Signs project, Transport Planning and Strategy, Brisbane City Council, GPO Box 1434, Brisbane Qld 4001