Speed Limitation Devices
12.78
2013
Speed limiters for road vehicles contribute to road safety and emission reduction, with EU legislation in force for heavy trucks and buses since 1995. TML supported the review of the directive and analysed options such as reducing speed limits and introducing Intelligent Speed Assistance.
Limiting the speed of road vehicles by installing speed limiters is an important measure to improve road safety and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pollutants, and traffic noise. EU legislation on speed limiters has been in place since 1/1/1995 for all heavy trucks and buses over 10 tonnes (M3 and N3 vehicles) and since 1/1/2006 for smaller trucks and buses (M2 and N2 vehicles between 3.5 - 10 tonnes).
The overall objective of this study was to assist the European Commission in evaluating the current Directive 92/6/EEC on speed limitation devices. We also explored and assessed options to amend the directive.
The more specific objectives were as follows:
The survey in the ex-post evaluation found that there were no particular problems in implementing the directive, except for some technical and administrative costs. Due to data limitations, it was not possible to estimate the impact of the directive on actual speeds driven based on historical statistical data. The impact on safety was therefore estimated using more theoretical speed distributions with and without speed limiters. The introduction of speed limiters would reduce the number of fatal accidents involving heavy goods vehicles on motorways by 9%; there would be a 4% reduction for serious accidents and a 3% reduction for all injury accidents. The effects on emissions were estimated by comparing speed profiles. This showed that for the EU as a whole, the introduction would lead to a 1% reduction in CO₂, PM, and NOx emissions from heavy goods vehicles.
In the ex-ante analyses, four scenarios for heavy trucks and four scenarios for light commercial vehicles (N1 category) were run through. Due to missing data, M1 vehicles were not included in the scenarios. The analysis shows that the Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) scenarios have the greatest impact on road safety, both for heavy trucks and light commercial vehicles, and especially if the ISA system is not only informative, but also provides active feedback. For both heavy trucks and light commercial vehicles, ISA scenarios show a 25% reduction in fatal accidents, 18 - 19% for serious injury accidents and 11% for all damage accidents. Reducing the speed to 80 or 90 km/h (for heavy trucks and buses respectively) leads to a 5% decrease in accidents involving heavy commercial vehicles. A similar decrease was found in the scenario where the speed of light commercial vehicles was limited to 100 km/h. Emission effects are different from safety effects: speed limiters can have a large impact on emissions (especially on motorways), while the effect of ISA is quasi-zero in most cases.
Limiting the speed of road vehicles by installing speed limiters is an important measure to improve road safety and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pollutants, and traffic noise. EU legislation on speed limiters has been in place since 1/1/1995 for all heavy trucks and buses over 10 tonnes (M3 and N3 vehicles) and since 1/1/2006 for smaller trucks and buses (M2 and N2 vehicles between 3.5 - 10 tonnes).
The overall objective of this study was to assist the European Commission in evaluating the current Directive 92/6/EEC on speed limitation devices. We also explored and assessed options to amend the directive.
The more specific objectives were as follows:
- To conduct an ex-post evaluation of the application of the Directive for heavy goods vehicles and buses, and in particular its extension to M2 and N2. What were the main impacts?
- To assess whether and how the current directive could be amended to improve its effectiveness and efficiency, in particular by exploring and assessing the following options:
- Lowering speed limits for heavy goods vehicles.
- Speed limiters for light commercial vehicles.
- Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) systems for all commercial vehicles.
The survey in the ex-post evaluation found that there were no particular problems in implementing the directive, except for some technical and administrative costs. Due to data limitations, it was not possible to estimate the impact of the directive on actual speeds driven based on historical statistical data. The impact on safety was therefore estimated using more theoretical speed distributions with and without speed limiters. The introduction of speed limiters would reduce the number of fatal accidents involving heavy goods vehicles on motorways by 9%; there would be a 4% reduction for serious accidents and a 3% reduction for all injury accidents. The effects on emissions were estimated by comparing speed profiles. This showed that for the EU as a whole, the introduction would lead to a 1% reduction in CO₂, PM, and NOx emissions from heavy goods vehicles.
In the ex-ante analyses, four scenarios for heavy trucks and four scenarios for light commercial vehicles (N1 category) were run through. Due to missing data, M1 vehicles were not included in the scenarios. The analysis shows that the Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) scenarios have the greatest impact on road safety, both for heavy trucks and light commercial vehicles, and especially if the ISA system is not only informative, but also provides active feedback. For both heavy trucks and light commercial vehicles, ISA scenarios show a 25% reduction in fatal accidents, 18 - 19% for serious injury accidents and 11% for all damage accidents. Reducing the speed to 80 or 90 km/h (for heavy trucks and buses respectively) leads to a 5% decrease in accidents involving heavy commercial vehicles. A similar decrease was found in the scenario where the speed of light commercial vehicles was limited to 100 km/h. Emission effects are different from safety effects: speed limiters can have a large impact on emissions (especially on motorways), while the effect of ISA is quasi-zero in most cases.
