A billion motorists have passed Brisbane’s Speed Awareness Monitors (SAMs) since the highly successful program was launched almost ten years ago.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner marked the incredible milestone by revealing the latest data showing motorists slowed down by an average of 7.4 kilometres per hour while passing one of the flashing signs.
“We’re committed to getting motorists home sooner and safer and our network of SAM signs help make that happen,” Cr Schrinner said.
“We invested in this proactive and practical measure to slow down speeding vehicles and keep people safe on our suburban streets.
The SAM signs have proved incredibly effective with lead-footed drivers reducing their speed by almost 7.5 kilometres per hour on average after receiving a flashing ‘slow down’ warning.
By raising awareness of speed limits, we hope to encourage motorists to reduce their speeds, get home safely and keep SAM smiling.”
The program started with 26 signs in 2013 and has grown to 190 SAMs that rotate across 894 locations in Brisbane and 83 permanent signs at schools.
The solar panel signs display either a smiley face or a ‘slow down’ message when a motorist passes and are a simple but effective road safety reminder.
The most successful sign is at Lister Street in Sunnybank which has recorded the highest speed reduction, at an average 18.4 kilometres per hour by motorists initially travelling above the speed limit.
Civic Cabinet Chair for Infrastructure Councillor Andrew Wines said the billionth trip milestone was celebrated on the back of National Road Safety Week last week.
“SAMs are part of our strategy to implement local improvements in our neighbourhoods, school zones and pedestrian areas for safer travel throughout our suburbs,” he said.
“Results like this show the incredible safety improvements this program brings to our local communities,” he said.
“To build upon the success of SAMs, we have introduced the Wildlife Awareness Monitors program and Automated Flooded Road Warning Systems to alert motorists of road conditions and encourage safe driving behaviours.
After almost 10 years in operation and 1 billion trips, SAMs are one of our most successful road safety programs to date.”
Barrett Street, Bracken Ridge was included in the top 10 most successful SAM locations in the last 12 months – with an average speed reduction of 12 km/h for motorists initially detected over the posted speed.
