‘Not only in my personal life but also in my work for Edeva, we want to contribute to both road safety and environment at the same time. By the use of smart speed bumps. Speed bumps can cause congestion, hindering traffic. So, we invented an active speed bump that only acts if a driver is speeding. It rewards those who drive at, or below, the speed limit with a level road whereas it reminds those who speed of the speed limit by creating a dent in the road. This results in a continuous flow traffic at a safe speed. This is both better for the environment and better for the accessibility of buses. A comfortable and fast bus ride encourages people to transition from car to bus. The safe speed also encourages active mobility.’

If the static speed bumps would be replaced by dynamic ones, it could even shorten the bus ride. An increase in average speed of 1 km/h for one bus route increases the number of trips by 4 %, according to one study made in Sweden by the bus company Nobina. If we can help increase average speed of buses while still creating a safe traffic situation for vulnerable road users crossing the road, then we’ve done our part.

To monitor and control the Actibump remotely we have developed a software platform, EdevaLive. This has helped us to create a robust system that needs minimal maintenance. The platform collects, stores and visualizes data from each Actibump. This showed us that the 85-th percentile speed decreases to the speed limit ±3-4 km/h, regardless of previous speed. On every single Actibump. During the pandemic, we have also been able to see how traffic has decreased on all Actibumps in Sweden.

‘The numbers also clearly show that the speed distribution is not disturbed by the Actibump. For a continuous traffic flow, it is important that as many vehicles as possible drive at the same speed. For optimal traffic safety they should also drive on the correct side of the speed limit. The data collected from the Actibumps show that this is the case: