By BURTON SPEAKMAN
GLASGOW — Those attending the Glasgow-Barren County football game Friday or people spending their Labor Day weekend at the lake will be among the first to see a new tool of the Barren County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Chris Eaton said his office received four mobile road signs this week called Insta-Alert Rapid Messengers.
The signs each cost about $20,000 with delivery, said Shannon White, deputy emergency management director and solid waste coordinator for Barren County. White is responsible for moving the signs and is the person who puts the messages on the boards.
“We’ll be using them to help control traffic this weekend,” Eaton said. “We’ll be able to use these any time there is a wreck on the parkway or I-65.”
The signs will be especially useful during storms to provide information.
A speedometer can also be attached to the sign that will show people how fast they are going, White said.
When a car’s speed is registered, the driver is given a message based on that speed. For those going more than 10 mph over the speed limit, it says “slow down now,” he said.
“The signs come with 25 preprogrammed statements and graphics used to help in traffic control,” White said. “They can be programmed to say whatever we want.”
There isn’t a lot to the technology. The signs can quickly be moved from location to location.
The locked area of the machine simply includes a battery and the battery can be charged, but it mostly is charged through a solar panel on the top of the sign, he said. Messages are entered using a remote that is specific for each sign. White can simply drive close to a sign to change the message.
“The signs are also equipped with a camera in case they are vandalized,” Eaton said.
The signs will be made available to community groups, schools and other area agencies when they are not being used by the sheriff’s office. People can call the sheriff’s office to request use of the signs.
“I said when I applied for these that they would help every resident of Barren County and I think they will,” Eaton said.
Within the next couple of weeks, the signs will be used at T.J. Samson Community Hospital to help promote the hospital’s 80th anniversary.
The signs were paid for out of a $234,000 technology grant the sheriff’s office had received from the office of U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, Eaton said.
The grant has also been used to purchase several other items, including two total stations that help with crash reconstruction. New computers were also purchased throughout the office to replace outdated machines, he said.
“We’re still looking at more items and upgrades. We still have quite a bit left,” Eaton said.
