By Justin Creech
Staff Writer
Thursday, December 15, 2011

Drivers who speed through residential areas on Fort Belvoir will be reminded of their excessive speed as radar speed signs are being placed in housing areas on post.

Installation Support Services began placement of the signs on Wednesday.

The purchase and placement of the signs was initiated by Col. John Strycula, Fort Belvoir Garrison commander, to get drivers on post to slow down as they drive through residential areas.

The speed limit in residential areas on post is 15 miles per hour.

“What the signs are there for is to say ‘Hey, you vehicles that are traveling at this speed, the speed limit’s 15. Slow down.’” said Chief of Police Tim Wolfe, Directorate of Emergency Services, Fort Belvoir Police Department.

Keeping children in the housing areas safe is another goal in putting up the signs.

“We have children in the residential areas and we don’t want the children injured or killed,” Wolfe said.

The signs are being placed on Meers Road in George Washington Village; 12th Street, on the same side of road as Van Noy Library; Gerber Village, between 19th and 20th Street; Fortney Loop in Fairfax Village; Mason Drive in Belvoir Village; and on Belvoir Drive. A sign is also being installed on Barlow Road in Dogue Creek Village and on the east and west side of 9th Street.

The signs, which look like regular speed limit signs, indicate the speed limit on the front of the sign and show a driver’s speed as they pass the sign. If a driver is going over the speed limit, the sign will blink the current speed. Drivers going the speed limit will see a steady indication of their speed.

Any Belvoir police officer nearby who can view the sign has the authority to pull the violator over for speeding.

If there are no officers present, Wolfe said speeders won’t necessarily get away without punishment.

“If there is no officer present, but a resident sees you and gets your tag number and are willing to come forward with the information we can certainly do it that way,” said Wolfe.

The Directorate of Public Works poured the concrete bases for the signs to be installed in last Friday.

Carl Crump, DPW, Construction/Inspector Estimator, said he thinks the signs will be effective in slowing down drivers on post.

“If you see that thing flashing you don’t know if the cops are around watching you or not,” Crump said. “You’ll slow down.”

Those who continue to speed through the residential areas won’t get much leeway, according to Wolfe.

“This is an effort to make people realize what their speed is in these communities, mostly our neighborhoods,” Wolfe said. “When you are speeding around children we don’t give a whole lot of leeway in letting people go because it’s dangerous for the children.”