Excessive speed is a factor in the causation and severity of many road accidents. Speed limits are intended to keep traffic speeds below the maximum that is appropriate for a given environment, ensuring the safety of motorists and other road users. Properly chosen, these speed limits should facilitate efficient traffic flow and promote safe driving conditions.
Greater adherence to speed limits would avert many accidents and mitigate the effects of those that occur and Euro NCAP rewards systems that help drivers to control their speed. Currently, Euro NCAP rewards only systems which are voluntarily set by the driver. In the future, systems may become available which automatically detect the speed limit at any point in the road network and limit a car’s maximum speed appropriately.
Euro NCAP currently rewards two types of system: those which can be set by the driver and which actively prevent the car from exceeding that maximum; and those which simply warn the driver when the car’s speed is above the set maximum. The functionality of the system is considered to make sure that the system can be set and unset easily and without undue distraction to the driver; the clarity of the signals given to the driver are assessed to make sure that there is no confusion about the current set maximum and to ensure that a suitable warning is given if the system is unable to limit the speed to that maximum. For active systems, a check is made to ensure the system is able to limit the speed of a car to the maximum set by the driver. At each of three speeds, the accuracy with which the set maximum can be maintained is determined.
A maximum of one point is available to active systems which meet Euro NCAP’s requirements. Warning-only systems can get a maximum of 0.5 points.