Intelligent speed adaptation in Finland

The present state of Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) was examined in this study. A Delphi study to forecast future scenarios and a field trial with a recording ISA for assessing possible traffic safety effects and user acceptance were implemented as well. Results of the studies conducted in different countries illustrate the remarkable traffic safety benefits of ISA systems. Also the user acceptance in trials has been high. The result of the Delphi study is in line with these findings. The experts on the Delphi panel suggested that the safety effect of mobile speed enforcement is almost as significant as compulsory ISA. Because of the significant traffic safety effects and the most profitable benefit-cost ratio, the dynamic mandatory ISA is recommended to be set as a long-term objective in Finland too. The objective could be reached through certain milestones. In the intermediate phase the Recording ISA and the Warning ISA could perform complementarily to each other on a voluntary basis. The Recording ISA could be focused on companies and communities as a quality control system, while the Warning ISA is well suited for private cars. Mobile speed enforcement complements this intermediate phase, focusing on those who are not willing to adopt voluntary systems. Proceeding through several stages and on a voluntary basis enables the international progress of ISA systems to be adopted in Finland. An important milestone could be if the car industry accepted the idea of ISA into Intelligent Vehicle plans. As standard equipment of new cars the ISA would be affordable and other telematic services could be integrated into the system. As standard equipment the ISA should be implemented in a way that allows various Member States to choose the configuration of the ISA. This report is available at http://www.vtt.fi/rte/projects/fits/ or http://www.mintc.fi