With speeding being a serious issue for road safety throughout the UK and beyond, is it possible that technology has a role to play in getting us to obey the limits?

Intelligent Speed adaption is one such technology that can help with this and it can work in a number of ways (Satelite devices feeding information to the car, engineering within the vehicle). A large scale trial of the active accelerator pedal system was completed in Sweden between 2000-2002. 281 test drove the system for six months to a year, and feedback on the product found that there was a lower willingness to pay for the tool than other driver assist systems on the market. The product was well received by the older, female private driver and was less well received by the young, typically male company car driver. Despite this many did think that the tool had a positive impact on driver safety and performance, but as an idea it is clearly not sold to drivers. Once again, this research demonstrates how technology is a useful, but not an essential addition to driving and driving behaviour.

Source: Adell, E. and Varhelyi,A. (2007) Driver comprehension and acceptance of the active accelerator pedal after long-term use IN: Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour Volume 11, Issue 1, January 2008, Pages 37-51.