It's a bit hard to spot and perhaps we should add a large fluorescent arrow in real life to draw attention to its presence. We have a speed board - just to emphasise that Winterbourne Stoke is a 40 mph limit.
Some of these boards are powered by mains - usually from the lamp standard on which they are mounted. Others are solar, or wind powered. The rest are battery powered - and I would guess that this is one of those. Battery life is limited by the number of vehicles passing the sign and causing it to light up and flash. Needless to say, there is quite a bit of traffic on the A303, so the sign has been busy. When I went down to the A303 at lunchtime today, the sign was dead. More deceased than the deadest Norwegian Blue parrot. Pity that. It is unlikely to be working in time to flash at the travelling public as they head to the South West on the Highway to Hell this weekend. So, whoever erected the sign came close to doing something useful, but on this occasion, gets no cigar. I think a mains-powered variant may be called for.
However, even over the last couple of days, the sign has managed to shock one villager. He's worked alongside the A303 for several years and should be pretty unshockable when it comes to the idiotic behaviour of some drivers. We encounter them every day - the HGV drivers who are travelling so fast they set fire to their brakes when they try, and frequently fail, to stop in time for the pedestrian crossing; the BMW driver who overtakes on the double white lines, or white-van man who insists on blocking the access to the one road into the village.
So why was our friend so shocked? He spotted the sign registering 72mph.
And people wonder why we want a bypass!
2 comments:
Since this coming weekend is set to show a big yellow ball in the sky....perhaps a solar SID would have been more appropriate!!!
You are probably right - both about the big yellow ball and the SID!
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