In this report the possible road safety effects are studied of the four spearheads for action in The Netherlands Transport Research Centre (AVV) `Working on Electronics for Road Safety' (WAVE) project. These spearheads have been formulated as: (1) in-car traffic information; (2) the black box; (3) the electronic registration; and (4) the electronic alarm button. In addition, the possible effects of longer term behavioural adaptation were examined, as well as the indirect effects of changes in mobility and the influence on accident procedures. The main conclusion is that many of the separate `variants' and `generations' of the WAVE spearheads have a positive influence on road safety, but that in most cases, the effect will not be all that significant. In most cases the effect will be strongly dependent upon the extent to which the spearhead applications are used (degree of penetration), and the applicability to roads outside the main road network (where the largest measure of unsafe behaviour is concentrated). The results can be summarised in the following priority recommendations: (a) Black box for all motor vehicles; (b) Simple RDS-TMC (Radio Data System-Traffic Message Channel); (c) Manually operated alarm button; (d) Developing ISA (Intelligent Speed Adaptor) in combination with RDS-TMC or more advanced information infrastructure; and (e) other applications. (A)
Abstract