County installs fake police car billboard on County Road 39 to slow down speeders

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In an effort to curb speeding along newly widened County Road 39, Suffolk County has erected two billboards along the main drag to emphasize the 35-mph speed limit, employing life-size pictures of police cars and officers with radar guns.

The billboards were erected by the Department of Public Works at the end of last week and were placed on County Road 39 westbound at the corner of Shrubland Road and eastbound across from the Lobster Inn. Each has a concrete pad in front of it—and, periodically, a Southampton Town Police officer will be positioned directly in front of the life-size image, according to Tom Neely, the director of transportation for the Town of Southampton.

“Nine mornings out of 10, it’s just a picture. But the next morning, it’s real car, and it could be whenever, in the morning or afternoon,” said Mr. Neely. “It’s guerilla tactics, if you will. Drivers may not know if it’s a picture or a real police car.”

Bill Hillman, the chief engineer of highways, structures and waterways for the county, said that Jim Peterman, the assistant to the chief engineer at the Department of Public Works, was the “idea man” behind the billboards. Mr. Hillman said Mr. Peterman got the idea from East Hampton Town Police: In some areas of East Hampton, police park a car with a dummy in the driver’s seat and randomly replace it with a real police officer in order to snag unsuspecting speeders.

Mr. Hillman said he could not immediately provide the price for the billboards, but did say that the entire widening of the County Road 39 project cost $9 million, and that the cost for the billboards was included in that.

The life-size signs, however, have not exactly been greeted with open arms from the community.

Town Board member Nancy Graboski has said that she’s not in favor of any billboards in the town, and that she was initially opposed to those placed on County Road 39. But she said her thinking shifted after noticing that drivers coming off Sunrise Highway were not adjusting their speed. The speeders made her realize the town does need the billboards.

“I detest them,” Town Supervisor Linda Kabot has said of the signs. The supervisor said she would have preferred a “more pleasing sign that said ‘Welcome to Southampton, please drive slowly.’” “I don’t think we needed to be hit over the head with them,” she added.

Frank Zappone, chairman of the Shinnecock/Tuckahoe/Southampton Citizens Advisory Committee, said he understood what the county was trying to do, but he thought the same effect could have been achieved with a more pleasing, creative design.

A local resident for 15 years, graphic artist Lynn Gallo said that the billboards are an “absolute eyesore and atrocious looking.”

“They’re infantile as well, with this big giant of a picture of a police officer with a radar gun,” Ms. Gallo said. “They’re very ugly. This whole area was so beautiful, and now there are so many signs, it’s like eye pollution, and this just adds to it.”

The county has taken other measures to ensure drivers take it slow along County Road 39. It painted the 35-mph speed limit on the road as part of the resurfacing project that was finished last week, according to Mr. Neely.

Other than the life-size billboards, Mr. Neely went on to say that there is active enforcement by Town Police on County Road 39 in regard to speed. In fact, Mr. Neely said that the Town Police alone issue a couple hundred of tickets a month and said that New York State Troopers patrol the area as well.

The Southampton Town Police Department did not return calls seeking comment.