Does it seem to you that people are driving too fast on Wedgwood’s residential streets? You can gather data to measure the speed of cars by participating in the City of Seattle’s Traffic Calming Program. Contact the Seattle Department of Transportation to get a radar speed gun to measure the speed of cars on your street.
At the time the radar speed gun is picked up, a loan and usage agreement is signed. The equipment may be used up to one week. You will also be given Speed Data Forms to record information about all vehicles traveling on the roadway segment under study. The information to be collected includes the date, time, direction of travel, vehicle license number, a brief description of the vehicle (i.e., red sedan) and the measured speed.
Typically, two people are needed—one person to measure the vehicle speeds and read out the license plate numbers, and the other person to fill out the forms. A minimum of two hours of data is required. The information collected during this phase will be used by SDOT staff to mail letters to people traveling over 30 miles per hour and will be used to develop a traffic calming strategy for your street.
Procedures for measuring speeds on arterial streets are similar except that a radar speed trailer would be set up to collect data, instead of a hand-held radar gun.
Can you provide me with information regarding how to setup this type of program in my community.
Hi Richard thanks for reaching out. I would start with organizing your group and see what the goal is. Non profit statuses get tricky depending on what the organizations goals are. After that apply with the state and draw up formal articles of organization. Contact IRS to see if your group qualifies for exemption and then work on how to fund things be it membership or grants. Good luck
So, where does one borrow a radar gun? The neighborhood center in Lake City said that none were now available through neighborhood centers, They gave me a phone number for neighborhood traffic (206-684-0353) and calling that number send me to an automatic answering service (206-947-6176). I have called numerous times and left messages and no one has called me back. Unfortunately, this seems to be the normal behavior from the numerous employees of the Dept of Transportation. I have even sent certified letters with no response. Stacy
Hi Stacy, sorry your having such a hard time getting a hold of anyone at SDOT. I think the program as it existed when this was posted is no longer active. A search lead me to this page which offers several suggestions but no mention of loaning out radar guns. If you’ve got concerns about excessive speeding on a particular street please reach out to us at info@wedgwoodcc.org and we can explore options.