LONGWOOD, Fla. – A small neon street sign is getting big results at a Seminole County elementary school.
Longwood police needed to put a stop to speeding around Longwood Elementary so they put the short metal caution signs in the middle of the road.
And turns out it worked better than they ever expected.
What happens when a driver comes down the road and spots the 3-foot-tall neon sign?
The sign is just narrow enough that it doesn’t block the road but just wide enough to make it feel a little tighter.
There are at least six signs around Longwood Elementary School.
Principal Leigh Jones and Longwood police Lt. Michael Aprile said thanks to the signs, driver awareness - people paying attention - went from 33% to 84%.
“We’ve collaborated over the course of the past year to improve safety in and around the school,” Aprile said.
There’s a very particular traffic pattern around Longwood Elementary during school days for the safety of the students. Some of the roads become one way and certain left turns aren’t allowed.
That traffic pattern has led to confusion and frustration, so much so that a couple of parents exchanged words and even a kick. One kicked the other’s car door.
“It was off campus but it was as a result of the car line and the car line procedures not really having signs to enforce those car line procedures,” Jones said.
Police enforcement and directional signs took care of the traffic pattern problem. But speeding was another problem - until the little neon signs.
“It greatly reduced the amount of speeders,” Aprile said. “The other thing you have to think about is that if somebody’s speeding, as law enforcement, if we’re trying to catch up to them we may also be accelerating while children are around here. So it’s not the safest place to conduct traffic enforcement. So what we do is by slowing them down naturally we don’t have to enforce.”
How much do the neon signs cost?
“I’m going to take a guess and say around $300, they’re not that much money,” Aprile said.
Jones said she never expected such a low-tech low-cost solution would get such significant results.
“And I don’t have the amount of concern that I used to because I see cars slowing down, I see cars stopping,” Jones said. “I don’t see altercations in the car line. I have people calling me and emailing me letting me know they’re thankful because they feel safer.”
Longwood police bought many more neon signs, including some that can be rolled into place for special events.
Police said they will consider putting them anywhere in the city where there’s a pedestrian safety concern.