Advances in Transportation Studies – an international journal launched its new website. The website has been redesigned for a user friendly and appealing web navigation. In addition to the updated design and layout of the pages, new functions have been implemented in this website version. 
The Australia and New Zealand Driverless Vehicle Initiative (ADVI), led by the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB), released the Preliminary findings from the first Australian National Survey of Public Opinion about Automated and Driverless Vehicles. In late 2016, a sub-set of members of ADVI’s Scientific Research Group designed and conducted a public opinion survey to gauge Australian public awareness, understanding and likely acceptance of automated vehicles, with the primary focus on cars. Responses from 5263 participants were collected and analysed in relation to their level of awareness of automated vehicles generally, and their opinions specifically about partly- and fully-automated cars: perceived risks associated with them, their willingness to pay for them, perceived potential benefits, trust in them, perceived concerns and likely acceptance. 
SafeFITS, the Global Road Safety Model developed by NTUA for the United Nations – Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) with the support of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) has been presented and discussed at the respective RoundTable in Geneva, on June 30th, 2017. SafeFITS Model is a global macroscopic road safety decision making tool aiming to assist governments and decision makers, both in developed and developing countries, to explore and choose the most appropriate road safety policies and measures in order to achieve tangible results. The SafeFITS Model is based on the related scientific knowledge available worldwide, with emphasis on recent academic research and project results.
NTUA Professor George Yannis presentation concerned:
SafeFITS – A Global Road Safety Model For Future Inland Transport Systems
The 6th International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention (DDI2018) will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, during October 15-17, 2018. DDI2018 is hosted and co-organised by the SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre at Chalmers in Sweden, the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks (IFSTTAR), and the Australian Road Research Group (ARRB). The International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention is the premiere international event on this topic, attracting around 150 delegates from more than 20 countries. It is designed to bring participants up-to-date on current and recent developments and trends in the field of inattention and distraction in driving. Topics include theory, causation, measurement, impacts on driver performance and safety, and options for countermeasure development.
The International Transport Forum (ITF) together with IRU, ITWF and ACEA launched a report titled: “Managing the Transition to Driverless Road Freight Transport”. This report considers how a transition to driverless road freight transport could happen. Today’s technology already makes it possible to operate automated trucks. Reduced reliance on humans to move road freight in the future could offer large cost savings for businesses and consumers. It could also disrupt the careers and lives of millions of professional truck drivers. Based on different scenarios for the large-scale introduction of automated road freight transport, this study makes recommendations to assist governments manage potential disruption and ensure a just transition for affected drivers.
The Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked 9th in Europe and 39th worldwide among all Transportation Science & Technology Schools and the Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked 7th worldwide (3rd European) among all Civil Engineering Schools according to ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2017 . The methodology of the ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking include specific thresholds, indicators and weights.
A paper titled “Mild Cognitive Impairment and driving: Does in-vehicle distraction affect driving performance?” authored by Ion N. Beratis, Dimosthenis Pavlou, Eleonora Papadimitriou, Dionysia Kontaxopoulou, Stella Fragkiadaki, George Yannis, and Sokratis G. Papageorgiou, is now published in Accident Analysis and Prevention. In-vehicle distraction is considered to be an important cause of road accidents. Drivers with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), because of their attenuated cognitive resources, may be vulnerable to the effects of distraction; however, previous relevant research is lacking. The main objective of the current study was to explore the effect of in-vehicle distraction on the driving performance of MCI patients, by assessing their reaction time at unexpected incidents and accident probability, through a driving simulator experiment. Overall, the current findings indicate, for the first time, that a common driving practice, such as the use of mobile phone, may have a detrimental impact on the driving performance of individuals with MCI. 
WHO Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Collaborating Centre in India, namely the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) released two reports on road safety:
1. “Advancing Road Safety in India: Implementation is the key”, which is a report providing a comprehensive review of road safety scenario in India from a public health perspective
2. “Advancing Road Safety in India: Facts and Figures”, which is a report based on available information from different sources in India provides facts and figures aimed at equipping diverse stakeholders in taking appropriate actions
According to ELSTAT final road accidents data for 2015, come off the road and at angle collisions are the two most common accident types outside built-up areas. Pedestrian accidents, at angle collisions, come off the road and collisions with stopped vehicle are the most common accident types inside built-up areas. Accident severity is more than 5 times higher outside built-up areas at pedestrian accidents.
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has just published the 33th PIN Flash Report “Tapping the potential for reducing work-related road deaths and injuries“, with the active contribution of NTUA. Over 25,600 lives were lost on the road in the European Union in 2016, of those a large proportion were victims of work-related road (WRR) collisions. Even though the exact number is unknown, it is likely that up to 40% of all road deaths are work-related. It includes three parts: Part I: Work-related road safety (WRRS) data collection and reporting, Part II: The national legal framework for work-related road safety, and Part III: Public authority leadership in managing work-related road risks.
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published the PIN Annual Report at the eleventh edition of PIN Annual Conference on 20 June 2017, in Brussels. Since 2014, progress has virtually ground to a halt. 2016 was the third consecutive poor year for road safety: 25,670 people lost their lives on EU roads compared to 26,200 the previous year – a 2% decrease. But this followed a 1% increase in 2015 and stagnation in 2014. Out of the 32 countries monitored by the PIN Programme, 15 countries registered a drop in the number of road deaths last year. NTUA contributed actively to this ETSC PIN Annual Report.
According to the Hellenic Statistical Authority ELSTAT data, among the 793 persons killed in Greece in 2015: 405 were outside built-up areas and 388 were inside built-up areas. 57% of road fatalities outside built-up area occurred on national roads. More than 80% of road accidents and half of fatalities occurred inside built-up areas. However, accident severity is almost 5 times higher outside built-up areas in total.
The 2017 PIN Conference took place with great success in Brussels on 20 June, organised by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). The EU has set a target to halve road deaths by 2020. Which countries are on track, and which are playing catch-up? At the 2017 PIN conference, ETSC launched its latest Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) annual report looking at why some countries are still making progress on road safety and some are going in reverse. Two areas were highlighted where action is needed to ensure future progress: work-related road safety and reducing deaths in single-vehicle collisions. The event also saw the unveiling of this year’s PIN Award winner, presented to Switzerland for outstanding progress on road safety.
The Private Sector Global Coalition Together for Safer Roads (TSR) composed by 16 leading global companies has organised on June 19th, 2017, in Atlanta, USA a Round Table Discussion on New Trends and Opportunities in Road Safety. This Round Table Discussion demonstrated the high potential of technology and new trends for safety improvement as well as the role of the Member Companies to promote and exploit this potential. NTUA Professor George Yannis presentation concerned:
A paper titled “Time series and support vector machines to predict Powered-Two-Wheeler accident involvement and accident type” co-authored by Athanasios Theofilatos, George Yannis, Costas Antoniou, Antonis Chaziris and Dimitris Sermpis, is now published in Journal of Transportation Safety and Security. This study exploited real-time traffic and weather data from two major urban arterials in the city of Athens, Greece. Due to the high number of candidate variables, a random forest model was applied to reveal the most important variables. Then, the potentially significant variables were used as input to a Bayesian logistic regression model in order to reveal the magnitude of their effect on PTW accident involvement. The results of the analysis suggest that PTWs are more likely to be involved in multi-vehicle accidents than in single-vehicle accidents. It was also indicated that increased traffic flow and variations in speed have a significant influence on PTW accident involvement.
The Council of the European Union set a new target of halving the number of serious injuries on roads in the EU by 2030 from the 2020 baseline, using a recently agreed common definition. Of particular concern is the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed or seriously injured each year. Council conclusions on road safety endorse the Valletta declaration on improving road safety adopted at an informal ministerial meeting organised by the presidency on 29 March 2017. They will feed into the next EU strategy on road safety, which is expected to be developed for the decade 2020-2030.
The Road Safety Institute Panos Mylonas and the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organised with great success a country seminar in Athens on 12 June 2017, within the framework of the ETSC YEARS project (Young Europeans Acting for Road Safety). The aim was to debate on the dangers and policy recommendations for young road users on European and national level. Representatives from the Greek Authorities, road safety experts and stakeholders as well as the European Commission representation in Athens discussed and contributed on good practices in Greece and in Europe. NTUA presentation concerned:
Problems and solutions for youth’s road safety in Greece and Europe
The 6th International Naturalistic Driving Research Symposium and the UDRIVE Final Event organized by SWOV, Virginia Tech and UDRIVE took place with great success in Hague, Netherlands, on 7-9 June 2017. The 6th International Naturalistic Driving Research Symposium provided with a thorough overview of international naturalistic driving and riding studies and insight into the next generation of this type of studies. In 2017, the symposium was organized in conjunction with the EC FP7 UDRIVE research project, where the results of this European Naturalistic Driving study were presented.
NTUA presentations concerned:
Naturalistic Aerial Approaches for Monitoring Powered Two Wheelers
Monitoring distraction through smartphone naturalistic driving experiment
The 7th International Symposium on Naturalistic Driving Research is organized by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VVTI) and National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence (NSTSCE) and will be held in Blacksburg, Virginia on August 28-30, 2018. The 7th International Naturalistic Driving Research Symposium will provide with an overview of international naturalistic driving and riding studies and insight into the next generation of this type of studies, in addition to the opportunity to interact with panelists to discuss naturalistic driving in their respective countries.
A coalition of industry, NGOs, consumer groups and cities are calling on the European Commission to urgently bring forward new minimum safety standards for new cars, vans and trucks, after years of delays. The European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA), the European Cyclists Federation (ECF), POLIS, the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) and Transport & Environment (T&E) released a letter suggesting that new minimum vehicle safety standards are ‘absolutely critical’ to reducing deaths and serious injuries on European roads.
