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 2015 and 2016 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 2016, this fourth follow-up was performed. The measurements were made using radar (SR 4) 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. The results show that in 2016 the space-mean-speed for all vehicles on the studied main municipality roads was 47 km/h. When broken down by speed limit, the average space-mean speed was 39 km/h for the 40 km/h speed limit, 45 km/h for the 50 km/h, 53 km/h for the 60 km/h, and 62 km/h for the 70 km/h. No significant changes in space-mean speed occurred in comparison with 2015. When broken down by time of day, travel speeds in both 2015 and 2016 were roughly about 1 km/h lower during the day (6am—8pm) than at night (8pm—6am). There were also large differences between the speed levels for the various points within each speed limit; this can be expected in urban areas, as there are many other factors in addition to the posted speed limit that will affect drivers' speed choices, such as intersection frequency road width, and the presence of street parking and pavements. With respect to speed violations, overall, 67 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 53 per cent of the traffic obeyed the speed limit; 68 per cent obeyed the speed limit on 50 km/h roads, 72 per cent on 60 km/h roads, and 78 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 to reach the goal of 80 per cent compliance by 2020. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting