A REVIEW OF SPEED CONTROL IN RELATION TO ROAD SAFETY

The aim of this Australian review is to establish the reduction in road accidents, injuries and fatalities which might be expected in Australia from the implementation of various speed control measures. An analysis of Australian and overseas research and practice was conducted. Various measures of speed control were analyzed and considerations were made of benefit-cost. The results indicate that: All elements of the road transport system should be mutually compatible; there are intimate relationships between the rate of accident involvement and the speed deviation of accident-involved vehicles from the mean speed of the traffic stream and between accident severity and the travel speed of accident-involved vehicles; speed controls are to reduce the variance of the distribution of speeds in a traffic stream; minimum speed limits and speed zoning reduce accidents and fatalities as do advisory speed signs on approaches to hazards; and traffic control systems employing variable advisory speed signs, transverse rumble strips, pavement restrictive devices, co-ordinated traffic signal systems on high volume roads, night speed limits and separation of traffic streams moving at different speeds are all effective means of reducing accidents. It was concluded that the problem of pseed control in road safety is essentially a problem of speed distribution control and though effective change measures are available, further research and more detailed reporting are required before benefits can be adequately defined. /MW/