Make Roads Safe Hellas in collaboration with the National Technical University of Athens, the University of Macedonia, the University of the Aegean, the Hellenic Open University and EASST, released a report titled: “International Tourism and Road Safety in Greece, Country Report 2019”. Make Roads Safe Hellas is a Non-Profit Organisation promoting road safety in Greece which hopes to gain momentum from their study and build support for the establishment of a Safe Tourism Network to ensure that road safety for tourists and travellers is given adequate attention, not just in Greece but across the globe. The report is based on a survey of almost 1,500 international tourists visiting Athens, Chania, and Thessaloniki in 2018. 

NTUA within the framework of the Fifth UN Global Road Safety Week organized a Scientific Workshop titled “Digitalisation and Road Safety Research” which took place with great success on 17 May 2019 in Athens. This Workshop attempted to shed light into the role and the challenges of digitalisation on road safety, through an intensive flow of state-of-the-art presentations of key NTUA road safety research projects and a vivid Expert Panel discussion on new perspectives and horizons of road safety in the digital era in Europe and worldwide.   Workshop presentations concerned:

1.   The NTUA Road Safety Observatory – Nrso
2.   Driver needs and behaviour in automated traffic – Drive2theFuture
3.  Societal impacts of connected and automated vehicles – Levitate
4.   Smartphone exploitation for event spatial analysis & mapping-Sesame
5.   Data science techniques for driving behaviour evaluation – OSeven
6.   Smartphone applications for driver safety behaviour support – BeSmart
7.   Driver-vehicle-environment interactions and safety tolerance – i-Dreams
8.   The African Road Safety Observatory – SaferAfrica
9.   The road safety center of Saudi Arabia– RscKsa
10.   Measuring risk exposure in Ireland – IrlExpo
11.   Open science in road safety – BeOpen
12.   Big data for road safety – ForSafety
13.   Monitoring road safety culture – SafeCulture
14.   Monitoring road safety attitudes globally – Esra
15.   Cycling under the influence of alcohol and drugs – Velivr
16.   Safety skills of future transportation professionals – Skillful
17.   Actions to improve drivers’ safety behavior – SafeBehave
18.   Economic analysis of road infrastructure safety projects – EibCba
19.   Modelling crash modification factors globally – i-safemodels
20.   Safety implications from electromobility – e-mopoli

A paper titled “Safety assessment of control design parameters through vehicle dynamics model” authored by Stergios Mavromatis, Alexandra Laiou, and George Yannis is now published in Accident Analysis and Prevention. An existing vehicle dynamics model was utilized to define design parameters up to which steady state cornering conditions apply and consequently lift the restrictions of the point mass model. Aiming to assess critical safety concerns in terms of vehicle skidding, the motion of a passenger car was examined over a range of design speed values paired with control design elements from AASHTO 2011 Design Guidelines as well as certain values of poor pavement friction coefficients.   For full text just ask us by replying to this email.

The International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF) organised a Meeting in Paris, France, on 2 April 2019, in which the latest international road safety developments were discussed. NTUA contributed actively with the following  presentation:

•  Outcome of the ITF-CPB Workshop on “New Directions for Data Driven Transport Safety

The European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC) has published the “Safe Road Transport Roadmap – Towards Vision Zero: Roads without Victims”, with the active contribution of NTUA. The main objective of this ERTRAC roadmap is to provide a joint stakeholder view on the road safety research needs in Europe. The roadmap is based on the current state of the art and the identified challenges to reach the ambitious goals set for the EU. In this roadmap, ERTRAC proposes a set of eleven high priority road safety research and innovation needs, which should be implemented by providing ample room for citizens and road users themselves to engage.

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) is organizing the REVIVE Conference which will take place in Brussels, on 18 June 2019. This conference will bring together road safety practitioners and legislators, and those working in the fire and rescue and emergency medical systems. It will provide an opportunity to learn more about the work of the REVIVE project and to discuss good practice in the emergency response across Europe. The aim of the REVIVE project is to map Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and Rescue and Fire Service (RFS) practices in the EU28 and raise the profile of both EMS and RFS on the national and European political agendas. The REVIVE project aims at improving post-crash care provided by EMS and RFS in order to mitigate the consequences of road collisions. 

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published a Report titled “Road Safety Priorities for the EU 2020-2030: Briefing for the European Parliamentary Elections”. This ETSC Report suggests additional legislation priorities over the period 2019-2024, concerning: a) the improvement of cyclists, pedestrians and powered two wheelers safety, b) automated and connected mobility, c) the reduction of serious injuries on EU roads, d) the efficient enforcement, e) the drug driving and f) the education and training (revision of the European Driving License Directive).  

The European Commission’s Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG Move) published a Report titled: “Transport in the European Union: Current Trends and Issues“. The Report sets out the key trends and issues for the single European transport area, the development of a safe transport infrastructure network across EU countries, and the external costs of transport, accompanied with the respective country analyses. Special emphasis is given to the consequences of road accidents.  

The 4th SaferAfrica Dialogue Platform Workshop took place with great success in Brussels, Belgium, on 4th of April 2019. After the previous workshops in Marrakech, (Morocco, November 2017), Athens, (Greece, April 2018) and Abidjan, (Ivory Coast, November 2018), this workshop focused on SaferAfrica Overview and current activities, the Road Safety Observatories and Capacity Building in Africa. The SaferAfrica partners, the members of the Management Board and African Stakeholders coming from Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia have contributed actively to the discussion n the future of road safety in Africa.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  The SaferAfrica African Road Safety Observatory

The Sixth Global Meeting of Non-Governmental Organizations Advocating for Road Safety and Road Victims took place with great success in Chania, Crete, Greece, from 8–13 April 2019, attended by 270 participants including NGOs and road safety stakeholders from 76 countries around the world. Highlights included workshops, training, the poster exhibition opened by Jean Todt, the High-Level Symposium, the FedEx Road Safety Award, photo exhibition, the preparations for UN Global Road Safety Week and the Third Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Sweden 2020.  The NGOs Road Safety Declaration is available here: 

According to the EU road fatalities infographic of the NTUA Road Safety Observatory, thirteen countries have a better performance than the EU average, namely UK, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Malta, Germany, Spain, Finland, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, and France. Greece has been ranked 22nd in 2018 but has demonstrated the highest road fatalities rate reduction (51%) in the last decade, followed by Slovenia (48%), whereas the EU average 10-year reduction is 31%. 

The International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published recently a new Report: “Road Safety in European Cities – Performance Indicators and Governance Solutions”. This reports benchmarks road safety performance for 72 urban areas, mostly in Europe, and illustrates governance solutions to improve urban road safety with case studies conducted in Lisbon (Portugal) and Riga (Latvia). The report proposes new road safety indicators to assess the level of risk for each mode of transport. It finds that a modal shift away from private motor vehicles could significantly enhance road safety in dense urban areas and deliver public health benefits associated with increased physical activity and improved air quality.  

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) is organising the 13th Annual Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) Conference which will take place on 19 June 2019 in Brussels. During this Conference the latest road safety figures will be presented and actions needed to accelerate road safety progress will be identified. A high level representative on behalf of their country will receive the PIN award for achievements in road safety. The PIN conference will be attended by national road safety experts, high level officials and decision makers from across Europe and will provide an opportunity to discuss ways in which road safety in the EU can be further improved. 

The ESRA consortium will host the 2nd ESRA Symposium on Global Road Safety Performance Indicators, which will take place in Brussels, on 18 June 2019. New results from the ESRA2 data, collected at the end of 2018, will be showcased. Presentations will focus on key results of global road safety performance indicators (i.e., release of 32 country fact sheets and thematic reports on speeding, mobile phone use, and fatigue). The symposium is sponsored by the Forum of European Road Safety Institutes (FERSI). 

The Forum of European Road Safety Institutes (FERSI) has restyled and updated its website. The website not only provides information about FERSI, its members and activities, it also provides relevant links to road safety information, road safety organisations, major policy documents and European projects. 

The European Platform of Transport Sciences (EPTS) is oganising the 17th International Conference – ETC 2019 which will be held in Bratislava, Slovakia, on 13-14 June 2019. Since its first meeting in 2001 in Vienna the purpose of EPTS is the enhancement of the dialogue between politics, science and economy in the field of European transport. This is to be accomplished by organising scientific events, encouraging the exchange of opinions and experiences, joint PR efforts, the enhancement of scientific research and continuing education, cooperation with other scientific institutions and support of young scientists, especially through the Young Forum of European Transport Sciences (YFE). 

According to the European Commission preliminary statistics, fewer people died on European roads in 2018 but more efforts are needed to make a big leap forward. In 2018, there were around 25.100 fatalities in road accidents in the EU 28. This is a decrease of 21% compared to 2010, and 1% compared to 2017. The EU countries with the best road safety results in 2018 were the United Kingdom (28 deaths/million inhabitants), Denmark (30/million), Ireland (31/million), and Sweden (32/million), whereas the best improvement since 2010 was demonstrated by Greece (-45%) and Lithuania (-43%). With an average of 49 road deaths per one million inhabitants, this confirms that European roads are by far the safest in the world, but it also shows that we are off track to reach our target of halving the number of road deaths by 2020. 

According to Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) data, 731 persons were killed in Greece in 2017: 507 drivers, 106 passengers and 118 pedestrians. Male drivers account for 66% of all road fatalities in Greece. Young male drivers aged 15-24 years old account for 16% of all male driver fatalities and older people account for more than 59% of all pedestrian fatalities. The higher accident severity was found in accidents involving older persons (6.4 fatalities per 100 accidents) and young people 15-24 years old (3.7 fatalities per 100 accidents). 

A paper titled “The European road safety decision support system on risks and measures” authored by the Horizons 2020 SafetyCube project team is now published in Accident Analysis and Prevention. The European Road Safety Decision Support System is an innovative system providing the available evidence on a broad range of road risks and possible countermeasures. This paper describes the scientific basis of the DSS. The structure underlying the DSS consists of (1) a taxonomy identifying risk factors and measures and linking them to each other, (2) a repository of studies, and (3) synopses summarizing the effects estimated in the literature for each risk factor and measure, and (4) an economic efficiency evaluation instrument (E3-calculator). 

FIA launched a brand new visualized tool-website with key figures on vision and its impact on road safety in 14 countries all over the world. It provides data regarding visual disorders population percentages of each country, vision legislation and driving license, minimum acuity for both eyes, minimum vision field etc. 

European Investment Bank and European Commission join forces to support investments in transport safety with special focus on roads. At the TEN-T and CEF Conference in Bucharest, the EU Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc together with Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Vazil Hudák launched the “Safer Transport Platform” to promote safety as a key element for transport investment and to provide easy access to technical and financial advice, in particular for road safety. The “Safer Transport Platform – Road Safety Advisory” is available via a dedicated website.  

A Diploma Thesis titled “Combined impact of road and traffic characteristics on driver behavior using data from smartphones” was recently presented by Virginia Petraki. High resolution driving behavior data were collected using sensors of smartphones which were combined with traffic and road geometry characteristics and subsequently were depicted spatially using GIS. From the application of these models it is observed that in road segments there is an increase in the number of harsh events if average traffic volume per lane increases in the respective segments. Furthermore, in junctions as the average occupancy increases, there is an increase in harsh accelerations, and as average speed increases more harsh decelerations occur.  

A Diploma Thesis titled “Correlation of driver behaviour and fuel consumption using data from smartphones” was recently presented by Eva Michelaraki. The aim of this Diploma Thesis is the correlation of driver behaviour and fuel consumption using data from smartphones. To achieve this objective, data collected from 17 drivers who participated at a naturalistic driving experiment for four months are analyzed. The results demonstrated that there was a remarkable reduction in fuel consumption, by improving the way participants were driving and also a smoother and a greener driver behavior was achieved. A stronger correlation has emerged between harsh accelerations and fuel consumption, but also speed, braking, smartphone usage while driving, driving at night and demographic features had a direct impact on fuel consumption.  

A Diploma Thesis titled “Self-assessment and Road Behaviour” was recently presented by Mikaela Panagiotopoulou. The aim of the Diploma Thesis is to relate self-assessment and other characteristics of drivers with parameters of their road behavior. To achieve this goal, a pilot simulator experiment was conducted and a questionnaire was filled in a sample of 125 drivers. The application of the models revealed that the drivers who have positively self-assessed their driving abilities drive faster and showcase speedy reaction time. The drivers in general, evaluated realistically their driving skills with an exception when it came to the safety driving measures which were: keeping an adequate headway from the vehicle in front, accurately adjusting their speed on different driving conditions, maintaining speed limits.  

A Diploma Thesis titled “Greek drivers’ attitudes towards aggressive driving” was recently presented by Aggeliki Stefatou. The objective of this Diploma Thesis is the investigation of the characteristics of driver aggressiveness in Greece via their perceptions on their own behavior and the behavior of other drivers. Specifically, within the framework of the SafeCulture survey, the answers of 302 car drivers and 201 two-wheeler drivers on 8 questions regarding speed, 6 questions regarding overtaking behavior and aggressiveness and 4 questions regarding alcohol consumption were analyzed. Results indicate that drivers do not perceive traditional crash factors as causes for their crash involvement. The only contributing factors perceived by drivers was found to be those involving driver overtaking behavior and aggressiveness.  

A Diploma Thesis titled “Spatial analysis of driver safety behavior using data from smartphones” was recently presented by Ilias Parmaksizoglou. The aim of this diploma thesis is to conduct a spatial analysis of driver safety behavior using data from smartphones. Data were processed in a GIS computer environment, resulting to the creation of new tables describing the phenomena observed on the road map of the study (Leoforos Mesogeion) in node and link areas. Analytic maps were developed that aimed to indicate patterns of the accumulation and ranking of the harsh events in the selected road axis. Finally, four linear regression models were developed, which demonstrated speed as the most statistically significant factor in predicting harsh events per day on a region basis.  

A Diploma Thesis titled “Impact of economic, social and transport indicators on road safety during the crisis period in Europe” was recently presented by Valentina Vassili. The objective of this Diploma Thesis is to investigate the impact of economic, social and transport indicators on road safety before and after the crisis period in Europe. For this analysis a database containing Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDP), motorway-kilometers per road network-kilometers, vehicle fleet per population and road fatalities for European states for 2000-2016 was developed.  The results led to the conclusion that Gross Domestic Index per capita has the most important impact and its increase leads to road fatalities decrease. Moreover, the increase of motorway-kilometers per road network positively affects the road fatalities decrease.  

A Diploma Thesis titled “Identification of critical driving parameters affecting speeding using data from smartphones” was recently presented by Aris Kokkinakis. The aim of this Diploma Thesis is to identify the critical driving parameters that affect speeding using data from smartphones. To achieve this objective, data collected from sixty- eight drivers who participated at a naturalistic driving experiment for fifteen months are analyzed. The analysis was carried out with the use of statistical method of linear regression. The results revealed that all six parameters, distance, high intensity harsh accelerations and brakings, harsh cornerings, average deceleration and mobile usage, were statistically significant in the regression models. For the general model, the number of high intensity harsh brakings had the most significant impact, whereas for each type of road separately, distance was the most significant parameter.  

On March 27, 2019 in Ljubljana, the Interreg funded RADAR project organised the first Road Safety Expert Group meeting focusing on Safer Roads Investment Plans. Special emphasis was given into optimisation of using limited road investment and road safety investment funds, by supporting most cost-benefit effective engineering solutions at the most appropriate locations / road sections.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Key points for Road Sections Safety in Greece

The International Motor Vehicle Inspection Committee (CITA), under the patronage of Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, is organizing an event under the theme: “The future of transport: The challenge of new technologies for road safety“. The event will be held in Brussels, Belgium, on 16 May 2019 from 9:30 to 12:30 at Autoworld: Parc du Cinquantenaire. Without doubt vehicle safety is one of the key pillars of an integrated EU road safety strategy. A discussion will be made on how to improve road safety and the challenges for the testing and certification of new technologies and components, in order to make them safe and secure during the complete life cycle.