A series of field experiments has been performed in Adelaide, using an instrumented car (equipped with ARRB's FC&TTDAS fuel and travel time data acquisition system and a GPS position, speed and travel time monitoring system) to measure speed profiles, maximum attainable speeds and resulting fuel consumption on local streets. Experimental sites included a number of streets where changes were being made to the traffic control devices, and the opportunity was taken to make before and after observations on these streets, for purposes of comparison. Devices studied included speed humps, roundabouts and `mini roundabouts'. The experiments indicated significant differences in fuel consumption between the different LATM schemes on different streets. Statistically significant changes in travel time and speed were also found, although all of the tested devices showed the ability to restrict average travel speeds. The results also confirmed earlier work suggesting that compliance with reduced speed limits on local streets has the propensity to reduce vehicle fuel consumption compared to equivalent streets with physical speed control devices and the `standard' 60 km/h limit. (A)
Samenvatting