Texas sheriff using cardboard deputies to deter speeders

Jan. 10 (UPI) -- A Texas sheriff is taking on speeders in his county by placing cardboard cutouts of deputies next to roads rife with lead-footed drivers.

Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody tweeted a video showing one of the cutouts, which he said depicts one of the department's real-life deputies, giving the appearance of a police presence next to a road in the Fern Bluff neighborhood of Brushy Creek.

"It's a creative way to solve a problem without really working the problem," Chody told KTCB-TV.

Chody said the cutouts, which depict the deputy pointing a speed-measuring radar device at the road, look like a real deputy at first glance.

"When you're going 20, 30 miles per hour and you see the silhouette you're immediately breaking slowing down and that's exactly what we are trying to do," Chody said.

He said the department tested out the cardboard deputies by placing them near school zones, with real deputies waiting nearby to observe the results.

"We didn't get one speeder; all these people were breaking before they got to the cut out or as they were approaching the cutout," Chody said.