Motorists welcome speed warning devices as way to reduce road injuries

September 27th, 2002

A majority of people say they would welcome speed warning devices on the car dashboard as a way to improve road safety, the FIA Foundation revealed today (27)

As a major conference in London considers the potential of new intelligent transport technologies for road safety, the message from UK motorists is clear: At least seventy per cent of people would support an audible in-car warning or a dashboard display that alerts them to the legal speed limit on residential roads and on trunk roads in built-up areas.

Questioned in a survey by MORI* for the FIA Foundation only 7% of respondents were strongly opposed to the idea of in-car ‘Speed Alert’ warnings.

Field tests of voluntary speed adaptation – where motorists are notified of the speed limit as they drive but are not forced to change speed – are currently being conducted in Sweden and the Netherlands.

Using Global Satellite Positioning technology, all cars could eventually be equipped with constantly updating in-car ‘maps’ that warn the driver of the speed limit on any given stretch of road in real-time.

Politicians in the UK and Europe are now trying to decide how far to promote speed adaptation. At the FIA Foundation ‘e-mobility’ conference in London today, Transport Minister John Spellar MP and European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen will discuss the merits of intelligent transport systems with technical and road safety experts.

The FIA Foundation ‘e-mobility’ survey, conducted by MORI to coincide with the conference, also found that:

- Almost 3 out of 5 (58%) of respondents would support having compulsory in-car speed limiters in 30mph residential streets in the future if road humps were removed as a result;

- Nearly half of respondents (48%) say they would support being taxed for the precise number of miles they drive if the average bill worked out about the same as current road user charges;

- Thirty-one per cent of respondents say they would support electronic road pricing even if the average cost was more than current road user charges – as long as traffic congestion was reduced as a result.

Commenting on the results of the survey, FIA Foundation Director General David Ward said:

“Inappropriate speed is a factor in the majority of road crashes. Our survey strongly suggests that the public are open to change and would accept voluntary speed alert systems that constantly warned them of the applicable speed limit. Active safety systems in cars - such as Speed Alert - have the potential in the future to greatly reduce road traffic injuries.

Public authorities need to seize the agenda by supporting further development of intelligent transport technologies that meet the public’s appetite for safer vehicles”.