Red and blue blinking lights on Constitution

QUESTION: On Constitution Avenue heading west from Powers Boulevard and then up the hill past Oro Blanco you come upon this this horrible contraption someone authorized the money for and had installed. It tells you what your speed is.
And as you get closer and are traveling 29 mph in a 35 mph zone, red lights light up and they say slow down and then blue lights come on as well, flashing at you. Sure would love to hear what the traffic men have to say to justify this contraption flashing words and numbers at you and if there are any more of these things on the city streets.
- Jean “Jeanie” Bray

ANSWER: This radar sign cautions drivers that lower speeds are advised because there have been accidents in this area where vehicles went off the road into front yards, according to traffic engineer David Krauth. “We’re trying to alert people to slow down.”

The sign is programmed for the yellow-and-black advisory speed posted on a sign just ahead, not the speed limit, Krauth says. It flashes how fast a driver is going when that vehicle is 5 miles over the advised speed.
Drivers who are 6 to 10 miles over the suggested speed see the flashing words “slow down.” If you see red and blue flashing, you’re 10 miles an hour or more over the recommended speed.

There’s another sign at the S curves on South Circle Drive between Pikes Peak Avenue and Airport Road, another area where speeding drivers have lost control and vehicles have landed in front yards.

Two signs are in Rockrimmon and four others are on order to be used on a rotating basis in different areas of the city. They’ll be moved around so motorists won’t get complacent about them and start hitting the gas, Krauth says.

Although you dislike the flashing sign, residents in the north and northeast have requested signs for their neighborhoods, according to a Sarah Colwell story published Wednesday in the East/Powers edition of The Gazette’s Slice.