City of Greater Bendigo Engineering manager Ian McLauchlan said the aim of SAM was to educate motorists about their travel speeds on local roads and streets by showing if they were over the speed limit or if they were doing the correct speed.

"When vehicles are travelling at or below the speed limit, SAM will display a smiley face to thank drivers for doing the right thing," he said.

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If vehicles are travelling above the posted speed limit by up to 10km/h, SAM will display a sad face followed by a slow down message.

"These monitors help to reduce overall excess traffic speeds, particularly in high incident areas," he said.

They also collect traffic and speed data by continuously recording with a date and time stamp which allows for vehicle speeds to be analysed by time of the day and day of the week.

"This information can then be used by the City to make informed planning decisions on road safety," Mr McLauchlan said.

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"Initially the monitors will be placed in Howard Street Epsom, Hargreaves Street Golden Square, View Street Bendigo and Victoria Street Eaglehawk and will be rotated across a number of other identified high-risk local roads as needed."

Mr McLauchlan said council was pleased to receive a $26,708 grant from the TAC Community Road Safety Grant Program to purchase the new units.

"We will monitor the success of SAM and if successful will explore possible future funding opportunities to purchase additional units," he said.

"The new speed awareness monitors are just one initiative to encourage motorists to slow down and help improve the safety on our local roads."

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