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Everything you need to know about Intelligent Speed Adaptation Systems TUSHAR BHAGAT
Uffizio India Pvt. Ltd.
The actual cost of overspeeding It is no news that the speed of your fleet influences the probability and severity of road accidents. The relationship between speed and severity of road crashes has been long recognized. In high-income countries, speed contributes to about 30% of deaths on the road while in some middle-income countries, the speed of the fleet at the time of the crash is quite pertinent to about half of all road fatalities. This relationship has proved critical for vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists as well. Pedestrians have been shown to have a 90% chance of survival when struck by a car traveling at 30 km/h. However, the survival rates dip to 50% with a mere 15km/h increase in the car’s speed. The fatality risk (%) vs. speed of a car (km/h) is plotted as seen in the graph above. One can easily trace the dramatic increase in pedestrian fatality with the slightest increase in the car’s speed. The above data throws light on how regulating speed limits can help reduce the contingency and impact of road crashes. Road crashes don’t just impose a threat to human lives but also adversely affect productivity and travel times. The
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cost of these road crashes averages 3% of the GNP (gross national product) for a majority of mid and high-income countries. This cost is nothing compared to the 1.2 million people who die and 50 million people who get injured every year because of road accidents all around the world. For businesses, a road accident means a hike in insurance premiums, thousands of bucks in legal fees, and expensive post-accidental repairs. Needless to say, a broken down fleet and an injured driver are not the only loss— the business also loses its precious moneymaking hours.
Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) Over-speeding and its adverse effects have created a need for sustainable speedmonitoring solutions. Several nations are looking up to the automotive telematics industry for help. By the end of next year, the European legislation requires carmakers to install GPS-enabled technologies that can warn drivers if they’re going above the speed limit on any road. They are popularly known as Intelligent Speed Adaptation systems and are a part of the intelligent transport system (ITS). Quickly reaching their technological maturity, they are here to reduce the incidence and trauma of road accidents. The intelligent speed adaptation systems are hence referred to as a class of ITS in which the driver is warned of overspeeding. Recent developments have also made it possible for ISA
to interfere and restrict speeding when the driver is traveling over the limit. There are two dominant classes of intelligent adaptation systems: speed alerting and speed limiting. With the speeding alerts, the system warns the drivers when they go over the speed limit. The warning can be visual as well as auditory. Whereas the speed-limiting systems give the drivers a “haptic” warning. In it, the driver will face increased upward pressure on the accelerator pedal. Thus, making it difficult for the driver to accelerate until the speed of the fleet returns within the complaint limits. For both classes, the maximum speed at which travel can be permitted depends on the posted speed limits. For this to happen, information regarding the location and current speed of the vehicle is required. This is obtained primarily via global positioning systems or GPS technology. With its help, information regarding the road network, speed, and road infrastructure is stored in a digital database. An on-board computer continuously analyzes the location of the vehicle and compares the permissible speed limit with the current speed limit. Then, visual, auditory, or haptic warnings get issued.
Impact on Safety For a very long time, ISAs were feared and seen as speed limiters. However, the true nature of intelligent speed adaptation systems is rather intricate and nuanced. In reality, the only intention of ISA systems is to enhance on-road safety. The society of automotive engineers cites that when ISA is used along with active safety features, the chances of a collision incident go down by 30%. The primary purpose of equipping cars with intelligent speed adaptation systems is to prevent speeding. These systems make sure that all fleet drivers
