Speed in a high-speed society.

Area of Science:

• Road Safety Engineering
• Transportation Policy
• Human Factors in Driving

Background:

• Global road safety efforts highlight speed control as paramount.
• Despite initiatives, significant progress in reducing average vehicle speeds in Europe, the US, and Australia remains limited.
• Attitudinal surveys reveal inconsistent public views on speed, with limited correlation to established norms or actual driving behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the current state of vehicle speed development and its impact on road safety.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of various speed management strategies, including enforcement and traffic calming.
• To explore the potential of vehicle-based solutions for speed reduction and their associated benefits.

Main Methods:

• Review of European Transport Safety Council findings and similar international data.
• Analysis of attitude surveys concerning driving speeds.
• Examination of the efficacy and adoption scale of current enforcement methods (e.g., cameras, section control) and traffic calming measures.
• Evaluation of promising trials utilizing vehicle-based speed control solutions over the past 30 years.

Main Results:

• Limited progress in reducing vehicle speeds across major regions.
• Pro-speed factors such as high-performance vehicles and increased comfort contribute to current speed trends.
• While enforcement and traffic calming show efficiency, their limited scale restricts impact.
• Promising trials indicate vehicle-based solutions can achieve speeds at or below limits, improving behavior and attitudes.

Conclusions:

• There is a critical need for authorities to prioritize vehicle-based solutions for effective speed management.
• Implementing these solutions could lead to substantial reductions in road fatalities, with a favorable benefit-to-cost ratio.
• A paradigm shift towards regulation-driven scenarios incorporating vehicle-based speed control is essential for enhancing global road safety.