Sign Alerts To Slow Moving Vehicle Ahead

Sign Alerts To Slow Moving Vehicle Ahead SECURITY/SAFETY Ideas A new warning system lets drivers know a slow moving vehicle person or animal is just over the hill When the solar-powered interactive sign senses anything moving past it at less than a preset speed it will flash for 3 min The sign warns faster drivers to slow when it is flashing “I have 2 of the signs on hills just north of where I live and they have been triggered more than 2 000 times in the past 100 days ” says Brad Willborn co-founder Slow Ride LLC “There are 3 Amish families and a lot of agricultural traffic on the road ” The idea for the warning sign came when a family friend driving a tractor was killed A semi driver in his lane had come over a hill and struck him “I drove back and forth on the road trying to think of a way to make it safer ” recalls Willborn “I got the idea of the sign and told my friend Ole Olson He is an engineer and had a working prototype 30 days later We formed the company and started gathering data ” Before production on the initial design had even started Willborn and Olson were asked to come up with variations on the concept When presenting the idea at a county safety meeting 2 members of the Wisconsin Highway Patrol made a request “They wanted to warn people about blind intersections over a hill ” says Olson “While static signs can be posted nothing alerts you that something or someone is in the intersection They gave examples of postal trucks garbage trucks or school buses stopped or pulling in or out ” The suggestion was for a sign that could be triggered with a remote by drivers as they passed Olson and Willborn are now working on that concept too A third design was requested by Organic Valley The large cooperative was concerned about the safety of children on farms where their trucks pick up milk Last year a 2-year-old broke free of an older brother and ran under a truck as the driver pulled away from an Amish dairy “They asked for a sign that would be triggered by sensors if there was movement under or near a truck ” explains Olson “The sign would warn the driver and he could stop ” Olson and Willborn hope to have a factory in Wisconsin producing signs by this summer Their goal is to set up a cooperative with a service group to do installations Initial production is priced at $1 800 but prices are expected to drop as production numbers increase Check out a video of Slow Ride signs at FARM SHOW com Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Slow Ride 520 Cherry Wood Dr Oregon Wis 53575 ph 608 482-0596 or 608 332-2283; brad@slowrideruralsafety com; www slowrideruralsafety com

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