AMHERST, N.Y. — This week a viewer contacted 2 On Your Side’s Kelly Dudzik wanting to know whether lawn signs in Amherst telling drivers to slow down and that the 30-mph speed limit was "photo enforced" were legit.
2 On Your Side took those concerns to the Amherst Town Supervisor on Friday afternoon and found out what those yard signs were all about.
The viewer from Cheektowaga was driving on Oakwood Drive and noticed the bright yellow signs lining the street. The signs not only reminded drivers to take it slow, they also came with a warning: you're being watched.
"What's up with those signs?" Dudzik asked.
"OK, so we have a radar scanner in a weather encased box mounted to a sign. We have been, at some of the residents' requests, doing an active speed monitoring project. It's not ticketable," Amherst Town Supervisor Brian Kulpa said.
The black box is counting cars and logging how fast they're going. With the study underway and the black box up, neighbors decided to make the signs.
"Residents have taken it upon themselves to put up signs telling people that they're being speed monitored and it's enforced, police enforced," Kulpa said.
Which is not true.
"The Town of Amherst does not, nor do I think we can, use mounted, stationary radar to enforce speed violations," Kulpa said.
The homemade signs are all down now because after 2 On Your Side called the town to ask about them, Kulpa asked police to tell people to get them out of their yards.
"They went and printed up these signs, and paid for these signs?" Dudzik asked.
"It's very entrepreneurial of them," Kulpa said. "People cut side streets, and they tend to drive in excess of speed limits when they get off of some of our arterials. That's not acceptable, but it's up to our patrol officers to enforce."
Since Oakwood goes from Main to Wehrle, it's a popular cut-through.
If you have issues with speeding cars, call the town to get a study started.
"We want to know where you think you have problems, but there's easier ways to go about it than printing sign material," Kulpa said.