WESTFIELD, NJ - The Westfield Town Council convened briefly Wednesday evening to discuss various issues, chief among them being increasing the number of radar stop signs used in town. Led by Westfield Mayor Andy Skibitsky, the Council agreed to implement three additional radar stop signs in town with the hope of increasing pedestrian safety and reducing speeding.
These radar speed signs will improve the safety and security of local drivers and pedestrians, inform local law enforcement where the most violations are occurring, and they will ultimately make drivers more aware and therefore, more cautious, when driving. These three radar detectors will be put to use within the next three weeks. As a result, there will then be six radar speed signs operating in Westfield.
Mayor Skibitsky asked for clarity regarding whether these radar signs appear to be turned off when they are in fact, actually on. One council member responded by explaining that the three Westfield uses now operate for different but equally effective reasons. The council member said, "One reason might be that there may be a particular speed that you have to get to before it registers. That really is to save the battery. The second reason may be that it is in off mode – still gathering data, which would be helpful to the police department so that they could move the signs around different neighborhoods and really get information about where there may be a speeding problem so that they can assign special enforcement to the areas that really need it."
Westfield’s increased use of radar is not unusual for towns in the area and throughout the country. Surveillance for reasons such as safety and precaution is something that larger cities have been doing for the past two decades. In Times Square alone, there are over 300 surveillance cameras and radar signs in operation.
