- 1 - Intelligent Speed Adaptation: Slow speed, Slow Implementation? J.W.G.M. van der Pas 1 , S.H.M. Vlassenroot 1,2 , G.P.W. van Wee 1 , F. Witlox 2,3 1 Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands J.vanderpas@tbm.tudelft.nl 2 Ghent University, Institute for Sustainable Mobility (IDM), Ghent, Belgium sven.vlassenroot@ugent.be 3 Ghent University, Department of Geography, Ghent, Belgium Abstract Every day people in Europe and other parts of the world are confronted with the grim reality of losing loved ones due to traffic accidents. Research shows that one out of three fatal accidents is related to an inappropriate speed. A possible measure for reducing speeding is implementing Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA), which supports or enforces a driver to maintain the appropriate speed limit. ISA has been tested around the world and these field tests show that, ISA has the potential to significantly reduce fatal accidents. However, implementing effective ISA seems far away. In this paper we try to explain which factors hamper the implementation of ISA and what needs to be achieved to speed up implementation. Finally we conclude that in order to speed up ISA implementation the government should play the role of change agent, actively promoting ISA creating opportunities for potential adopters to try and observe the use of ISA. Keywords: ISA implementation, diffusion of innovations, expert opinion. 1. Introduction Improving road safety is an important transport policy goal, both for the European Union as a supra-national government and for individual member states[1, 2]. In 2004, more than 43,500 people died on European roads. Although the number of traffic fatalities within the EU is declining, the most recent figures show that the current rate of decline is far from sufficient to meet the goals for 2010[2, 3]. The goal for 2010 is to reduce the number of fatalities by 50%, (reference year 2001) but in 2005 only a 17.5% reduction was achieved, by far not the 25% needed for the EU to be on course for meeting their own policy goal of halving road deaths by 2010 [4]. Research indicates that inappropriate speed contributes to one out of three fatal accidents [4]. To address speeding behavior, a wide range of policy options have been considered in the past, these measures are often categorized using the three E’s (Engineering (Vehicle and infrastructure), Education and Enforcement). When it comes to speeding related measures, examples of the three E’s are plenty for almost all of the three categories, however history shows that one category of measures is structurally underused: vehicle engineering (which is usually focused at making speeding more attractive instead of unattractive). The CEMT recommend, already in 1991 that the appropriate international organizations (UN/ECE, EC) should urgently examine the need to draw up regulations on maximum power-to-weight ratios to tackle speed, high fuel consumption 1 Address correspondence to: Delft University of Technology, Faculty: Technology, Policy and Management, E- mail. J.vanderpas@tbm.tudelft.nl , Address: Jaffalaan 5, 2628 BX Delft, Tel.: +31 15 2783479