VERO BEACH — Drivers can monitor how fast they’re going thanks to a new speed trailer recently put on the roads, police said.
The trailer is a quick and efficient way to alert drivers if they’ve passed the speed limit, said Officer Casey Myers. It operates all day and helps drivers avoid tickets.
The Vero Beach Police Department recently received several complaints of speeding drivers on roads such as 18th Street, State Road 60, Royal Palm Boulevard and Date Palm Road, spokeswoman Anna Carden said. The speed trailer brings awareness to safe driving.
“A lot of people aren’t aware of how fast they’re driving,” Carden said. “The speed trailer shows them exactly what their speed limit is.”
The new trailer is the second speed trailer the police department owns. Police purchased the $5,790 trailer using a $4,427 grant from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Carden said.
The first trailer also was bought with grant money more than 10 years ago, Myers said.
The two are put at different road locations around the city, police said. The trailers have a mounted radar with an antenna that reads the speeds of vehicles that drive by, Myers said.
A computer inside the trailers for the digital speed response is set to a minimum speed, a lawful speed and a violation speed, Myers said. The speed limit for the roadway is at the top of the trailers, and underneath that is a screen that shows the speed for commuters.
If a commuter drives by a trailer going over the speed limit, the mph of the vehicle will flash on the screen.
“It picks up the speed of any moving vehicle, even a bicycle,” Carden said.
Officers are not there with the trailers, Carden said. But, that doesn’t stop the chance of a speeding driver eventually being caught.
“When speeding commuters see the trailers, their vehicle’s speed flashes on the screen and they slow down,” Myers said. “The violation is corrected, no officer needs to be contacted and the driver saves money.”
Residents who want a speed trailer on their street should email the police department at traffic@vbpd.org.
