Intelligent Speed Adaptation—The Next Generation of Traffic Management Tools

Speeding is a universal road safety problem. The relationship between vehicle speed and accident occurrence and associated severity has been well documented. Of the three E's in road safety, enforcement and education approaches have their own merits but suffer from persistency. Engineering approaches such as road design are effective for spot speed reduction, but are less feasible for network treatment. Another dimension of the engineering approaches is to focus on the vehicle. Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) is an innovative driver support system which brings the speed limit into the vehicle. This paper describes the ISA Field Operational Tests (FOT) took place in the UK, including system design and trial implementation. Results from this project clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of ISA on enhancing speed limits compliance. ISA also delivers very large safety benefits and considerable environmental benefits. Since the ISA system makes use of digital road maps, this offers a network-wise solution for traffic management. Potential applications of the ISA system are discussed.