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After watching his city’s new pole-mounted radar machines in action, Indianola Police Chief Steve Bonnett is sold on the devices as a traffic-slowing tool. The devices flash motorists’ speed to them in bright-red, 18-inch digits around the clock on three well-traveled residential streets in the city.

“I’ve spent a considerable amount of time sitting back watching,” Bonnett said. “You can tell when they see the sign because the brake lights go on. Most people don’t speed intentionally; it’s because they aren’t paying attention.”

Indianola, which earlier this month finished installing its first three signs, is the first city in Iowa to purchase the permanently mounted radar devices, according to the manufacturer, MPH Industries Inc. of Owensboro, Ky.

Indianola City Manager Tim Zisoff brought the idea back with him last summer after noticing the signs during a trip to Wisconsin. The city purchased the devices for just under $5,000 each, and Bonnett said he has already put a request for a fourth unit on his fiscal 2008 budget. The units are each installed on busy residential streets where speeding complaints have been the most prevalent.

MPH Industries has sold both the fixed and trailer-mounted radar signs for nearly 10 years, but more so on the coasts than the Midwest. The company also supplies Indianola and other Iowa police departments with portable radar guns.

The fixed signs are “a growing market; it’s certainly a growing part of our business,” said Greg Chambers, the company’s sales and marketing manager. “I can tell that because we have more competitors.” The company’s smaller 12-inch displays have seen “somewhat of an explosion” in sales over the past two years to cities, particularly for use in school zones, Chambers said. In some instances, insurance companies have purchased units and then donated them within their local communities, he said.

Dena Gray-Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Transportation, said so far “very few” cities have installed such permanent speed feedback signs. Unless there is regular enforcement to back them up, the signs can lose their effectiveness within days, she said.

“They’re more effective when you use the portable ones where you can move them around in a community to use them as an educational tool,” she said.

Nevertheless, Bonnett said he’s received “quite a few positive comments” about the devices from residents. “Our intent is to get people to slow down, and if we can do that without writing a ticket, so be it,” he said.