Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA)

ISA uses global satellite positioning (GPS), a digital map to establish a car’s location and sign recognition cameras to identify what the speed limit is at any point on the road.

This information can be used to:

• Tell the driver they are exceeding  a speed limit through a warning display on the dashboard or a vibration through the pedals (Advisory ISA)
• Control the speed of the vehicle, if the driver so wishes (Discretionary ISA)
• Automatically control the speed of the vehicle (Controlling ISA)

Once controlling ISA has identified  the speed limit, it does not allow the driver to accelerate beyond it. The promise that speeding fines, penalty points and subsequent loss of licence will become things of the past is an attractive proposition. In the UK alone, millions of motorists are fined and given penalty points for speeding every year. A team from the University of Leeds and the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) has found that the system could achieve significant reductions in road crash deaths and injuries.  This was confirmed in a 2017 report by TRL for the EU that recommended ISA, and a range of other vehicle technologies,  as a positive benefit for road safety.  This led to the introduction of the GSR2 (General Safety Regualtion2) which will lead to the installation of advisory ISA in all new cars in the EU from 2022.

IAM RoadSmart recommendations

• IAM RoadSmart support the standard fitment of advisory ISA in all new cars to alert drivers to changes in speed limits
• The more complex, ‘discretionary’, version, which a driver can switch on or off, could still offered as an optional extra on new cars
• IAM RoadSmart do not support mandatory fitting of full control ISA at the current time
• ISA needs basic safeguards built in from the outset such as 100 per cent reliability of equipment and speed limit mapping, and failsafe mechanisms for when things go wrong
• More studies are needed on driver behaviour in ISA controlled cars, for example;
  1. Do drivers keep their foot firmly on the accelerator in discretionary systems, secure in the knowledge that they cannot exceed the maximum permitted speed?
  2. Do drivers rely on the ISA system and fail to drop their speed when conditions require?
  3. Do drivers place themselves at risk if they are unable to accelerate out of trouble?
• IAM RoadSmart support the adoption of GSR 2 and its list of new vehicle technologies in the UK as an urgent policy priority for the government. IAM RoadSmart members believe that a well trained driver will never need such a system but new drivers or those with a poor crash record may benefit most from it
• Most fatal crashes take place on rural roads and enhanced ISA systems which can locate bad bends, deal with bad weather and highlight local dangers would make an even greater contribution to accident reduction

Information on the UK ISA trials can be found here.