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September 06, 2005

'It makes you realise how easy it is to go fast'
By Ben Webster
DEBBIE ATACK was convinced she was a law-abiding motorist until she tried driving with intelligent speed adaptation. She found the system was constantly sending her reminders that she was trying to break the limit.

“It was a very strange feeling having the brake pedal lower beneath my foot without me applying any pressure. I didn’t take much notice of speed limit signs before but the system beeps as you change into a different limit.”

Ms Atack, 36, from Garforth, Leeds, was one of 20 volunteers who drove an ISA-equipped Skoda Fabia for six months. “It took a bit of getting used to, especially on the ring road which has a 40mph limit which everyone ignores.” She overrode the system only on motorways, where she felt that sticking to 70mph “was just too slow”, adding: “I have never got pleasure from speeding but I think the motorway limit should be 80.”

Ms Atack says she has become far more likely to observe the speed limit since the trial. She said: “It makes you realise how easy it is to speed. I would like to have kept it because you never have to worry about speed cameras and can concentrate totally on the road ahead.”

Glynn Dawson, 36, from East Leeds, also grew to like the system but found several flaws in the speed limits database. He said: “The speed map they used was a bit out of date and would have allowed me to do 50mph through one village where the limit had been reduced to 30mph.”

Times
September 06, 2005

Life is safer with a car that doesn't let you break speed limit

By Ben Webster

Motorists take a shine to system that puts on the brake

DRIVERS prevented from breaking speed limits by a device that automatically applies their brakes have a fifth fewer crashes, a government-funded study has found.

Most of the motorists who took part were keen to keep the device at the end of the trial, despite it removing much of the thrill from driving.

The Department for Transport is creating a digital speed map that will allow intelligent speed adaptation, known as ISA, to operate on all roads. ISA will also be incorporated into the European star-rating system for car safety, with only those fitted with the device qualifying for the top score of five stars.

The study, conducted in Leeds, found that motorists who had the device fitted to their cars were 19 per cent less likely to injure themselves or someone else. ISA works by combining a satellite positioning system with a computer that controls the throttle and brakes. The system checks the vehicle’s speed with the local limit and, if the driver is breaking the limit, either blocks acceleration or applies the brakes.

If the driver crosses from a 40mph area to a 30mph area without slowing, the brake pedal lowers automatically and the speed drops to the limit within a few seconds.

The driver can override the system either by using a switch on the steering wheel or by pressing down hard on the accelerator. The computer measures how frequently the driver overrides the system.

The department is funding the £1.9 million study by the University of Leeds, involving 20 Skoda Fabias, because motor manufacturers are reluctant to carry out their own trials. Results from the first of four six-month trials, each involving twenty drivers, show that average speeds declined significantly.

The study team calculated the fall in injuries by comparing their results with previous research showing the risks of speeding. A pedestrian is twice as likely to be killed if hit at 35mph than at 30mph. The overall risk of having a crash falls by 5 per cent for every 1mph reduction in speed.

The trial found that young males were more likely to override the system than women and older drivers. The volunteers included equal numbers of people who said that they usually obeyed the speed limit and those who said that they frequently broke it.

Oliver Carsten, Professor of Transport Safety at Leeds university, said: “The system didn’t eliminate speeding, but there was a very substantial reduction in excessive speed.”

He dismissed concerns that drivers would object to having a device that kept a record of their speed and movements.

“It has been described as like having Big Brother on board, but that’s unfair because drivers can switch it off.”

The trial has prompted Transport for London to order a feasibility study with a view to making ISA compulsory on buses and taxis. There are no plans to make ISA compulsory in all cars, but drivers who persistently break the limit may be ordered to fit it as a condition of keeping their licences. Commercial versions, costing about £500, are being developed

Also be interesting to see how I could have had a fifth fewer crashes - as mine have been people hitting me from behind, I suspect that with this, I'd be likely to have more.

Also be interesting to see how I could have had a fifth fewer crashes - as mine have been people hitting me from behind, I suspect that with this, I'd be likely to have more.

Times
September 06, 2005

Life is safer with a car that doesn't let you break speed limit

By Ben Webster

Motorists take a shine to system that puts on the brake

DRIVERS prevented from breaking speed limits by a device that automatically applies their brakes have a fifth fewer crashes, a government-funded study has found.

....

The study, conducted in Leeds, found that motorists who had the device fitted to their cars were 19 per cent less likely to injure themselves or someone else.

The study team calculated the fall in injuries by comparing their results with previous research showing the risks of speeding. A pedestrian is twice as likely to be killed if hit at 35mph than at 30mph. The overall risk of having a crash falls by 5 per cent for every 1mph reduction in speed.

The trial found that young males were more likely to override the system than women and older drivers.

Oliver Carsten, Professor of Transport Safety at Leeds university, said: “The system didn’t eliminate speeding, but there was a very substantial reduction in excessive speed.”

He dismissed concerns that drivers would object to having a device that kept a record of their speed and movements.

“It has been described as like having Big Brother on board, but that’s unfair because drivers can switch it off.”

What do you all think??

Chris B

Also, when people have expensive cars on loan, at least some of them are probably going to be more carfeul than usual not to damage it.

3. In a brand new car that isn't yours.

imagine driving round with your foot resting on the brake pedal

Now, lets move this onto cars, will they all be calibrated exactly the same, if they can't managed the small number of trucks in comparison to the large number of cars, how do they propose to do it. I know that the system is to be satallite controlled, but there has to be an elemant of calibration involved.

www.timesonline.co.uk/driving
DEBBIE ATACK was convinced she was a law-abiding motorist until she tried driving with intelligent speed adaptation. She found the system was constantly sending her reminders that she was trying to break the limit.

The study team calculated the fall in injuries by comparing their results with previous research showing the risks of speeding. A pedestrian is twice as likely to be killed if hit at 35mph than at 30mph. The overall risk of having a crash falls by 5 per cent for every 1mph reduction in speed.