In Tarras, Queenstown and Alexandra, roadside pole-mounted cabinets erected during the past week will soon house computerised display screens advising drivers of their speed as they travel past.
Two screens and their associated software would be rotated between the three locations and inserted into the signs' cabinets, Transit New Zealand Central Otago area engineer John Jarvis said.
‘‘They will be there for quite some time but not all of the time. They [the screens] will be shifted around, as otherwise they are not as effective . . . because the regular people become a bit oblivious to them after a while.''
There was an issue with speeding motorists at each of the locations, so the signs were part of a Transit New Zealand-funded road safety initiative instead of speed cameras, to remind motorists to slow down as they entered those areas, Mr Jarvis said.
‘‘It's more of an education thing . . . a semi-permanent control device designed to give driver feedback.
‘‘We're hopeful it's going to have a positive impact.''
In Tarras, motorists travelling from Cromwell will be flashed their speed near the township, in the 80kmh zone.
‘‘Motorists tend to speed through there.
‘‘It's an area where a lot of people stop off and it's a reasonably busy area but there has been a problem in the past with people taking no notice at all of the 80km signs.''
Safety issues surrounding Tarras School, which is on the main highway, were also a consideration.
The children at the school carried out a project several years ago - using a hand-held radar to monitor the speed of cars passing by - which found motorists were routinely exceeding the limit.
Pupil Arthur Chapman-Cohen (10) collects hot lunches for his schoolmates once a week from the store next to the school. He was concerned about drivers ‘‘hooning'' off the highway into the car park area in front of the shops and school, he said.
Arthur's father, Tarras School board chairman Angus Chapman-Cohen, agreed.
‘‘You only have to sit at that shop in your car and watch the traffic go past there. People are whipping past a lot faster than they should,'' Mr Chapman-Cohen said.
‘‘It would be nice now if people actually took notice of it.''
Heather Perriam, owner of three stores in the Tarras village, was pleased with the town's new sign.
‘‘It's really good that we've got it. People are not aware that there's actually anything here if you're coming from the south,'' Mrs Perriam said.
‘‘They're not aware that it is a built-up area.''
In Queenstown, the electronic sign is positioned near the troublesome Glenda Dr intersection, just within the 80kmh zone as motorists come off the Shotover Bridge.
‘‘[It] was the biggest problem spot because it's a higher-speed area,'' Mr Jarvis said.
Alexandra's electronic sign is located at the Clyde end of town near the Stadium Tavern on Centennial Ave.
This was a problem area, as people were entering Alexandra and failing to slow down enough as the speed zones changed, he said.
It was also a popular crossing point for people who used the walkway through from Ashworth St.
Transit had been prompted to install the signs based on its own observations, police reports and some general feedback from the public, which had come from ‘‘no one group in particular'', he said.
The signs - likely to be operating within the next two weeks - were the first fixed versions to be installed in the Central Otago-Queenstown Lakes district but were already operating in urban areas in Dunedin, where they had been ‘‘quite effective'', Mr Jarvis said.
Transit has also commissioned three billboard-sized electronic variable message signs to provide motorists with up-to-date information on road conditions on the Lindis Pass.
These have been positioned on the Tarras side of the Cromwell Bridge, in Tarras and in Omarama.
The signs were ‘‘well-tested'' during this week's winter driving conditions and proved their worth, Mr Jarvis said.
‘‘Rather than our contractors physically going out and changing the signs . . . it can be done on the computer and more proactively and quickly, so it's giving real live information to the motorist.''
The Lindis Pass variable message signs join a pair on Dunedin's Northern Motorway as the first in Otago. More are likely to be installed on the Haast Pass and Milford roads next year.
