The United States Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Transport Canada in cooperation with participating ESV member countries are organizing the 28th International Technical Conference on The Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV) which will take place in Toronto, Canada, on 12-15 May 2026. The conference will be held under the theme “Advancing Innovation: Technologies for Safer Vehicles”. Researchers can submit their contributions until 19 December 2025. 
The Transport and Mobility Laboratory of EPFL is offering an advance course on Discrete Choice Analysis: Predicting Individual Behavior and Market Demand, which will take place in Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, on 25-29 January 2026. This one-week Program will be delivered by Prof. Moshe Ben-Akiva and Prof. Michel Bierlaire, undertaking an in-depth study of discrete choice models and their applications. This Course is designed for professionals (from industry and public authorities) and academic researchers (professors, researchers, PhD students), interested in understanding and predicting consumer choices, demand and market share, such as marketing analysts, managers, planners, economists, engineers, operations researchers. Registration is open until 23 January 2026.
The International Road Traffic Safety Analysis and Data (IRTAD) Group and the International Transport Forum (ITF) organized with great success the 40th Meeting which took place in Paris, France, on 1-2 October 2025. In this meeting, the latest international road safety developments were discussed. Members and observers from many countries enriched the discussion aimed to improve road safety across the globe. Particular emphasis was given to road safety data collection and analysis. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:
NTUA organized with great success the “Researcher’s Night” science fair, which took place in Athens, Greece on 26 September 2025. The IVORY project was showcased in this Event, presenting its overall research goals and activities to young students from primary and secondary schools, as well as fellow NTUA and Athens university researchers and faculty. In parallel, the NTUA IVORY DCs had the opportunity to engage with visitors and present their individual doctoral research progress, with several contributions :
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- Julia Porto – Proactive risk mapping and infrastructure safety management
- Aristotelis Tsoutsanis – Data fusion of traffic, behaviour & infrastructure for holistic driver assistance
- Simone Paradiso – AI for road safety monitoring and crash prediction from micro- to macro levels
- Aristotelis Styanidis – Road safety prediction on the basis of ethically sound physiological measurements
The European Association for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (EuroSafe) in cooperation with the Hellenic Mediterranean University (HMU) and LaHeRS organized with great success the EU-Safety 2025 Conference which took place in Heraklion, Greece on 1-2 October 2025. This conference aimed to strengthen the field of injury prevention and safety promotion in Europe by facilitating the exchange of scientific knowledge and enabling networking opportunities for researchers, safety organisations and academics. NTUA actively contributed with the following papers and presentations:
NTUA actively contributed with the following papers and presentations:
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Leveraging Smartphone Telematics for Urban Traffic Safety: A Data-Driven Analysis of Unsafe Driving Events and Crash Risk- Machine Learning-Based Categorization of Central Roads in Athens Using Crash Risk Analysis
- Current State of Road Safety in Greece: Existing Deficiencies and Urgently Needed Interventions
SAFER Vehicle in cooperation with Chalmers University of Technology, Université Gustave Eiffel and University of New South Wales Sydney are organizing the 10th International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention (DDI2026), which will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden on 20-22 October 2026. This Conference is the primary international event on this topic, attracting delegates from more than 20 countries. It is designed to bring participants – from academia, industry and government – up-to-date on the developments and trends in the field of inattention and distraction in driving. Researchers can submit their abstracts until 1 March 2026.
The WHO Mortality Database was updated in February 2025, incorporating the latest mortality and population data reported by Member States. It is a comprehensive compilation of mortality data reported annually through civil registration and vital statistics systems. The database is the leading global source for comparative epidemiological studies of mortality by cause and provides access to cause-of-death data from 1950 to the present. It is accompanied by a visualization portal that enhances accessibility, impact and relevance by allowing users to explore and export data in multiple formats. The mortality data are organized according to revisions of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), with detailed data available from ICD-7, ICD-8, ICD-9, and ICD-10. For the purposes of road safety research, the database provides information on the number of deaths due to road traffic crashes, the road fatality rate per 100,000 population, and the percentage of road traffic crash deaths out of total deaths, enabling robust monitoring and analysis of this major public health issue.
NTUA organized with great success a Workshop on presenting the results of the NTUA Basic Research Programme , which took place in Athens on 30 September 2025. This Event aimed to strengthen and promote new research and make better use of existing research potential in areas of basic research at NTUA. The NTUA Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering contributed actively with the following presentation:
The European Association of Operators of Toll Road Infrastructures (ASECAP) in cooperation with AISCAT are organizing the 4th ASECAP Sustainability Forum which will be held in Rome, Italy on 15 December 2025. This year’s discussions will address key issues, including: sustainability reporting and climate risk management, building resilient and carbon-free road infrastructure and innovation and circular economy in the toll road sector. Participation is free upon registration. Programme can be found here.
NTUA Professor George Yannis has given an invited lecture at the on “Artificial Intelligence in Road Safety and Mobility” on September 12th 2025. The Lecture focused on recent advancements and practical applications of artificial intelligence in enhancing road safety and mobility and also explored how AI-driven solutions can be tailored to meet diverse and evolving transportation needs.
The 2025 International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury (IRCOBI) Europe Conference was held with great success in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 10-12 September 2025. The IRCOBI Conference focused on the avoidance and reduction of injuries related to road-traffic collisions, with particular emphasis on advanced safety technologies. The safety aspects of automated driving and the influence of vehicle and equipment design on injury outcomes were also discussed. NTUA actively contributed with the following papers:
NTUA actively contributed with the following papers:
The NTUA Road Safety Observatory (www.nrso.ntua.gr) achieved its 20 years of continuous efforts towards scientific evidence in decision making for safer roads everywhere and for all. The nrso scientific team with high dedication, efficiency and expertise continues to grow and excel, with a rich and high quality scientific output of more than 1,000 road safety scientific Papers published (280+ in peer reviewed journals), hundreds of scientific Reports, 750+ presentations in scientific conferences, almost 200 Diploma Theses and 20 PhD dissertations. Over the past two decades, the NRSO portal has steadily expanded its contents, reach, visibility and impact, containing today more than 2.500 road safety items (25+ items per month), attracting over 100,000 pageviews annually, through its wide network of hundreds of Authorities, Research, Industry and Society partners worldwide and the 157 newsletters so far, reaching monthly more than 7.500 road safety experts worldwide. With great thanks to the NRSO dedicated scientists and all our great partners, the exciting journey towards scientific excellence continues …
The International Road Federation (IRF) released the 62nd edition of the IRF World Road Statistics 2025 (WRS2025), with data open to all for free through the IRF WRS Data Warehouse platform, thanks to the generous support of the TotalEnergies Foundation and Michelin Corporate Foundation. The IRF WRS 2025 continues to be the major comprehensive, universal source of statistical data on road networks, traffic and inland transport, including traffic crashes. This year the WRS 2025 includes the latest data covering years 2018 to 2023, with the active contribution of NTUA for the Greek data. It includes over 200 road and transport-sector related indicators across 11 sections, covering more than 200 countries and territories.
A paper titled Advancing traffic microsimulation: a systematic review of parameter selection for connected and autonomous vehicles authored by Maria G. Oikonomou, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and George Yannis has been published in Journal of Simulation. This paper presents a systematic review of 54 studies to consolidate key parameters for modelling Autonomous Vehicles and Connected and Autonomous Vehicles in traffic microscopic simulations. The integration of CAV is anticipated to transform transportation by enhancing traffic flow, safety and system efficiency. By comparing them to those used for human-driven vehicles, valuable insights are provided, including statistical summaries and boxplots, to inform the enhancement of simulation models. The findings provide a resource for researchers, supporting direct integration and refinement of AV/CAV parameters to improve the accuracy and reliability of future traffic simulations. 
The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) in cooperation with the University of Leeds organized with great success the 20th International Conference Road Safety on Five Continents (RS5C) , which took place in Leeds, United Kingdom, on 3-5 September 2025. The Conference aimed to be a leading source of research results and interaction in the transport area with focus on safety and health associated with road transport. NTUA actively contributed with the following papers, posters and presentations:
NTUA actively contributed with the following papers, posters and presentations:
- Implementation of an integrated model for understanding the impact of task complexity and coping capacity on crash risk
- Conceptualizing a Safety Tolerance Zone: A Machine Learning Framework for Vehicle-Driver-Environment Interaction
- Comparative Analysis of Machine Learning Models for Predicting Risky Driving
- Predicting Pedestrian Violations in Urban Intersections: A Comparison of Random Forest and XGBoost Models
- Hierarchical Clustering on Graph Embeddings: A Scalable Approach to Risky Intersections
- Road Users’ Safety Attitudes Towards Speeding Across 39 Countries
- Advanced Analytics for Traffic Safety: Key Metrics, Predictive Insights, and High-Risk Junction Identification
- Data-Driven Urban Road Safety Classification Integrating Telematics, Machine Learning, and Spatial Analysis
- Enhancing Urban Road Safety Resilience: A Data-Driven Approach Using Telematics, Machine Learning, and Geospatial Analysis
- Long-Term Effects of Driver Feedback on Harsh Braking Behavior: Insights from Survival Models
- Factors Influencing Bus Lane Violations in Athens
ERTICO is organizing the 17th ITS European Congress which will be held, in Istanbul on 27-29 April 2026 under the theme “Bridging Innovation: Integrated, safe and seamless mobility”. Over the years, the European Congresses have offered a platform for thought leaders, developers, entrepreneurs and decision makers from the transport, logistics and IT industries to share ideas and progress smart and sustainable mobility. Researchers can submit their contributions until 24 November 2025. 
The Horizon Europe research project IMPROVA has recently released its 2nd Newsletter, focusing on enhancing road safety by addressing the complexities of long-term consequences (LTC) caused by road traffic crashes. This version of the newsletter celebrates the first year of the project highlighting it’s accomplishments. In its first year, IMPROVA has made significant strides in understanding and assessing the long-term consequences (LTC) of road traffic accidents. These actions align with our core research questions and lay the foundation for innovative tools, methodologies, and policy recommendations.
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) is organizing the 105th Annual Meeting, which will be held in Washington DC, on 11-15 January 2026. The meeting program is expected to cover all transportation modes, addressing topics of interest to policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions. More than 650 workshops and sessions are expected to take place, with over 4000 presentations.
A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “The impact of physical fitness on road safety and driver behaviour on rural roads” was recently presented by Marina Karachalia. For this reason an experimental procedure involving 46 participants aged 19–27 was conducted. The participants were evaluated in terms of their cardiorespiratory fitness through the Maximal Oxygen Uptake index (VO₂max), while also completing a related questionnaire. VO₂max was calculated based on heart rate (BPM – Beats Per Minute) after recovery from a short physical activity and then were categorized into two fitness groups: high fitness and low fitness, based on established VO₂max classification thresholds. The data was analyzed using linear and logistic regression models. Results suggest that high-fitness drivers have longer reaction times, greater variability in headway distance, higher average speeds, and, conversely, a lower probability of road accident involvement. Overall, higher physical fitness appears to be associated with more stable and controlled driving behavior, which, despite the increased reaction time, may contribute to reduced accident risk through improved decision-making.
A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Investigation of Illegal Pedestrian Crossings in the Center of Athens” was recently presented by Marianthi Alverti. For this purpose a Stated Preference (SP) survey was structured in order to examine decision-making scenarios based on varying conditions of travel time, perceived crash risk, and personal comfort, with a dataset of of 212 responses. The analysis utilized binary logistic regression to examine the likelihood of illegal crossing, and generalized linear model to investigate the trade-offs pedestrians make between safety, time, and convenience given three different scenarios of camera use, traffic light with timer, and the baseline scenario to choose from. The models highlight the influence of time pressure, traffic conditions, and social components on individual decisions. The findings aim to showcase the importance of pedestrian decisions to prevent the likelihood of a road crash and, in this way, support more behavior-aware policy design, ultimately contributing to safer urban mobility systems.
