Overview
Speed kills in the urban environment. Conversely, lower speeds contribute significantly to greater road safety and reduction in road deaths: research has demonstrated that a 1.6kmph reduction in average speed on an urban main road lessens casualties by 6%. Governments, through policy, public awareness and effective enforcement have played a role in increasing road safety, reducing average road speeds. Yet, even in the face of such high profile campaigns, drivers remain reluctant to change behaviour. Other forces are needed to ensure this beneficial change continues.
Technology has a role to play in this change: Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) solutions leverage the availability of high street products, (PNDs and off board navigation solutions), to inform vehicle drivers of their behaviour with respect to local speed limits. ISA can either be advisory, or active; controlling the maximum speed of the vehicle at any point in time. There are though challenges to be addressed, if ISA is to be deployed successfully in consumer vehicles.
The purpose of this project is to explore two of the most significant of these challenges; consumer acceptance and technology.
- Consumer Acceptance; despite widespread awareness that inappropriate use of speed kills, there is a large subset of drivers, who consider themselves to be ‘careful and compliant’, who (often unconsciously) exceed the speed limit in force. This project will test whether ISA has a role to play in introducing sustained behaviour change for such drivers.
- Technology; without accurate, high availability GNSS signals, ISA systems will misreport a vehicle’s compliance with local speed limits. Galileo therefore has an important role to play in the successful development of future ISA systems.
The key project deliverable is a new ISA innovation based on the concept of ‘reward’ schemes in other industry sectors, which will increase the consumer acceptance of ISA in a sustainable way.