INTELLIGENT SPEED ADAPTATION: THE BEST COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEM?

The UK External Vehicle Speed Control has made a prediction of the accident savings with ISA, and estimated the costs and benefits of national implementation. The best prediction of accident reduction was that the fitting on all vehicles of a simple mandatory ISA, with which it would be impossible for vehicles to exceed the speed limit, would save 20% of injury accidents and 37% of fatal accidents. A more complex version of mandatory ISA, including a capability to respond to current network and weather conditions, would result in a reduction of 36% in injury accidents and 59% in fatal accidents. The implementation path recommended by the project would lead to compulsory usage in 2019. The cost benefit analysis carried out showed that the benefit-cost ratios for this implementation strategy were in a range from 7.9 to 15.4, i.e. the payback for the system could be up to 15 times the cost of implementing and running it. The final part of the paper covers some of the debating points that have been made for and against moving forward with ISA and identifies what further research is needed for ISA to become a reality.