Virginia Petraki has successfully defended her PhD thesis titled “A Multilevel Integrated Assessment of Safe and Green Mobility”, under the supervision of NTUA Prof. George Yannis. Sustainable mobility is a multidimensional phenomenon encompassing road safety, as well as economic and environmental impacts. This doctoral dissertation develops a data-driven framework for the multilevel assessment of safe and green mobility, spanning from individual trips to the road network, by fusing road infrastructure, traffic, and weather-related data with high-resolution naturalistic driving behavior data. The developed framework is structured around three complementary analytical modules, including (i) the identification of safe and green mobility patterns, (ii) the joint modeling of safe and green driving outcomes, and (iii) the assessment of sustainable driving efficiency. The results reveal that safe and green mobility are strongly interconnected yet context-dependent, exhibiting both synergies and trade-offs across levels of analysis, while highlighting the critical role of driving behavior and external conditions in shaping these interactions. Overall, the dissertation provides a comprehensive and interpretable analytical framework that supports informed and targeted interventions towards more sustainable mobility for all.    

The European Commission is organizing the annual Excellence in Road Safety Awards which will be held on 23 November 2026 in Brussels, recognizing the contributions of the European Road Safety Charter’s community of members towards the common goal of improved road safety across Europe. The Award categories for 2026 include education, technology, vulnerable road users, at work and urban measures and urban initiatives. Submissions are available until 10 June 2026.

The Horizon Europe research project IMPROVA has recently released its 4th Newsletter, focusing on enhancing road safety by addressing the complexities of long-term consequences (LTC) caused by road traffic crashes. This version of the Newsletter focuses on WP updates and advancements, as well as two IMPROVA papers presented during the IRTAD 2026 Conference in Athens. Key WP updates include the launch of the Functional Capacity Index and the integration of European crash data into a new head-injury metamodel. Furthermore, the Newsletter announces the upcoming IMPROVA General Assembly in Athens.

The Horizon Europe research project CulturalRoad is hosting a Webinar titled “Co-Creating Mobility Solutions with Local Communities: Insights from the CulturalRoad Demo Sites” which will take place online, on 13 May 2026. This webinar will explore how CulturalRoad is working with local stakeholders across its five demonstration sites — in Catalonia, Karlsruhe, Eilat, Ljubljana and the United Kingdom (West Midlands and Oxfordshire) — to better understand expectations, challenges and opportunities related to automated mobility. City representatives, mobility planners, public authorities and stakeholders from the sector are welcome to join the discussion and contribute with their perspectives. Participation is free upon registration.  

The EU co-funded research project GreCO successfully participated in a direct dialogue with the European Commission and in a Focused Policy Lab of the European Urban Initiative on Sustainable Tourism, held on 22–23 April 2026 in Copenhagen. GreCO Project in collaboration with the Municipality of Elliniko-Argyroupoli, actively contributed to the discussions focused on the green transition, digitalization, inclusion and balanced tourism management, as well as the promotion of sustainable behaviours and experiences, directly contributing to the shaping of the upcoming European Strategy for Sustainable Tourism. This participation was an important opportunity for the exchange of knowledge and experience with representatives from the European Commission, policymakers and professionals from across Europe.  

A paper titled Tram or Bus? A Stated-Preference Analysis of Road User Mode Choice in Larissa, Greece authored by Athanasios Theofilatos, Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Apostolos Anagnostopoulos, Georgios Georgiadis, Ioannis Politis and Nikolaos Eliou has been published in Systems. This Paper aims to investigate Public Transport (PT) preferences in the city of Larissa, Greece. To this end, a SP survey was designed and implemented, resulting in 972 observations that were collected for further statistical analysis. Survey results show a slight preference for trams over buses, with 54.63% selecting the tram and 45.37% favoring the buses. The findings also indicate that passengers place a high value on the quality of infrastructure related to access and waiting times, underlining the need to improve the overall user experience beyond the vehicle itself. In summary, the present research offers valuable insights into how the introduction of a tram system could possibly reshape PT usage patterns when compared with the legacy existing bus services.

Micro-Mobility for Europe (MMfE) recently published its latest incident data, covering more than 450 million trips across the EU27, Israel, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. The data confirms that injury risk for shared e-scooters and e-bikes continued to decline for the fifth consecutive year, with shared e-bike injuries per million trips falling by 18.4% compared to 2024, and a 24% reduction in shared e-scooter injury risk per million trips since 2021. MMfE is currently working together with NTUA on a more detailed analysis of micro-mobility safety trends, aimed at further strengthening the evidence base for policymaking and infrastructure improvements. Despite the positive trajectory, reductions in serious injuries and fatalities are not yet happening fast enough to meet European Commission targets under its Vision Zero objective. 

The Australasian College of Road Safety (ACRS) is organizing the Australasian Road Safety Conference 2026 (ARSC), which will be held in Sydney, Australia on 26-29 October 2026. This Conference under the theme “From Evidence to Action: Shaping a Brighter Future” will bring together road safety stakeholders and decision-makers from Australasia and international jurisdictions to facilitate collaboration and share information. Early Bird registration is available until 24 July 2026. 

The President of the United Nations General Assembly recently submitted the Draft Resolution “Scope, modalities, format and organization of the high-level meeting on improving global road safety“. Τhe Draft Resolution decides to convene a High-Level Meeting on Improving Global Road Safety in New York, on 20-21 July 2026, under the theme “Scaling up and accelerating implementation of commitments to halving road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030”, in line with the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. It also calls for a multi-stakeholder hearing as part of the preparatory process, bringing together governments, civil society organizations, academia, and the private sector. 

Τhe African Road Safety Charter has recently been ratified by 15 African Union Member States, which is the minimum threshold required for it to come into force. This marks an important step towards stronger accountability, coordinated action, and safer roads across the continent. To support members in understanding this development, the Alliance recently held a capacity building session focused on the Charter and its implications. 

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) co-organized with great success the 8th IRTAD International Conference: Better Road Safety Data for Better Safety Performance which took place in Athens, Greece, on 15-17 April 2026, with the support of FERSI and ECTRI, under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. The objective of the Conference was to explore improvements in the quality of data systems and related analyses globally, achieved through three days of vivid discussions with more than 330 road safety experts from 45 countries and 146 road safety Organisations, with focus on human factors, speeding behaviour, safety of vulnerable road users, automation, artificial intelligence, big data, and advanced modelling to support evidence-based policies and measures for safer roads everywhere and for all.   

• Conference Proceedings
• Conference Book
• Conference Photos

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) co-organized with great success the 8th IRTAD International Conference: Better Road Safety Data for Better Safety Performance which was held in Athens, Greece, on 15-17 April 2026, with the support of FERSI and ECTRI, under the auspices of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. NTUA actively contributed with the following papers and presentations:

•   Development of a road safety impact tool for policy assessment
•   Attitudes and Self-Declared Behaviours Among Greek Road Users: Evidence from the ESRA3 survey
•   Probabilistic Modeling for Node-Based Partitioning of Telematics-Informed Road Networks
•   Transformer-Based Driver Behavior Recognition Using the UAH-DriveSet Dataset
•   Temporal Modeling of Heart Rate Variability for Driver Drowsiness Detection with LSTM Networks
•   Comparative assessment of speed characteristics in the European Union
•   The European Road Safety Observatory (ERSO): Supporting evidence-based policy for safer EU roads
•   A Cross-City Survey on Personal Protective Equipment Use in Vulnerable Road Users
•   A method to estimate the number of people suffering from long-term consequences
•   Integrating Telematics and Video-Based Recognition for Vehicle Behavior Analysis in Athens
•   Assessing public opinions on city-wide 30 km/h speed limits: The case of Athens
•   Do Key Performance Indicators really measure road safety performance?
•   Towards a Traffic Sustainability Culture: Integrating Safety and Sustainability in Line with the Stockholm Declaration
•   Development of a conceptual model for traffic safety culture
•   Evaluating Self-Reported and Attitudinal Indicators as Proxies for Observed Road Safety Behaviour
•   Subjective Safety of Vulnerable Road Users from a European Perspective – Insights from the ESRA3 Survey
•   Examining Driver Behaviour along Motorway Exit Ramp Terminals
• Opening Speech

The Horizon 2020 research project PHOEBE has recently released the PHOEBE 6th Newsletter, which provides information on the latest outcomes of the EU-funded ‘Predictive Approaches for Safer Urban Environment’ (PHOEBE) project aiming to increase the road safety of vulnerable road users, especially those who use active mobility and e-scooters. Final PHOEBE consortium meeting took place in the West-Midlands, where PHOEBE partners planned the upcoming final conference and focused on the topics of systems integration, transferability, and exploitation of PHOEBE results. Additionally, this edition of the newsletter announces the Final PHOEBE Workshop at RSS 2026 Conference. 

Road fatalities in Greece in 2025 presented a significant decrease (22.3%) compared to 2024 figures, according to the provisional ELSTAT and Traffic Police data. This is the result of the intensification of enforcement of helmet wearing and drink-and-drive by the Police, together with the new Road Traffic Code in Greece (voted in June and in force since September) which led to an astonishing improvement of driver behaviour and consequently to this very significant reduction or road crash fatalities.

These highly successful initiatives of the Greek Authorities led to a record saving of 148 lives: 517 in 2025 in comparison to 665 in 2024. With these results (49,7 fatalities per million population), Greece is leaving the zone of lowest performance EU countries (63,8 fatalities per million population in 2024), and is approaching the EU average road safety performance (43 fatalities per million population).

We are proud having contributed actively through our systematic advocacy interventions to the Authorities and the media, for prioritizing motorcycle safety and helmet wearing as the catalysers for significant reduction of road casualties in Greece.    

The European Road Safety Charter of the European Commission, has recently published a new Article focusing on safer children journeys to school. While the European Union has made long-term progress in reducing road deaths, recent data shows improvement has slowed, highlighting the need for renewed action – especially for vulnerable road users such as children. There are several factors that may contribute to risk during school travel, such as the increase in private car as default mode to travel to school, traffic congestion, infrastructure and vehicle safety. Some countermeasures include school streets, improved infrastructure such as crossings and good visibility around schools and road safety education and awareness for children and parents. 

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the City of Athens are organizing the 2026 UCI Mobility & Bike City Forum, which will take place in Athens, on 10-11 May 2026. The programme will cover a range of themes central to the development of cycling worldwide, including (1) Strengthening cycling tourism: emerging trends and successful approaches, (2) Urban mobility strategies: integrating cycling into city planning, (3) Cycling events as drivers of sustainable sport tourism and impact and (4)   Global road safety: collaborative approaches for safer cycling. NTUA will actively participate and contribute in the panel discussion entitled “Global road safety: collaborative approaches for safer cycling”, showcasing experiences in holistic safety gained from the PHOEBE project. 

A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Investigation of the Acceptance of Autonomous Vehicles by Greek Drivers” was recently presented by Konstantina Roumelioti. The aim of this study was to investigate the acceptance of autonomous vehicles by Greek drivers, as well as their intention for future purchase, focusing on the factors that shape their attitude towards this new technology. Data collection was carried out through a properly designed questionnaire, which included hypothetical travel scenarios with varying parameters, such as safety, cost, and time, in order to capture users’ preferences and perceptions. The results indicated that the acceptance of autonomous vehicles depends, among other factors, on cost, travel time and vehicle safety level. Furthermore, the need and possibility of being able to take control of the vehicle at any time increased the likelihood of choosing autonomous vehicles, positively influencing their acceptance.  

A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Cost Benefit Analysis of 30 km/h speed limit implementation in all EU cities” was recently presented by Gerasimos Balatsinos. To achieve this objective, a methodological framework consisting a statistical analysis of road crashes and a Cost–Benefit Analysis at a macroscopic level were developed. Initially, road crash data recorded within urban areas for the period 2016–2022 were collected for each EU Member State. Subsequently, the data was utilized to develop two logistic regression models, incorporating fixed and random effects. The results indicate that crash severity is primarily influenced by the type of transport mode, lighting conditions, and age, while other factors exhibit a smaller yet statistically significant effect. Furthermore, substantial variation is observed across EU countries in terms of baseline risk levels. The findings suggest that the implementation of a 30 km/h speed limit constitutes an economically feasible measure at the European level, yielding a positive Economic Net Present Value (ENPV) of approximately €18 billion. At the city level, the ENPV ranges from approximately €90 million (Paris) to €4.6 billion (London).  

A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Critical factors of road users’ self declared behavior and safety in Greece” was recently presented by Konstantina-Aikaterini Mavraki. To achieve this objective, critical behaviours were analysed, such as compliance with speed limits, seat belt use, alcohol consumption, mobile phone use, etc., across different categories of users, including car drivers, motorcyclists, cyclists, pedestrians, and users of electric scooters. The analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression, with six separate models for different categories of road network users, utilizing also the results of the ESRA survey, which were compared with field measurement data in order to highlight differences between self-reported and observed behaviour. The findings suggest that individuals who agree with and accept risky and illegal road behaviours are more likely to commit violations of the Road Traffic Code across all examined categories of road users. Furthermore, recommendations that could enhance road users’ safety, such as educational and training campaigns and targeted infrastructure interventions were provided.  

A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Investigation of the acceptance of reducing the speed limit to 30 km/h in all urban areas in Greece” was recently presented by Konstantina Gkoudinakou. For this purpose, a special questionnaire was developed that was answered by 302 drivers based on the method of declared preference for 10 hypothetical scenarios with variations in time, fuel consumption, and the probability of a road crash with casualties. Data were collected, processed, analyzed, and after many tests, a polynomial regression model and two binary regression models were developed to understand the factors that affect the acceptance of drivers in a city center to reduce speed limits. The results indicated the variables that significantly affect driver acceptance, such as increased travel time, reduced fuel consumption, reduced likelihood of road accidents with injury, driving frequency, the role of speed in causing accidents, the role of pedestrians in choosing driving speed, and certain demographic factors. This way, findings are also obtained regarding the social acceptance of the measure in relation to the characteristics of the participants, such as gender, age, education, driving behavior, and so on.  

A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Investigation of the Perceptions and Acceptance of Greek Road Users towards the New Road Traffic Code” was recently presented by Nikolaos Spathis. For the purposes of this research, data collection was carried out through a questionnaire, which was completed by 800 travelers. Subsequently, binomial logistic regression and elasticity models were developed for Greece as a whole, for Attica, and for the other Regions of Greece. The results showed that acceptance is influenced by specific factors such as gender, age group, violations related to excessive speed, attitude toward behavioral change, hours of driving per week, as well as the belief that the 30 km/h measure within residential areas will reduce road accidents. The findings indicated that the majority of Greek drivers show a tendency to accept the new Road Traffic Code. Overall, the results indicate that acceptance of the new Road Traffic Code is shaped by a combination of demographic characteristics, driving behavior, and perceptions regarding the effectiveness of the implemented measures.  

The International Road Federation (IRF) organized with great success a Training Programme called Road Safety for Managers: From Diagnosis to Decision which was held online on 31 March to 9 April 2026. This 12-hour Course was designed to equip decision-makers with a practical, system-level understanding of road safety management, enabling them to interpret crash and risk data, select proven safety treatments and build robust, defensible investment cases. Participants also learned how to establish monitoring frameworks that support accountability, guide continuous improvement and deliver measurable reductions in fatal and serious injuries across the network.   NTUA Prof. George Yannis was an Associate Instructor and actively contributed with the following presentation:

•   Core Road Safety Concepts for Managers

ICAP CRIF organized with great success the 2nd ESG Summit which was  held in Athens, on 2 April 2026 under the theme “Turning Environmental, Social & Governance into Strategic Value”. The ESG Summit aimed to highlight the strategic imperative of implementing sustainable initiatives that go beyond regulatory compliance and act as a driver of long-term growth and competitive advantage.  

T-Press organized with great success the 3rd International Exhibition Ergo.Tec Forum and CMC Conference which took place in Athens, Greece on 20-22 March 2026. This Event presented all the latest developments, research, and innovations in the construction sector. The leaders of the construction industry discussed the challenges and opportunities that are shaping the future of construction sites and infrastructure projects, while specialized speakers contributed to the advancement of scientific knowledge. Ministers, representatives of industry associations and contractors’ organizations, members of the academic community, as well as companies in the construction and machinery market participated.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:

•   Attica Metropolitan Transportation Authority

The European Commission with the active contribution of NTUA, SWOV and KFV recently published at the European Road Safety Observatory, the Annual Statistical Report on Road Safety in the EU, which provides an overview of crash data for 2014 to 2024 from 27 EU Member States and the four EFTA countries. According to this Report, 53% of road traffic fatalities occurred on rural roads, versus 38% in urban areas and 8% on motorways. It was also revealed that car occupants (drivers and passengers) represented 44% of all fatalities, while pedestrians accounted for 18%, users of powered two-wheelers (motorbikes and mopeds) 18%, and cyclists 9%.

The Hannover Medical School organized with great success the 10th International Expert Symposium on Accident Research (ESAR) which was held in Hannover, Germany on 25-26 March 2026. ESAR is a platform for exchange of information on crash research issues, bringing together experts from medicine, engineering, law enforcement, and industry. The Conference focused on road safety research, crash causation, pre-crash analysis, crash reconstruction, new data sources for crash research such as video observation and EDR, injuries, regulation and consumer information.   NTUA actively contributed with the following paper and presentation:

•   Driving Performance Deficits in Chronic Insomnia: Evidence from a Multi-Scenario Simulator Study

The European Commission with the active contribution of NTUA, SWOV and KFV has published at the European Road Safety Observatory, the updated Road Safety Country Profiles, which provide a comprehensive overview of the road safety status in the 27 EU Member States and three EFTA countries for the period 2014 to 2024. These Country Profiles exploit data and information from a range of sources, including the CARE and other international databases, as well as national sources, in order to highlight current road safety outcomes, performance indicators, policy & measures and structure & culture for each country.

The European Commission recently issues a Press Release on preliminary figures on road fatalities for 2025, reporting around 19,400 deaths. This represents a 3% decrease from 2024, meaning that 580 fewer people died on European roads. Given the increase in vehicles on EU roads and kilometers driven, this is a significant achievement. Furthermore, road safety progress varies widely by country. Between 2024 and 2025, there were remarkable decreases in Estonia (-38%) and Greece (-22%). However, the preliminary data also highlights the need for sustained efforts at all levels as most Member States are not yet on track to meet the EU’s goal of halving road deaths and serious injuries by 2030.   

The International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences (IATSS) organized with great success its Annual Research Project Reporting and Award Ceremony for 2026 which took place in Tokyo, Japan and online on 10 April 2026. This Event presented to the public the research projects conducted in FY2025 that have produced particularly outstanding results. At this year’s IATSS Award Ceremony, two Achievement Awards, one Literature Award, and two Paper Awards were presented.  

NTUA organized with great success the PHOEBE Project Workshop which took place in Athens, Greece on 15 April 2026. During this Workshop, the framework and tools developed within the PHOEBE project were presented, alongside key results. Particular emphasis was placed on infrastructure safety assessment, behaviour analysis, traffic simulation and cost–benefit evaluation approaches. The Workshop took place back-to-back with the IRTAD 2026 Conference, making it an ideal opportunity for participants attending both events.