The aim of the project is to examine the benefits and disbenefits in terms of safety, congestion and emission of a system in which vehicle speed would be controlled automatically, probably by roadside equipment communicating with a device in the vehicle which could alter the throttle and brakes. Consideration is being given to the effects of such systems on road congestion and emissions from vehicles. As indicated in the Department of Transport's recent consultation document "A Policy for Using New Telematic Technologies for Road Transport", automatic control of vehicle speed could significantly reduce the number and severity of accidents, particularly among vulnerable road users, and could also reduce emissions and improve traffic flow. However, the scale of these benefits and the potential for negative side-effects or problems have not been investigated in any depth. The project will study driver behaviour with speed limited vehicles, both in the laboratory (in the Advanced Driving Simulator) and on real roads with a specially equipped vehicle. It will study user acceptance of adaptive speed limiters and will make recommendations on how a speed control system should be designed, including both roadside and in-vehicle elements. Side effects will be examined through simulation modelling of various road networks to study the effects of various mixes of speed-controlled and non-speed controlled vehicles on travel time, fuel consumption and emissions. Finally, the project will review the benefits of alternative deployment strategies and will advise how automatic speed control could be implemented nationally, and if so, provide recommendations on the possible approaches and timetables for implementation. (A)
Samenvatting