The Horizon 2020 project Levitate (Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles) is organising a webinar on the future impacts of automation in freight transport on 23 April 2020, 10:00-11:30 CET. This webinar gives an insight on autonomous solutions in freight, as well as their future impacts and potentials in the transport sector. It will be presented an introduction of LEVITATE and its use case on freight transport, the project ALEES from VIL (Platform for the logistics sector in Flanders) and an overview of ALICE on Autonomous Freight Transport Potentials. 
International Road Federation (IRF) – Geneva in collaboration with the European Union Road Federation (ERF) and the European Association of Tollway Operators (ASECAP) are organizing the IRF Workshop on “Unleashing road infrastructure potential for Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM)” which will take place online through GoToMeeting, on 23 April 2020, 15:00-16:30 CET. This workshop session will provide insights into the role, the vision and challenges of the road infrastructure sector in this transition period towards Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM). It will do so by hearing from key stakeholders such as road operators, road markings and road signage providers, technology providers, researchers.
Results of the EU-funded Horizon 2020 SaferAfrica project are briefly presented in the Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) of the European Commission. SaferAfrica, set up to share expertise between Europe and Africa, was founded on four pillars: Road Safety Knowledge and Data, a Road Safety Traffic Management Capacity Review, Capacity Building and Training and Sharing Good Practices. The most innovative results of the project are the African Road Safety Observatory and the African-European Dialogue Platform on Road Safety which were developed with the active contribution of NTUA.
UNECE and the Ministry of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina organised the Transport-related SDGs and Road Safety System Workshop which took place with great success in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, on 4-5 March 2020. The aim of the Workshop was to strengthen the knowledge of competent institutions in the field of road safety in Bosnia and Herzegovina and experts on transport‐related SDG and how to define framework road safety strategy and improve road safety situation. NTUA road safety presentations concerned:
A Diploma Thesis titled “Spatio-temporal analysis of traffic safety using data from smartphone sensors” was recently presented by Eleni-Konstantina Frantzola. The objective of this Diploma Thesis is the spatio-temporal analysis of traffic safety using data from smartphone sensors. It appears that traffic characteristics (traffic speed and occupancy) have the most statistically significant impact on the frequency of harsh events compared to road geometry characteristics and driver behaviour data. Finally, a strong correlation between harsh events and time variation was found, indicating an overall increase in harsh events in the nighttime. 
A Diploma Thesis titled “Driving behaviour during texting and surfing in rural roads using a driving simulator” was recently presented by Marios Sekadakis. The aim of this Diploma Thesis is to investigate the impact of texting and web surfing through smartphone on the driving behaviour and safety of young drivers on rural roads. It was found that driver distraction leads to statistically significant increase of accident probability, headway distance and lateral distance variation. On the other hand, it was observed that speed variation and headway distance variation were reduced.
A Diploma Thesis titled “Investigation of Flying Autonomous Vehicles traveller acceptance in Greece” was recently presented by George Priftis. The objective of the present Diploma Thesis is to investigate traveller acceptance of Flying Autonomous Vehicles in Greece, as well as the identification of the most significant factors affecting that decision. Results show that the of acceptance mostly depends on the cost, time, comfort, choices, habits and demographics of Greek travellers. Faster and cheaper trips together with higher technology culture lead to higher acceptance of flying autonomous vehicles.
A Diploma Thesis titled “Comparative Analysis of Traffic Accident factors per Driver Nationality in the European Union” was recently presented by Aikaterini Skliami. The aim of this Diploma Thesis is the comparative analysis of road accident factors for the various nationalities of killed driver in the European Union. The application of the models revealed that driver nationality had a statistically significant effect on the number of drivers killed in traffic accidents. The main factors differentiating traffic accidents of local and foreign drivers are driver gender and accident area type.
A Diploma Thesis titled “Driver choices towards ridesharing” was recently presented by Athanasia Boulougari. The objective of this Diploma Thesis is to investigate and analyse drivers’ preferences towards ridesharing, with focus on investigating whether passengers intend to share vehicles and identifying the main factors determining the choice of ridesharing service as a travel mode. Results indicate that especially young and female travelers were found willing more to use ridesharing services. Furthermore, it was found that when traveling for work, increased transit time and number of work related weekly trips lead to increased probability of ridesharing use.
The fifth edition of the Glossary for Transport Statistics is now published by the ITF, Eurostat and UNECE. The Glossary for Transport Statistics was published for the first time in 1994 with the purpose of assisting member countries during the collection of data on transport using the Common Questionnaire developed by the UNECE, ITF and Eurostat. It now comprises 744 definitions and represents a point of reference for all those involved in transport statistics.
The Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked this year 11th in Europe and 39th worldwide among all Civil Engineering Schools. This ranking is produced by the QS Organisation (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020) based on the following criteria: Research, Teaching, Employability, Facilities, Internationalization, Innovation, Engagement and Access. NTUA road safety activities have contributed to this ranking.
The 2020 International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury Europe Conference will take place on 9-11 September 2020 in Munich, Germany. The focus of IRCOBI is on the avoidance and reduction of the severity of traffic accidents, with special emphasis on advanced safety technologies and the biomechanics of injury.
POLIS, the European Cities Network, is organizing the 2020 Annual Polis Conference which will take place on 2-3 December 2020 in the Arnhem-Nijmegen City Region, Netherlands. The Polis Annual Conference provides an opportunity for cities and regions to showcase their transport achievement to an audience of mobility experts, practitioners and decision makers. Polis Conference also provides a unique opportunity for an organisation to connect with up to 600 committed transport innovation professionals who work in local and regional governments, and related public and private sector organisations.
The Universities’ Transport Study Group (UTSG) is organizing the 52nd Annual UTSG Conference which will take place at Loughborough University, on 6 – 8 July, 2020. One key UTSG activity is an annual conference for staff, research students and other relative newcomers to transport research of member institutions and overseas universities, which is designed to discuss research needs, research in progress, and to give research students the opportunity to present papers on their work.
NTUA supports and endorses the Stockholm Declaration, as the outcome document of the 3rd Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety 2020, focusing on global road safety efforts up to 2030 presented by the Swedish Minister for Infrastructure. The Declaration went through an extensive consultation with WHO Member States through their permanent representations in Geneva, and a transparent and inclusive public consultation open to everybody around the world.
Urbanism Next, New Urban Mobility alliance (NUMO), POLIS, TNO, Gemeente Rotterdam and Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management are organizing the first Urbanism Next Europe 2020 conference which will be held on June 25 and 26, 2020, in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Pre-conference workshops will be on June 24, 2020. The sessions at Urbanism Next Europe will feature in-depth presentations exploring how technological, societal and economic mobility trends will change land use, urban design, transport, real estate, environment, equity, health, economy and governance. The conference will gather 350 decision-makers and urban professionals from Europe and beyond. Deadline for proposals: 28 February 2020
Deadline for proposals: 28 February 2020
Stephen Perkins, the Head of Research and Policy Analysis at the International Transport Forum (ITF), highlights that safe urban mobility needs a 30km/h speed limit. He cites examples of effective policies in India, France and Colombia supporting that aligning safe speeds to the design of infrastructure and the mix of road users lies at the heart of Safe System policies. Finally, he endorses the fact that all countries can cut the number of deaths and injuries on the roads, regardless of GDP per capita.
The impressive decrease in road fatality figures in Greece for the last 3 consecutive years paused this year (2019), according to recently published ELSTAT data. Compared to 2018 figures, in 2019 there has been no improvement in fatalities. However, over the last year serious injuries have presented a significant decrease (12.5%). During the last decade, Greece presents one of the most impressive road safety improvement in the European Union, with a decrease of road fatalities of 44% and a decrease of serious injuries of 63%. The rate fatalities per million vehicles has decreased by 44% since 2010.
The World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility published recently the “Guide for Road Safety Opportunities and Challenges: Low- and Middle-income Country Profiles”. The Report aims to support decision-making with key data, social and economic assessments for all 125 Low- and Middle-Income Countries. The Road Safety Country Profiles present information on management, roads, speed, vehicles, road users, and post-crash care, along with information on the current status for each country, region and with extensive information on key risk factors, issues and opportunities.
The Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs was launched by the European Commission in September 2018, as an effort to drive forward intercontinental cooperation on an equal footing. During the first six months of 2019, the discussions held within the Transport Task Force (TTF) with the active contribution of NTUA, delivered a final Report offering recommendations and conclusions on three important areas of transport cooperation: aviation, road safety and connectivity. On Road Safety the report brings forward thirteen recommendations to reduce road accident injuries. The recommendations address five main priority areas, namely road safety management and data collection, infrastructure safety, vehicle safety, safety of road users and post-crash care.
