In 2009 the Swedish Parliament passed a resolution stating that by 2020 the number of fatalities from road traffic crashes should be reduced to half the level in 2007. This corresponds to a maximum of 220 deaths in 2020. In order to monitor progress toward this goal, yearly national follow-up studies are conducted to examine trends in the numbers of people killed and severely injured, along with a number of indicators. One of these indicators is speed limit compliance on the municipality streets; the milestone here is to have at least 80 per cent of all traffic travelling within the speed limit. The aim of the present study is to report the changes between the years 2014 and 2015 concerning driver speed levels and speed limit compliance on the main municipality streets. The annual measurement series started in year 2012 and with the measurement series from 2015, this third follow-up was performed. The results show that in 2015 the space-mean-speed for all vehicles on the studied main municipality roads was 48 km/h. When broken down by speed limit, the average space-mean speed was 40 km/h for the 40 km/h speed limit, 46 km/h for the 50 km/h, and 53 km/h for the 60 km/h, and 63 km/h for the 70 km/h. No significant changes in space-mean speed occurred in comparison with 2014. When broken down by time of day, travel speeds in both 2014 and 2015 were roughly about one km/h lower during the day (6am–8pm) than at night (8pm–6am). With respect to speed violations, overall, 64 per cent of drivers obeyed the speed limit. The lowest speed limit compliance was found on roads with a speed limit of 40 km/h, where only 44 per cent of the traffic obeyed the speed limit; 66 per cent obeyed the speed limit on 50 km/h roads, 75 per cent on 60 km/h roads, and 72 per cent on 70 km/h roads. In conclusion, the space-mean-speeds in urban areas are below the legal speed limit, but the lack of speed compliance remains a problem. Primarily, the speed limit compliance on roads with lower speed limits must be improved in order to reach the goal of 80 per cent compliance by 2020. The measurements were made by NTF using radar during the month of September in 23 different municipalities in Sweden. Speeds were measured at three different points in each municipality, giving a total of 69 different points, with speeds measured at each point for one week. Only the main municipality streets with speed limits between 40 km/h and 70 km/h were used in the measurements. (Author/publisher)
Abstract