Abstract
Vehicle speed is a key component in road traffic safety. Extending the notion that road traffic is a complex social system, an experimental driving simulator study was conducted to investigate the unique and joint effects of speed limitation, road geometry, passenger presence, and driver characteristics on drivers’ choice of speed in an urban environment. These factors were only found to affect drivers’ choice of speed under a 50-km/h speed limit but not under a 30-km/h limit. Moreover, speed compliance was conditional on the level of the speed limit. Implications for road traffic safety are addressed. (Author/publisher)