The number of road accident victims is high in the European Union with around 42 000 fatalities and 1.6 million injuries a year, and in-appropriate speed has been identified as a major cause. Young people, aged 15 to 24, are the most at risk, with a fatality rate 50 to 90% higher than that of the population as a whole. If the cost of emergency services and medical care is included, the total cost of fatal accidents in the EU is put at EUR 45 billion a year. The road safety problem has been identified as a major obstacle against the development of sustainable mobility on the European roads (ref. CTP). Again, this concern has been expressed in the preparation for new TEN-T Guidelines where road safety has been identified as a key issue and in the Council Resolution on the improvement of road safety adopted June 2000 . The European Commission has recognised the contribution that new technologies can make to achieve the goals of the Common Transport Policy through road speed reduction. The Council resolution of June 2000 explicitly identifies "the use of advanced assisted driving technology which has considerable potential for improving road safety" and "technology relating to speed limitation devices and to identify any technical, organisational, administrative and legal difficulties in introducing them" as important measures for further investigation. Introduction of road speed management based on information technology (i.e. ISA = Intelligent Speed Adaptation) requires international co-operation to overcome technical, legal and policy barriers. The PROSPER proposal is responding to the Key Action "Sustainable Mobility and Intermodality", and specifically to research task 2.3.1/16 "Road Speed Management Methods Assessment" defined in the call. The PROSPER project is designed to fully comply with the task description, as regards objectives, indicated methodology and expected results. The PROSPER project is supported by the European Commission, Directorate General for Energy and Transport. (Author/publisher)
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