Improving urban road safety by cutting speeds with ISA (Intelligent Speed Adaptation)

1. Urban Transport Benchmarking Initiative Improving urban road safetyby cutting speeds with ISA (Intelligent Speed Adaptation)

2. The ETSC • 29 organisations from across Europe under one unique umbrella promoting science-based transport safety measures at EU level • More then 150 experts contributing to ETSC’s Reviews, Policy Papers, Newsletters, Positions, Lectures, Press Releases, Year Books, etc. • The European Commission, member organisations, member states and corporate sponsors are funding our work • 8 Secretariat staff members do their utmost to insert the knowledge of ETSC members and experts into EU transport safety policy-making A science-based approach to road safety policy!

3. Urban road death: Key aspects • With the European Union three quarters of road accident fatalities occur in urban areas • There is a North-South/West-East divide in terms of road safety performance • An increasing “car-fleet polarisation” leads to a widening gap of risk exposures • Vulnerable road users are most at risk • Inappropriate Speed is the Nr. 1 cause of fatal and injury acidents

4. Some facts about speed • Compliance with speed limits is generally poor across Europe. • Drivers admit to speeding more easily than to drink driving (SARTRE3). • Drivers underestimate the risk. They do not link speeding with driving dangerously when considering their own behavior, but find that other drivers’ speeding is dangerous (SARTRE 3). • Excess or inappropriate speed is involved in around one third of accidents resulting in vehicle occupant fatalities.

5. Speed limits in Europe

6. Effective speed enforcment legislation Some Recommendations: • Speed controls should use automated equipment. • Enforcement should prioritise speed infringement at high risk accident sites • Enforcement should be combined with information campaigns • Follow up with appropriate sanctions

7. Best Practice in Urban Safety Managment Behavioural changes • Enforcement (seat belt wearing, blood alcohol content and speed limits) and targeted campaigns (young drivers, children, etc.) Infrastructure Improvements • Handbooks and Best Practice Guidelines covering all aspects of infrastructure safety Vehicle Safety • What can cities do to improve vehicle safety, especially with respect to cutting speeds?

8. What is ISA? Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) informs the vehicle of the maximum speed for each particular road. ISA technology is based on three elements: • A GPS-based navigation system "tells" the car where it is. • A digital road map on board the vehicle identifies the speed limit for this particular stretch of road. • This information is passed on to the driver either by a display on the dashboard or a so-called "active accelerator pedal".

9. Intelligent Speed Adaptation Why ISA? • ISA reduces the average speeds and make drivers comply with the speed limits. • The ISA system is most effective in decreasing travel speeds on speed zones with 50km/h or more in the surrounding areas. • If every vehicle is equipped with an ISA, the number of injuries in urban areas could be reduced by 20%. • ISA with a supportive feedback system has very large potential to reduce fatal accidents by 59%.

10. ISA Introduction Steps… Adoption needs : • support by public authorities: • development of reliable speed maps to enable ISA nationwide; • tax cuts and reduced insurance premiums to promote ISA; • legislation to make ISA mandatory for first target groups such as novice drivers.

11. What has been done so far? • National digital road maps, incorporating speed limits, are almost complete for Sweden and Finland. • In the Netherlands, a speed limit database has been made available on the internet which should become 98% accurate in two years time. • The UK Department for Transport has also announced the creation of a speed limit database. • ISA has been tested in field trials across Europe, spreading from the SUN countries (Sweden, UK, Netherlands) to Denmark, Finland, Belgium, France, Austria & Norway.

12. What is needed from cities? • Ensuring that digital maps of their road network are established including speed limit information. (only a minority of European countries have started work on these maps) • Introducing mechanisms to keep the speed limit data up-to-date • Launching the implementation by fitting ISA into their local authorities’ fleets, following the example of Sweden.

13. Which cities have been active? Field Trials across Europe including: • Denmark: Aalborg • Belgium: Ghent, Leuven • U.K.: Leeds • Catalonia: Barcelona • …