Posted on: Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Firm to monitor speeding on Leeward stretch of H-1

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser transportation writer

No, it's not a van cam. It's not a police speed trap, either.

Instead, that laser gun you may see pointed at you on the H-1 Freeway tomorrow is part of a private study.

Speed Measurement Laboratories Inc. says it will be using the laser guns linked to computers to help assess how many people are speeding. The information will be used only for research purposes, the company said.

The information will be included in a national speed limit compliance study to be published later this year, said researcher Carl Fors, who decided to gather the information while he was in Hawai'i conducting standard radar and laser gun certification classes for military agencies.

For tomorrow's test, the company plans to park a white Ford 150 pickup truck in a west-bound turn-off area between the 'Ewa-Kunia Interchange and the Makakilo off-ramp. The speed limit in the area is 60 mph.

Fors said he will record the number of people traveling over the speed limit in the area. Similar tests are being conducted in Montana, Rhode Island and elsewhere to study whether speed limits actually slow drivers, he said.

Although state officials say they aren't participating in the test, Fors says he plans to share the information with state and local officials before it is published in trade publications later this year.