By Craig Anderson

DOVER — With the city’s newly acquired speed signs, the hope is that motorists will do the right thing and slow down.

Four solar-powered signs — which flash a vehicle’s speed as it passes — are expected to be operational within the next month, city officials said.

Jason Lyon, Dover’s director of water and wastewater/engineering services, said the LED Lite Speed Radar system on the signs can detect vehicles from about 300 feet away.

“The hope is that it curbs the speed when drivers see they’re doing something wrong,” he said.

The project’s $35,858 cost was funded by Capital Transportation Program grants from Sen. Trey Paradee, D-Dover, and state Reps. William Carson, D-Smyrna; Kerri Evelyn Harris, D-Dover; and Sean Lynn, D-Dover, added Mr. Lyon, who spearheaded the contributions after being contacted by Dover City Councilman Brian Lewis.

The councilman said that, since June 2023, he has received a steady stream of speeding complaints from residents in his district. So, he went into action, contacting Dover Police Chief Tom Johnson, who acknowledged the issue but said there was limited staff to provide increased enforcement.

Councilman Lewis said he then began to push for more speed signs and contacted Mr. Lyon to assist in the funding requests.

The signs were purchased from the Traffic Logix and Stalker Radar companies, Mr. Lyon said. They will be added to four signs already in use by the city.

They all will be periodically moved by police around Dover, based on traffic reports, Councilman Lewis explained.

Additionally, the signs will periodically be monitored by officers.

“Within the past year, there have been too many vehicles speeding through our city streets,” the councilman said. “Unfortunately, there’s been too many tears shed over fatalities and major accidents that have occurred, and that’s one of the things that prompted me into finding some solutions and deterring speeding throughout the city.”

Richard Senato, a 35-year Dover resident, agreed, while standing near one of the signals on Roosevelt Avenue on Friday.

“It’s a deterrent. It’s not a high percentage of those that speed, but it’s always that 10% that are going to keep doing it, and hopefully, this will slow them down.”

So far, the results appear promising, he continued.

“It’s helped. I’ve seen cars that I’m following that came to a sign and actually slowed down.”