(KNZA)--The Hiawatha Police Department will be getting a new tool to help encourage speed limit compliance around town.

The Hiawatha City Commission Monday evening gave Police Chief John Defore approval to purchase a used speed monitoring trailer from the city of Inman, Kansas for a cost not to exceed $3,400.

The speed trailer is a mobile unit that monitors approaching vehicles and displays their speed in real time.  While it is not intended as an enforcement tool, the assumption is that motorists will slow down if they are aware of their speed.

The trailer can record the date, time, speed and volume of traffic at any given location.

Defore says he plans to move the trailer around to different areas of town to collect the data, which he plans to use in determining where best to allocate manpower.

The city recently borrowed the Horton Police Department's speed trailer and set it up on North 4th Street at the request of local residents in order to deter speeding.  Defore says the data collected told him when the peak traffic times were, and he placed officers at the location during those times.