State of the Art – ITS and Effects on Road Traffic Accidents

Even if the current developments of safety-related ITS can constitute a real improvement of road safety, these developments nevertheless raise numerous questions about behavioural adaptations as responses to their implementation. The paper presents results from several reviews, one of them the EU-project HUMANIST and addresses aspects of road safety associated with ITS-applications, notably effects of ABS, ESC, eCALL, Accident Data Recorders, VMS, speed cameras, mobile telephone use and night-time vision enhancement systems. Estimates of the effects on accidents, calculated by meta-analysis, induced exposure, or in-depth accident studies, are presented. Behavioural adaptations to ITS are considered and discussed, especially in terms of risk compensation mechanisms.