SMART SPEED - RESULTS FROM THE LARGE SCALE FIELD TRIAL ON INTELLIGENT SPEED ADAPTATION IN UME, SWEDEN

The Swedish National Road Administration (SNRA) was in 1998 assigned the task to carry out a national programme on large scale field trials on Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA). The task followed from the very successful smaller trials in the cities of Ume and Eslv carried out 1996-97. The planning for the field trials was carried out in 1998, identifying the cities of Ume, Lund, Borlnge and Eslv as candidates for the trials. A budget totalling ca. 8 M US$ / 9 M was allocated for the period, with approximately 1/3 for the Ume field trial - Smart Speed. The Ume trial is using a beacon-based solution together with in-vehicle intelligence. In short, in the Smart Speed field trial the vehicles are equipped with an in-vehicle device the size of a cigarette box which gives a light (flashing red) and noise (increasing beep) if the driver exceeds the speed limit within the field trial area including 2/3 of the city area. The background to and design of the field trial and its organisation was presented at the 6th ITS World Congress in Toronto 1999. This paper describes the success of the project two years later when the system is in full operation and substantial user investigations have been carried out.