Advanced Driving Hub

So I expect many people here know that from 2022 all new cars & vans will have ISA fitted.

You might be interested in the following research done by Leeds Uni:

https://etsc.eu/new-study-offers-insights-into-most-effective-isa-systems/

You can download the report here:
https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/download/downloads/id/5102/isa_interface_study_accessible.pdf

The research indicates the 'best' system is 'speed control alone' - perhaps not surprisingly (see the report for definitions of the systems).

It also mentions 'switching the systems off' - I didn't know this was an option - if it's true then that's quite reassuring.

Rather than how feedback or control is achieved, I'm more interested in how this magical system knows what the correct speed is.

My bike Satnav (always kept up to date) and the one in my car (still on the original maps from 2016 due to obscene costs) regularly display the wrong speed for the road I am on.

If the ISA is going to use GPS than it needs a database that needs maintaining. Another chance for the dealers to fleece us due to legislation? (They are doing well from compulsory TPS and non-replaceable batteries!)

However it works we can look forward to even more 'lorry drivers' ... just driving with the foot in the carpet letting the limiter do the control.

Or am I being to cynical / glass half empty?

...but it still doesn’t resolve the issue that speeds below the posted speed limit can still be ‘inappropriate’.

From the Leeds Uni site, a linked German report states that 32% of road fatalities are caused by at least one driver ‘...driving at an inappropriate speed’ Are they suggesting that ‘inappropriate speed’ is only exceeding the posted speed limit?

This is also at odds with Reg Local’s recent video on speed where he stated that, for the UK, speed was cited in a very small percentage of Road Traffic Incidents.

More tech to go wrong and get in the way... I don’t trust my auto wipers and auto headlights - they don’t always come on/go off when they should. Why should ISA be any better.

And don’t get me started on autonomous driving..!

TR4ffic wrote:...but it still doesn’t resolve the issue that speeds below the posted speed limit can still be ‘inappropriate’.

And this is the big flaw in all the speed campaigns. It tells people the posted limit is a safe speed. Will these ISAs also recognise hazard signs with Max speed advisories. The difference between dry roads on a sunny day and snow covered winter roads. Some have seen have sign recognition software will it see these when covered in snow of covered by trees etc.

As we become more dependant on the tech as a panacea to solving bad driving I see the KSIs increasing not decreasing

Isn't the real answer getting people to drive with more skill and to keep their speed below that of their ability?
If you can switch it off there's not really any point in it. The good news is it's not going to be compulsory on bikes.

I had something similar to this in a Jaguar XE last year, it was extremely distracting and annoying to the extent that I switched it all off it definitely made my driving worse, I also found that only the part which read speed signs and displayed it prominently was distracting enough in itself and made me much less likely to read the signs as part of my driving.

GTR1400MAN wrote:Rather than how feedback or control is achieved, I'm more interested in how this magical system knows what the correct speed is.

I first encountered sign recognition a few years ago in a hire car (also a Jag XE) and found it easily fooled by limit changes on side roads and countdown signs.

I now have a Focus with it, and it too is fooled by signs in side roads, and on one occasion decided the national limit was 20mph for the A12/A14 from north Colchester to the Orwell Bridge (which is 50 or 60 - so long since I've been that way I can't remember) and again A14/A12 to Martlesham. Fortunately, there was no hindrance, just my actual speed shown in red on the HUD, which it's programmed to do if I'm more than 5mph over what the car thinks is the limit

angus wrote:I first encountered sign recognition a few years ago in a hire car (also a Jag XE) and found it easily fooled by limit changes on side roads and countdown signs.

This one at Bressingham would fool it!


It fooled this motorcyclist! the resultant braking also woke the colleagues following!

There's no intelligence involved at all. It's as misleading as Teslas "autopilot" moniker. I'm slightly surprised some of the advertising standards bodies haven't banned the term.

It's not merely the reliability of the tech, but also the loss of freedom. And isn't freedom one of the primary reasons that we ride?

Also, while we all need sensible speed limits, haven't we reached the point of diminishing returns to speed management? Reducing causalities on the road is a complex problem, and ISA appears an over-simplistic approach.