The Editorial for the Special Issue Vehicle Safe Motion in Mixed-Vehicle-Technology Environment authored by Stergios Mavromatis, George Yannis and Yasser Hassan has been published in the World Electric Vehicle Journal. This Special Issue aims to advance knowledge on vehicle safe motion during this critical transition period by bringing together recent research on mixed traffic flow dynamics, safety assessment, and intelligent control strategies. Collectively, the papers in this Special Issue provide scientific insights and practical tools that support safer, more efficient, and more resilient vehicle motion in increasingly complex mixed-technology traffic environments. The findings suggest that connectivity-enabled strategies, predictive control, and cooperative decision-making can mitigate safety risks while promoting smoother traffic flow and reduced energy consumption, particularly in complex settings such as work zones, tunnels, and intersections. Moreover, AI-based perception and traffic monitoring emerge as key enablers for real-time traffic management and energy-aware electric mobility. 

The International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published the Road Safety Annual Report 2025, on the development of road safety in 2024 with the active contribution of NTUA. It is based on data from 40 IRTAD member countries, with some preliminary data also for the year 2025. The main findings revealed that in 2024, there were 5275 less fatalities than 2023, also road deaths decreased by 5% in the first half of 2025 compared to 2024.  

The 2^nd Edition of the book titled ‘Highway Safety Analytics and Modeling‘ authored by Dominique Lord, Xiao Qin, Srinivas R. Geedipally, has been recently published. This book covers the key elements needed for making effective transportation engineering and policy decisions based on highway crash data analysis. This thoroughly updated second edition updates the material contained in the book based on the latest advancements in highway safety research as well as feedback from readers. It includes entirely new sections on topics such as digital twins as a source of data, model validation, extreme value models, temporal instability, joint crash frequency and severity modeling, sample size, quasi-induced exposure method, autonomous vehicle safety estimate, and more. 

Plenoria is organizing the 50th International Road Conference (CESTE 2026) which will take place in Zagreb, Croatia on 17-20 March 2026. This Event is thematically related to strategic planning, construction and maintenance of road network development, traffic safety, development and implementation of IT systems in the function of traffic management, innovations in the field of traffic signaling and equipment, new technologies in road construction and maintenance, plans of sustainable urban mobility and environmental protection, possibilities of using funds, and smart infrastructure management in cities – “Smart city”. Programme can be found here. Registration is available until 7 March 2026. 

The International Road Federation (IRF) is organizing the IRF Annual Conference 2026 which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland on 16-18 November 2026. The Conference provides a unique platform to exchange ideas, showcase expertise, and advance practical solutions shaping the future of road infrastructure and mobility worldwide. The Event will highlight roads’ central role in fostering inclusive, safe, green and efficient roads by driving the uptake of innovative policies and solutions and accelerating real world improvements. 

The European Union has recently published its Mid-Point Progress Report on the 2021-2030 road safety strategy with the active contribution of NTUA. The results summarised in this Report illustrate how much can be achieved when actors at all levels – from individuals to EU-level governing structures – contribute to the Safe System approach, within their areas of responsibility. But the slow-down in progress towards Vision Zero – against a background of increased traffic growth and new societal and technological trends – calls into question whether the current road safety ‘toolbox’ is fit for the future. While progress has been made overall, the pace of improvement is insufficient in many Member States to achieve the EU’s goal for 2030.   

The University of Tennessee is organizing the 14th International Cycling Safety Conference (ICSC2026) which will take place in Knoxville, Tennessee, on 3-5 November 2026. This year’s Conference theme is “Leveraging Recreational Cycling Enthusiasm for Safer Streets”. The annual ICSC brings together researchers, practitioners, advocates, and industry leaders worldwide to advance cycling safety through innovation, infrastructure, and policy. 

POLIS, the European Cities Network, is organizing the 2026 Annual Polis Conference which will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on 2-3 December 2026. The POLIS Annual Conference is Europe’s leading sustainable urban mobility event,  providing an opportunity for cities and regions to showcase their transport achievements, including recent safety developments, to a large audience of mobility experts, practitioners, and decision-makers from both the public and private sector. Urban Road Safety is a key conference priority. 

The University of Brescia in cooperation with the Order of Engineers of Brescia are organizing an Event titled “Shaping the Future of Mobility: Planning Sustainable Solutions across European Regions”, which will take place in Brescia, Italy on 24 February 2026. The Event showcases key insights and outcomes from the ArtMED project, focusing on strategic planning for future mobility solutions and the transition towards cleaner, safer, and more efficient transport systems. This Event aims to bring together mobility experts, public authorities, researchers, and practitioners to explore how European regions can plan and implement more sustainable, data-informed mobility systems. 

The European Commission with the active contribution of NTUA, SWOV and KFV has published at the European Road Safety Observatory, the Main Figures Facts and Figures Report which examines road fatalities on European roads. According to this Report, there has been a 12% decrease in road fatalities for the EU27 between 2019 and 2024, with far more males than females being killed in road crashes. Moreover, 48% of total road fatalities are vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists, moped riders and motorcyclists) and over a half of road fatalities occur on rural roads (53%). On urban roads, the share of killed pedestrians is highest with 34%.  

The International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD), the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE) are co-organizing the 8th IRTAD International Conference: Better Road Safety Data for Better Safety Performance which will be held in Athens, Greece, on 15-17 April 2026, with the support of FERSI and ECTRI. The objectives of the Conference are to discuss improvements in the quality of data systems and data analysis globally, by fostering knowledge transfer among participants, with particular emphasis on road safety performance. The Conference is open to all and is primarily for the attention of road safety researchers, data analysts, those involved in collecting safety data and developing databases, and all those using the results of research to advise decision makers on road safety matters. Early bird registration until 27 February 2026. Draft Programme can be found here. 

The European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC) has published a Position Paper titled “Road Transport Research in Horizon Europe Follow-up”. ERTRAC and the Associations supporting this Position Paper are convinced that dedicated funding for Road Transport Research is necessary to address the systemic road transport research needs critical to improve the efficiency, sustainability, safety and resilience of the whole European mobility system. Furthermore, it highlights the need for continued investment in vehicle technologies, infrastructure, traffic management, automation, and connectivity, as well as strong public–private cooperation, which are critical for delivering safer, cleaner, and more efficient road transport systems.  

Marios Sekadakis has successfully defended his PhD dissertation titled: “Safety Assessment and Behaviour Modelling of Take-Over Dynamics in Automated Driving: From Human Response to Network-Level Simulation”, under the supervision of NTUA Prof. George Yannis. This PhD developed an integrated framework to explain how take-over response, driving performance and safety in automated driving at SAE Levels 2 and 3 are shaped by transition context, driver state, interface design and vehicle state dynamics. By combining systematic review and meta-analysis, simulator experimentation, data-driven modelling, behavioural profiling and network-level traffic simulation, the dissertation examined the full chain from individual re-engagement behaviour to vehicle motion and mixed-traffic safety effects. This work demonstrates that safety during take-over transitions cannot be explained by take-over duration alone. It demonstrates how Human-Machine Interface (HMI) design, automation level, behavioural variability and roadway context interact to shape both vehicle-level and network-level safety, identifying where and why safety margins collapse during transitions. The findings provide a consistent evidence base for safer take-over management and more robust evaluation of future automated driving systems.    

Maria Oikonomou has successfully defended her PhD thesis titled “Multilevel crash risk assessment under autonomous vehicle integration: From partial to full autonomy through urban traffic simulation”, under the supervision of NTUA Prof. George Yannis. The thesis develops a validated, simulation-based framework for estimating crash risk during the transition from partial to full Autonomous Vehicle (AV) deployment. A systematic review establishes an evidence-based repository of AV behavioural parameters to support traffic microsimulation. The methodology integrates conflict-based Surrogate Safety Measures and a novel Time-To-Collision-based conflict-to-crash-risk conversion procedure, validated through k-means clustering against observed crash patterns. Applied to a high-fidelity simulation model of central Athens, the framework evaluates fifteen AV deployment scenarios across varying penetration levels. The multilevel assessment includes road-level modelling with XGBoost and SHAP to quantify the influence of traffic, infrastructure and automation, and conflict-level spatial analysis using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic and a binomial GAM to detect high-risk hotspots. Results reveal that crash risk initially increases in mixed-traffic conditions before decreasing as automated behaviour becomes dominant and stabilises network interactions.    

The European Commission has recently published findings from Trendline project on key road safety performance indicators (KPIs), revealing significant gaps in compliance with basic safety measures across EU Member States. This data paints a troubling picture of speeding compliance, particularly in urban environments. In many countries, compliance falls below 50% on city roads—precisely where pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable road users are most at risk. Furthermore, while driver seat-belt use shows strong compliance, often exceeding 95% on motorways, rear-seat belt use tells a different story. Moreover, although the data shows high overall compliance with alcohol limits, at approximately 98, the seemingly small 2% non-compliance rate translates to roughly five million impaired drivers on EU roads. These indicators support road safety strategies and monitoring efforts at both national and European levels as the EU works toward its 2030 road safety targets. 

The Cracow University of Technology together with EWGT are organizing the 28th Euro Working Group on Transportation Conference (EWGT 2026) which will take place in Krakow, Poland on 2-4 September 2026.  EWGT is a premier international forum for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in the field of transportation and logistics. This event will bring together researchers and practitioners to advance the application of operations research methods, mathematical and statistical models, and computational algorithms in transport analysis, planning, and operations. Researches can submit their abstracts until 1 March 2026. 

The 2025 infographic of NTUA Road Safety Observatory (www.nrso.ntua.gr) highlights one more very intensive and highly fruitful year. The nrso scientific team with high dedication, efficiency and expertise continues to grow and excel, being active in 30 innovative research projects, succeeded to publish 103 scientific papers (32 in peer reviewed journals) – our best performance ever, and travelled around the world in hundreds of meetings to further develop and promote road safety science. We persist with passion for evidence based decisions towards a new culture of calm and safe roads everywhere and for all. 

The European Association of Operators of Toll Road Infrastructures (ASECAP) is organizing the ASECAP Days 2026 which will take place in Bratislava, Slovakia on 27-29 May 2026. This Conference will focus on key challenges and developments shaping the future of toll road infrastructure and motorway operations. More than 80 high-level speakers will share knowledge experiences. Registration is open. 

The International Transport Forum (ITF) is organizing the ITF 2026 Summit which will take place in Leipzig, Germany, on 6-8 May 2026, under the broad thematic framework “Fostering Resilient and Inclusive Net-zero Transport”. The ITF Annual Summit is the world’s largest gathering of transport ministers and the premier global transport policy event. Since 2008, ministers from ITF’s 69 member countries, heads of international organisations, parliamentarians, and leaders in industry and academia have met annually during the event. 

The International Cooperation on Theories and Concepts in Traffic safety (ICTCT) in cooperation with FPZ are organizing the 38th ICTCT Conference which will take place in Zagreb, Croatia, on 22-23 October 2026. The objective of this Conference is to support the understanding and the execution of suitable approaches to move towards a transportation system without severely injured or killed road users. This year’s theme is “Road Safety in the Age of AI: Innovations, Challenges, and Opportunities,” focusing on the role of artificial intelligence in traffic safety. Researchers can submit their work until 10 April 2026.