Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/K58807/01
Title:	RESPONSE TO AUTOMATIC SPEED CONTROL IN URBAN AREAS
Principal Investigator:	Carsten, Professor OMJ
Other Investigators:	Dougherty, Mr M
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Institute for Transport Studies
Organisation:	University of Leeds
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 March 1995	Ends:	31 May 1996	Value (£):	97,228
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Transport Ops & Management
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
This project investigates the potential for reducing vehicle-to-vehicle collisions in urban areas through the introduction of systems that automatically set vehicle maximum speed to the prevailing speed limit. Such systems have been widely proposed but there has been no proper investigation in terms of benefits and problems. A prospective traffic safety evaluation is proposed in which driving behaviour in an equipped vehicle is studied in an interactive driving simulator. A number of different scenarios will be investigated, including a situation in which only half of the vehicles are equipped. The study methodology involves the creation of intelligent other vehicles, which can interact with the car being driven by the subjects in the simulated environment. Hypotheses to be examined include the potential for behavioural adaption in the form of smaller gaps when interacting with other vehicles, reduction in tendency to drive substantially below the limit, and shorter following distances. The situations studied will concentrate on interaction with other vehicles at crossroads and junctions. Observations will be made of such variables as speed, gap, time and brake activation and, in particular, traffic conflicts which have been shown to have a reliable relationship to injury accidents and provide an objective means for assessing the overall safety benefit of these systems.
Key Findings
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Organisation Website:	http://www.leeds.ac.uk