TABLE OF CONTENTS As noted in Chapter 1, the early portion of Intelligent Vehicle Technology and Trends is intended to provide a big picture view before going deeply into the functional areas. Therefore, this chapter provides an overview of safety goals and long-term visions for the road transportation network in which IVs are expected to play a pivotal role. This information serves to frame the problem space and provide a sense as to how the solution space may evolve.
With over one million people killed worldwide in traffic accidents each year, road safety is an ever-present concern on the part of governments and international organizations. Curiously, though, the level of concern (and funding) has historically been modest at best. I offer two reasons for this conundrum. First, although it is politically correct to emphasize road safety, in practical terms it tends to get overshadowed by more politically volatile issues. Second, the public seems to accept, at least to some degree, that road fatalities are a necessary price to pay for a highly mobile society. In fact, as a review of the newspapers will attest, public outcry focuses more on traffic congestion than road safety, particularly at the local level.
Nevertheless, even modest attention at a national level translates into major programs. In the last two decades in particular, substantial road safety and traffic programs have made for better road design and vastly improved crashworthiness and occupant protection in automobiles.
Even more promising is the recent trend to bring a fresh emphasis...
