Cole Anderson with his prototype, Speed, Wyz, which lowers speed sign speed limits in wet and foggy weather. Photo / George Novak
Cole Anderson with his prototype, Speed, Wyz, which lowers speed sign speed limits in wet and foggy weather. Photo / George Novak
Cole Anderson has taken out the NIWA Premier Award at the 2015 Bay of Plenty Science Fair with his prototype of an electronic weather-activated speed sign which automatically alters the speed limit to suit conditions.
His project, Speed Wyz, was a prototype for road signs which could change the speedlimit displayed for motorists according to the amount of rain falling or fog around. "To make people slow down in wet weather and be safer is a good thing," he said.
A few drops on a sensor on the Speed Wyz lowers the speed on a display board from 80km/h to 60km/h.
The Year 7 Tauranga Intermediate School student said he initially had no clue what he wanted to do for the project but a drive in wet weather one day sparked the idea, so he set to work. Cole was happy to take out the award-winning $1140 cash windfall, too.
He planned to enter the competition next year but wanted to make adjustments to the product, such as adding a time delay so when the lower speed was triggered by rain it would not go back up to 80km/h before a set time - to give the road time to dry.
Cole took out the supreme award at the competition but also ranked first in his school's Intermediate Technology awards, the New Zealand Radio Science Award and the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust competition.
