Case Highlight: South Carolina Ports

Case Highlight: South Carolina Ports Targeted Photo Speeds The South Carolina Port Authority is one of the fastest growing major ports in the US with over $150 million of cargo passing through daily. To improve accountability for trucks traveling in and out of the port, a gate entry system takes a photo of each truck’s equipment. The challenge is that photos can only be captured at 8- 12 mph. When trucks don’t reach the target speed, they slow the cargo delivery process and create needless traffic by circling back for a second try.   In Search of the Perfect Solution For a solution to work to address the truck speed issue, several features were imperative. The Ports Authority needed to be able to regulate truck speed, notify incoming trucks of speeds, message drivers to slow down or speed up, inform drivers when they should maintain their speeds, and be completely programmable from office in Charleston, SC to any port in the state. Innovative Speed Sign The innovative SafePace 700 sign offered a unique array of options that was a perfect fit for the South Carolina Ports. The full matrix of LEDs allows for display of driver speed, text messages, or a combination of both. The SafePace Cloud allows for remote access of the signs from anywhere with internet. With the pilot program in Greer, SC, over 200 miles away from Port offices, this offered the flexibility to regulate truck speeds at the port. Is Education Enough? The SafePace 700 signs have been installed at ports in Greer, SC with plans to install more in Charleston and at other state ports. With extra large 18” digits for improved visibility and flashing strobes, drivers can clearly see their speeds and be warned when exceeding thresholds. Driver responsive messaging can be programmed to alert drivers to slow down, speed up, or maintain speed. All programming and data downloads can be done seamlessly from anywhere with internet via SafePace Cloud.

Nature and Traffic Calming

New Season, New Roads Every season has its own energy and each brings its own beauty to the landscape around us. In turn, each presents unique challenges  for safe driving, riding, and walking on local streets. From summer beach-traffic clogged roadways to autumn leaf covered lanes, and from snowy winter streets to wet spring pavement, every season’s roads are unique. The FHWA reports over 1 million crashes caused each year by weather related road conditions. Being aware of what to be careful for and what nature, and other drivers, have in store, can help you protect your roads, no matter the season. Seasonal Challenges Everyone knows winter driving  can be tough. Snow, ice, and slushy pavement cause 44% of weather-related crashes. Even savvy winter drivers with well equipped cars have to share the roads with many others who aren’t. Autumn brings changing weather, wet road surfaces, heavy winds, shorter daylight hours, and more student pedestrians and cyclists headed to and from school while spring often means wet or even slushy pavement. Rain causes 46% of weather related crashes while wet pavement causes a whopping 73% of such accidents. No season offers foolproof driving. Mother Nature Just when Mother Nature’s surprises seem to have subsided and beautiful sunny summer days lie ahead, new challenges are in store for drivers. More drivers are on the roads during the summer than any other months, increasing the probability of any one person being involved in an accident. In fact, July and August are among the highest of the year for fatal crashes. Perhaps part of the cause of this is that nature offers little traffic calming in the summer. In the fall, spring, and winter, the rain, slippery roads, and snow remind drivers of their limitations. In summer, when anything seems possible, caution can fall to the wayside. Keeping People Safe and Aware No matter the weather conditions and the traffic calming that nature has in mind, it’s the responsibility of cities to engineer roads that encourage safe driving. Whether that involves narrower roads, bicycle lanes, speed humps, or traffic circles, roads that are designed for slow driving are more likely to be safe for all those who use them. Solutions such as speed display signs can be powerful tools to remind drivers to slow down and be alert to weather issues, or other temporary concerns, that may affect the safety of their drive. Mother nature can be fickle. Road safety shouldn’t be.

Community Associations (CAI) Tradeshow Next Week

Traffic Logix will be exhibiting next week at the 2016 CAI Annual Conference & Exposition. The premiere event for community associations, the CAI conference attracts community managers and association board members from around the world.

The Conference will take place in Orlando, FL from May 4-7. With great networking opportunities, creative learning sessions, and an array of products and solutions, it's the best event for small communities looking to thrive.

Traffic Logix will be exhibiting our safety solutions in booth 829 including the:

• SafePace 100 entry-level radar speed sign, our most popular solution on association roads
• SafePace 650 compact variable messaging sign that lets you display messages based on driver behavior
• Rubber speed cushions that slow cars down without affecting emergency vehicles

Want to learn more about the Traffic Logix line of traffic calming solutions?

Visit us at www.trafficlogix.com.

Traffic Logix - The Webinar Series

Traffic Logix concluded the webinar series on tools for your traffic calming toolbox with a recap of vertical traffic calming solutions and a thorough discussion of driver feedback signs, bike lanes, shared spaces, and the many other traffic calming techniques used on today’s roadways.

Presented by former ITE president Tim Harpst, the webinar not only delineated the traffic calming solutions that you can use to protect your streets, but included an interactive question and answer session with some of your most pressing questions about traffic calming.

A recorded version of the webinar can be listened to here!

Healthier Roads in the New Year

New Year’s Resolutions and Your Roadways Health is the cornerstone of wholesome living. Perhaps that’s why the number one New Year’s resolution for 2015 was to lose weight. The goal of a well formulated diet is to achieve optimal health. For cities around the world, road diets take the same approach. They aim to keep roads trim with a wholesome approach- one that keeps all road users in mind including motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists. What is a Road Diet? A road diet is a healthy overhaul for today’s overweight roads. Road diets reduce the number of travel lanes or the width of roads and often introduce new or expanded spaces for pedestrians and bicyclists to use. Some techniques used in road diets include adding or widening walkways, narrowing roadways with curbing, adding cycle lanes on one or both sides of the street, using landscaping or green areas to limit driving space, or adding a center turn lane. Putting roads on a diet often encourages improved commerce as access to businesses becomes easier and safer for all road users. Why the need for diets? With the wide use of motor vehicles for transportation, many roadways across the country were designed with only the needs of motorists in mind. In recent decades, as bicycling and walking have become more popular and healthier modes of local travel, people have been discovering that roads are often not friendly to these users. In addition, on roads where speeding and accidents  are concerns, implementing road diets lowers driver speeds and reduces crash rates. In fact, researchers have found that road diets reduce crash frequency by 19-43%. Beyond Diets Road diets, while beneficial on some roadways, are not the solution for all streets. Some streets can’t be narrowed, while for others a road diet is simply not enough to solve the problem. Just as simply dieting is not always enough for a better lifestyle, roadways too can benefit from a more holistic approach. Complete streets are another initiative that can help cities to create streets that are healthier and more livable. Complete streets often integrate traffic calming measures such as speed humps, staggered parking, lower speed limits, radar signs, pedestrian crosswalks, bike lanes, and the like.

Back to School Safety

As students across the country head back to the classroom, how can we ensure that they can get there- and back home- safely?

Active transportation such as bicycling and walking to school is increasing but is safety?

Learn about the challenges to school safety and why traffic calming solutions such as flashing beacons, radar signs,and speed cushions may be the crucial first step every city should consider before education, encouragement, or enforcement can be effective. Read our August Traffic Calmer and help your school have a safer year. What you read may just help save a life.

Single Source

If you do an internet search for radar speed signs, you'll find hundreds of entries. Search for speed humps and you'll find another extensive list. Bike lane curbing? School zone beacons? Speed cushions? You can find a company to provide each of your traffic calming solutions, but how many can you find that can offer you all of them?

Finding companies that offer each of the solutions you need and comparing the pros and cons of each can be  time-consuming and confusing. How can you be sure what's right for your roads when each company is pushing its own solutions as best?

Learn how to outfit your roads with the traffic calming solutions you need without finding an individual provider for each. Learn more in our June Traffic Calmer newsletter.

Under Construction

With the thousands of roads that are resurfaced, improved, redesigned, and repaired each year, there's a risk that can't be ignored. Thousands of crashes take place in work zones, many of which result in injuries. Who is most at risk in work zones? Surprisingly, it isn't the workers- it's drivers and passengers. And there's a way we can improve safety for everyone- motorists, passengers, and workers alike.

Want to learn more about work zone statistics and which states' roadways are most at risk? Curious about solutions such as variable speed limit signs, work zone radar signs, and national and statewide awareness campaigns and how they can help make a difference?

Take a minute to read our May Traffic Calmer and you may be surprised at what you learn. Read the newsletter on our website here.

How far can your money take you?

We're all familiar with the ubiquitous MasterCard slogan: there's some things money can't buy, for everything else.... Those elusive things that money can't buy can indeed be those that don't entail payment or they can merely be those that are beyond your budget. Thankfully, we're here to help make sure that traffic calming and safer streets are not on your list of things money can't buy.

With a range of affordable options, budget-conscious solutions, and the benefit of saving lives every day, our radar signs and rubber solutions offer what you need at a price you can afford, for safer roads. While our products come with a competitive price tag, the lives you save with them are indeed priceless.

To learn which solutions are most cost-effective and how you can create safer streets within your budget, check out our April Traffic Calmer and learn how to protect your resident for the right price.

There's a Better Way

Many cities are turning to speed cameras for a quick solution to stop speeders. It seems like a foolproof solution. But can technology make mistakes? You may be surprised by the answer.

Daniel Doty, a lawyer in Baltimore, MD, recently received a citation for speeding at 38 mph in a 25 mph zone. The citation included photos and a link to a 3 second video, both of which show that his Mazda was actually sitting still at a red light. Mr. Doty is contesting the $40 charge, but the repercussions are staggering. Thousands of speed tickets are issued each day. How many of them are mistakes?

Apparently speed cameras, thought to be infallible, are capable of errors. But when they do work, do they really work? Do they create changes in driver behavior?

Speed cameras may be effective in curbing behavior for the short term but they also create resentment, which may lead to drivers driving less safely instead of more safely on roads not outfitted with cameras. One organization in the UK claims that speed cameras actually do cause worse driver behavior. Is there a better way to slow drivers for the long run?

Unlike speed cameras, speed display signs simply alert drivers without penalizing them, trusting them to respond appropriately to the reminder. Speed signs create self-motivation and promote alertness that stays with drivers as they continue on new roads.

Radar signs provide accurate speeds and effective, long-term speed control. Do speed cameras?

Military Traffic Calming

Military and air force bases often use traffic calming to ensure healthy flow of traffic and to protect military professionals and their families. Traffic Logix solutions have been installed in tens of military, air force, and navy bases both in the US and abroad. The solutions most purchased by military bases are our rubber speed humps, rubber speed tables, and SafePace 100 low-cost speed signs.

Our rubber speed humps are often used to enhance gate security at military bases, compelling drivers to slow down as they drive over the humps toward the entrance gate. The flat-topped speed tables are a popular choice for military traffic calming on base roads. The rubber speed tables slow vehicles less aggressively than speed humps or bumps, allowing traffic to continue to flow at 20-30 mph. Traffic Logix rubber speed humps and speed tables are both GSA approved and can be purchased by military bases at discounted GSA rates.

The bestselling SafePace 100 speed sign is also a popular choice on military and air force bases due to its low cost and  portability. The compact speed sign displays vehicle speed in brightly lid LEDs, reminding drivers to stay alert and slow down. A user-friendly software interface lets you program the sign including choosing at what speed the sign digits or built in strobe light should flash to warn drivers.The lightweight speed sign is energy efficient and offers optional battery power that allows the sign to function autonomously for 2-4 weeks.Universal mounting brackets can be installed on several poles, allowing you to rotate the sign for use at multiple locations.

Traffic Logix also offers flashing beacons and school zone flashing signs that can be used to protect children at military base schools. The beacons and signs can be programmed to operate only during school hours and include 365 day scheduling so you can specify when and how they operate. Flashing beacons and school zone signs have been shown to significantly decrease traffic around schools, protecting children as they arrive and depart from schools.


Traffic safety is a growing concern on military roads. Military traffic calming can help make your base a safer place.