A Diploma Thesis titled “Analysis of the effect of economic recession on road safety in Greece” was presented by Christos Batsos in September 2017. The objective of this Diploma Thesis is to investigate the effect of the economic recession on road fatalities and severe injuries in Greece. For this analysis, suitably processed road accident data during the period 2003-2014 have been exploited. It appears that the economic recession has led to a significant reduction in fatalities and serious injuries. The principal mechanisms bringing this decline about are the reduction of accidents with involvement of passenger cars, of young drivers and outside traffic junctions. These results indicate that apart from the decline of vehicle kilometers of travel, the change in road user behavior might have contributed to the total improvement of road safety during the economic crisis. 
VIAS Institute is the organisation that is taking over the role of Belgian Road Safety Institute (BRSI) after 30 years. The change of name is the final part of a process that was put in motion six years ago. Over the years, BRSI has built up a strong reputation in the area of road and traffic safety. BRSI have done so – based on research – by targeting the way in which they work on the changes to people’s behaviour out on the road. Improving road safety, along with mobility and safety in general: that is the aim of VIAS Institute, as a major Belgian Knowledge center. 
The 16th International Alcohol Interlock Symposium organised by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF), will take place on 19-21 August 2018, in Austin-Texas, USA. Since 2002, the Alcohol Interlock Symposium global forum has hosted leading experts to discuss ongoing research and development regarding drug and alcohol impaired driving, interlock programs, and road traffic safety. Today, programs combine technological advances with more tailored and efficient monitoring strategies to deliver high-quality services.
A Diploma Thesis titled “Modelling mobile phone use impact on driver behaviour through the exploitation of data from smartphone sensors” was presented by Anastasia Argyropoulou in July 2017. The aim of this Diploma Thesis was to examine and model the impact of mobile phone use on driver behaviour through the exploitation of data from smartphone sensors. To achieve this objective, data collected from 100 drivers who participated at a naturalistic driving experiment for four months were analysed through statistical modelling. The application of the models revealed that the factors affecting the harsh events are five, with the average driving speed being the main one, while the factors affecting the possibility of using the mobile phone while driving are six, with the average angular speed being the main one.
A paper titled “Meta-analysis of the effect of road work zones on crash occurrence” authored by Athanasios Theofilatos, Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Eleonora Papadimitriou, George Yannis, and Konstandinos Diamandouros is now published in Accident Analysis and Prevention. This paper presents formal meta-analyses of studies that have estimated the relationship between the number of crashes and work zone duration and length, in order to provide overall estimates of those effects on crash frequencies. All studies presented in this paper are crash prediction models with similar specifications. Meta-regression findings indicate that the main factors influencing the overall estimates of the beta coefficients are study year and region for work zone duration and study year and model specification for work zone length. 
The SafetyCube European Road Safety Decision Support System (DSS) will be officially launched on October 5 in Brussels. SafetyCube is a research project funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, started in 2015 with primary objective to develop an innovative road safety decision support system, with the active contribution of NTUA. The SafetyCube DSS is a unique and rich road safety resource for every decision maker, stakeholder and expert who investigates road safety risks or reviewing safety countermeasures. The SafetyCube DSS provides for the first time comprehensive links between road safety risk factors and respective countermeasures.
According to the latest ELSTAT data for 2015, most road fatalities in Greece occur at daytime and at night with good street lighting inside built-up area, or with no street lighting outside built-up area. Accident severity is increased 3 to 7 times more at night with no street lighting or no street lighting, but also at night accidents outside built-up areas.
The Road Safety Unit of DG Move of the European Commission published recently the 2016 Edition of the EU Annual Road Accidents Report and the respective Infographics with the active contribution of NTUA, KFV and ERF. The EU Annual Road Accidents Report is based on most recent disaggregate data for all EU countries from the CARE Database of the European Commission and consist of summary and cross-country comparative tables, figures and maps on key road safety topics for which data comparable across the EU counties are available.
Ten countries have a better performance than the EU average, namely Sweden, UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Finland, Austria, and Slovakia. Greece is ranked 24th in 2016. Lithuania reached 72% reduction in the last decade.
The Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre at Chalmers (SAFER) has recently launched its new website, aiming to further communicate worldwide SAFER research findings and presenting all projects, publications, news, seminars and other activities. SAFER is the open innovation arena with the contribution of Volvo, VTI, Chalmers University and other partners, where researchers and expertise work together to create safe mobility. Its traffic safety approach covers people, vehicles and the infrastructure – and together they contribute to safer road transports and smarter, more sustainable cities.
The Institute of Communication & Computer Systems and the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure & Transport are organising a workshop and demonstration of I_HeERO – “Infrastructure Harmonised eCall European Pilot” implementation in Greece, that will be held on Tuesday, 24 October 2017 at the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport facilities, in Athens, Greece. The European project I_HeERO: Deployment pilot project of EU-wide eCall is aimed at the preparation of Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) in the participant Member States (Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia) for the deployment of eCall based on 112 as reference implementations. The event is expected to attract a wide variety of participants from private and public institutions, local authorities, academic and research communities, manufacturers, road transport professionals and end users associations.
The World Road Association-PIARC recently published a report entitled: “Advanced technology for data collection and information to users and operator”. The report provides brief summaries of projects from around the world, presented in the form of use cases that are representative of innovative ways of collecting, distributing, and making use of mobile data to assist transportation officials in their winter maintenance operations and to provide information to the travelling public. The use cases or case studies were selected because it is the belief of the authors that, when deployed, any of the technologies described will have a positive impact on transportation safety, mobility, the environment, and/or more efficient use of human and material resources needed to carry out their winter maintenance duties.
The World Road Association (PIARC)’s Technical Committee D.5 “Road Tunnel Operations”, the French PIARC Committee and the French Center for Tunnel Studies (CETU) are pleased to announce the First International Conference on Road Tunnel Operations and Safety, which will be held in Lyon, France on 3-5 October 2018. It will be of great relevance for owners, operators, designers, representatives of fire departments, suppliers, installers. PIARC’s Technical Committee on Road Tunnel Operations is recognised as a reference technical body. It brings together almost 140 people worldwide and is very active on the subject of the operation and safety of road tunnels. In recent years, it has published 8 technical reports and developed an on-line reference manual.
The Final SafetyCube Conference will be held on 22-23 March 2018, in Vienna. SafetyCube is a research project funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, in the domain of Road Safety. The project started on May 1st, 2015 and will run for a period of three years with primary objective to develop an innovative road safety Decision Support System (DSS) that will enable policy-makers and stakeholders to select and implement the most appropriate strategies, measures and cost-effective approaches to reduce casualties of all road user types and all severities in Europe and worldwide.
The Newsletter of the African-European Dialogue Platform on Road Safety (SaferAfrica) has been recently issued with the active contribution of NTUA. This Newsletter is the official, semi-annual newsletter of the SaferAfrica Project funded within Horizon 2020 programme of the European Commission, aiming to create favourable conditions and opportunities for the effective implementation of actions for road safety and traffic management in African countries by setting up a Dialogue Platform between Africa and Europe. The first issue includes a) New Network of Regional Road Safety Observatories by World Bank, OECD and FIA, b) Towards the Pan-African Road Safety Knowledge and Data Centre, c) Data-driven road safety under construction in Cameroon.
http://www.saferafrica.eu/media/1699/01_newsletter-saferafrica_july-2017.pdf
The renown international scientific journal Advances in Transportation Studies (ATS) has launched its new website. The new ATS website has been redesigned for a user friendly and appealing web navigation offering to the Scientific Community a quick access to all scientific results published.
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.
