There have been many reports of motorists using the lack of traffic on the roads during the Covid19 lockdown to flout the speed limits and now with more traffic back on the roads there is a danger that some may continue to drive at excessive speeds even after things are back to ‘normal’.
Behavioural Science in transportation (understanding the behaviour and motivations of transport users such as motorists and rail commuters etc) is a fascinating subject which plays a big part in the engineering and design of roads and their ‘furniture’ in an attempt to gently persuade drivers to modify their driving behaviour to something more appropriate.
There are many such psychological tactics in place to combat speeding but could we be doing more? What other engineering solutions could be implemented to stop excessive speeding? How do different countries tackle speeding on their roads? What could we learn from them?
There is talk of speed-restriction devices being fitted to new cars in the next few years. And there is the predictable opposition and excuse. "It is often safer to accelerate out of a dangerous situation, even if this means going over the speed limit." But this does not really excuse those that exceed the speed limit for prolonged periods, does it! And big trucks have had speed limiters for years. There does not seem to be a problem with them being unable to accelerate out of dangerous situations
There is talk of speed-restriction devices being fitted to new cars in the next few years. And there is the predictable opposition and excuse. "It is often safer to accelerate out of a dangerous situation, even if this means going over the speed limit." But this does not really excuse those that exceed the speed limit for prolonged periods, does it! And big trucks have had speed limiters for years. There does not seem to be a problem with them being unable to accelerate out of dangerous situations
