30th and Maine gets radar treatment, citywide expansion expected
QUINCY IL -- Last year, Quincy's Ellington School, took the matter into its own hands when its neighbor on north 30th Street, ADM, bought a radar sign to show motorists just how fast they were driving in that area.
So far, it seems to be working. So now the district wants to install more of these signs.
The new radar signs will be located just along Maine Street near 30th, close to both Baldwin Intermediate and Quincy Senior High Schools. There will be one in each of the eastbound and westbound lanes to show drivers how fast they're going. Baldwin Principal Paul Saunders believes the program will be just as successful as the one at Ellington school. And they conducted a traffic study to prove it.
"In any given hour, there were as many as 50-60 people who were speeding in school zones. Then we brought in a portable speed trap and set it up in that same hour on another day. And there were only two violators," Saunders said.
And police hope similar signs will end up all over the city.
"Our ultimate goal in this department is to have the signs at every school zone. It's going to take some time, and it's going to take some money. But there are some grants out there," Quincy Police Chief Rob Copley said.
In fact, half of the $10,000 for these new signs on Maine Street is coming from a State Farm grant, and the rest was donated by groups like the PTA.
Twenty mile per hour speed limits apply in school zones from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Anyone caught violating that speed can face fines upwards of $300.