Author: Konstantinos Kaselouris
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) is organising the ETSC Pin Conference 2024, which will be held in Brussels, on 19 June 2024. During this conference, ETSC will present the findings of the 18th PIN Annual Road Safety Performance (PIN) report looking at progress in reducing road deaths and serious injuries across Europe. Two key road safety issues will be analysed in more detail: the safety of powered two wheeler riders and safety on rural roads. 
The European Commission organised with great success the EU Road Safety Conference which was held in Dublin, Ireland, on 16 April 2024. The Conference provided an opportunity to engage with EU Member States Authorities, Experts and all Stakeholders across the road safety community. In addition, it facilitated exchanging views and experiences on the efforts to reach Vision Zero.
NTUA Professor George Yannis actively contributed with the following key-note presentation:
NTUA Professor George Yannis actively contributed with the following key-note presentation:
The Road Traffic Safety Agency (RTSA) of the republic of Serbia in cooperation with NTUA, several Serbian and international road safety Governmental, Academic and other organizations organised with great success the 19th International conference Road Safety in Local Communities (RSCL 2024) in Zlatibor, Serbia, on 17-20 April 2024. The Conference was organized within second Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021-2030), second national strategy for road safety (2023-2030) and after significant changes in road safety regulations. 
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
The International Road Traffic Safety Analysis and Data (IRTAD) Group and of the International Transport Forum (ITF) organised with great success the 37th Meeting which was held in Helsinki and online, on 10-11 April 2024. In this conference, the latest international road safety developments were discussed. 80 members and observers from more than 40 countries enriched the discussion aimed to help improve road safety across the globe. Particular emphasis was given to safer micromobility and the evaluation of road safety measures. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:
World Bank/GRSF – Improving Road Traffic Injury Statistics in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, 2023
The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) has published a Knowledge Report titled Improving Road Traffic Injury Statistics in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. This Report identifies the reasons behind statistical discrepancies between Low- and Middle-Income Countries and outlines strategies to strengthen modeling efforts. Furthermore, in this Report key findings and recommendations for more accurate reporting of traffic injuries were included.
The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) has published a Knowledge Report titled Estimating the Disability Burden of Road Traffic Injuries. This Report provides valuable insights into the prevalence, causes, and long-term impacts of crash-related disabilities. By broadening the discussion beyond fatalities to the often-overlooked issue of disability, the report paves the way for a more holistic perspective on road safety impacts, which can inform more effective road safety policies.
MOST in cooperation with Politecnico of Milano organised with great success the G7 Transport Academic Workshop, which was held in Milan, on 10 April 2024. This workshop with theme “Planning for Resilient Transport Systems” included 4 sessions concerning issues related to road safety, such as principles and measures for network resilience, decision-making and trade-offs and policies and practices for mitigation and adaptation. NTUA Professor George Yannis actively contributed with the following presentation:
NTUA Professor George Yannis actively contributed with the following presentation:
Dimitris Nikolaou has successfully defended his PhD dissertation titled: Machine learning-based road crash risk assessment fusing infrastructure, traffic and driver behaviour data, under the supervisoon of NTUA Prof. George Yannis. Τwo distinct databases were developed; the first one concerned motorway segments and included road crash, traffic, road geometry and driver behaviour data (OSeven telematics), while the second database concerned urban and interurban road segments of a broader area. The results revealed that crash frequency on motorway segments is positively correlated with the traffic volume, the segment length, the number of harsh accelerations and the number of harsh brakings per segment trips. Furthermore, it was concluded that harsh brakings can serve as a valid subcategory of Surrogate Safety Measures under naturalistic driving conditions, which can be used as the dependent variable either in proactive road safety analyses or in cases where detailed crash data are unavailable. It was found that harsh brakings were positively correlated with road segment length, number of trips per segment, speeding and mobile phone use. 
The European Association of Operators of Toll Road Infrastructures (ASECAP), supported by the Associazone Italiana Societa Concessionarie Autostrade e Trafori (AISCAT), is organising the 51st ASECAP Study & information days conference, which will be held in Milan, on 13-15 May 2024. This conference with theme “Innovation as a key tool to reach safe, inclusive and green mobility solutions” will focus on how to provide equal access to mobility services being a key point for social and economic developments. Participants can register here.
A paper titled “RSS2022 Conference: Advanced Road Safety Analyses” authored by George Yannis and Eleonora Papadimitriou has been published in Safety Science. This collection reflects a concerted effort to advance scientific knowledge in road safety, aiming to mitigate crash fatalities and injuries in the digital era through innovative quantitative research methods. 
An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Model for the assessment of cycling routes in Athens with high resolution data” was recently presented by Aristeidis-Vasileios Kanakis. For this purpose, the critical factors that influence the cycling trips carried out in the areas of Chalandri and Vrilissia, utilizing crowdsourced data from the “Strava Metro” platform, were identified. The results demonstrate a positive effect of the average speed of cycling on the number of cycling trips. The most critical influencing factors on cycling trips concern road infrastructure and traffic conditions on each road section, such as the average speed of cycling trips, the category of road section and its length.
An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Airport Control Tower Visibility Investigation” was recently presented by Ariadni Sarri. For this purpose, a digital framework was created to examine two Greek airports and the visibility of their control towers was checked for different scenarios. After the implementation of this method and through the consequent results the engineer is able to assess and judge the adequacy of the visibility of the control tower that is being examined and to determine the areas that cannot be seen and are therefore critical.
An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “The influence of the penetration of autonomous vehicles on road safety” was recently presented by Antonia Antonakaki. For this purpose, an analysis of simulation data was carried out around the Villaverde network in Madrid. The application of the models revealed that the factors influencing the above variables have to do with both traffic composition data (vehicle type) and road infrastructure data (road type, road capacity). Finally, increasing the Market Penetration Rate (MPR) of autonomous vehicles in the network was found to have, in general, positive effects on road safety.
An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Investigation of employee preferences in Athens towards the “Bike to Work” scheme” was recently presented by Konstantinos Aggelakis. In order to achieve this, factors influencing the decisions of workers to use a soft mode of transportation such as bicycles and scooters (electric or conventional) for their commutes in Athens are examined, as well as how the existence of a bicycle lane network affects this decision. Polynomial models demonstrate that increased time and cost savings in commuting do not significantly affect the choice of bicycle or scooter as a commuting mode, contrary to health improvement, while commute duration and commuter age are also significant factors in the choice of micro-mobility modes.
AMRKS and Tempulli Academy are co-organising the 10th International Conference “AI – Cyber Security and Road Safety” which will be held in Prishtina, on 7 May 2024. In this conference, the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be discussed, as an important potential in increasing road safety. IA’s road safety and mobility initiative aims to increase road safety using innovative technologies to complement the action plans of the UN General Assembly Resolution on improving global road safety.
The I-Sense Group of the Institute of Communications & Computer Systems (ICCS) is organising “Hi Drive International Summer School 2024“, which will be held in Athens, Greece, on 25-26 September 2024. This Summer School session with theme “Navigating the Future with Advanced and Safe Automated Driving” aims to delve deeper into the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in the dynamic field of Automated Driving (AD), which is a major component of road safety. Participants can register until 30 April 2024.
The World Road Association (PIARC) recently published a Report titled “PIARC Global Road Safety Exchange“ with emphassis on Low and Middle Income countries, with the active contribution of NTUA. This Report reflects the wealth of information contained in PIARC multi-annual road safety work about safe infrastructure, the design and operation of road tunnels, speed management, the collection and analysis of road safety data, management, human behaviour, vulnerable road users and vehicles. PIARC recommendations will help to develop expertise in road safety and to adopt the «Safe System Approach» to reducing fatal and serious crashes on the road network worldwide.
The International Transport Forum (ITF) has recently published a new Report titled “Safer Micromobility“ co-authored by George Yannis, Virginia Petraki and Philippe Crist. This Report examines safety aspects associated with the increasing use of e-scooters and other forms of micromobility in cities. Micromobility is becoming safer (per miles driven), but an increase in severe injuries from e-scooter crashes is cause for concern. The Report considers a comprehensive set of recommendations in line with the Safe System Approach, to make urban traffic with micromobility safe, including in street layout, vehicle design and vehicle operation, user education and enforcement of rules. It also asks whether a shift towards micromobility can have potential overall traffic safety benefits.
The World Road Association – PIARC recently published a Report titled “Models for Sight Distance in Road Design“. This work provides an overview of the importance of comparing international road design standards to check their updated status and the degree of their readiness to face the forthcoming innovations in road mobility and safety. This report also assesses possibilities of transferring models to other road design standards mainly in Low- or Middle-Income Countries.
Τhe European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published the 46th PIN Flash Report titled Reducing Road Deaths on Rural Roads. This Report examines the latest data on rural road deaths from across the EU and other countries that form part of ETSC’s Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) programme. It also looks at the main measures for reducing the risks to road deaths on rural roads including recommendations to national governments and EU about infrastructure, speeds and speed limits, vulnerable road users (VRUs) and vehicle safety.
POLIS, the European Cities Network, is organising the 2024 Annual Polis Conference, which will take place in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, on 27-28 November 2024. The POLIS Annual Conference is Europe’s leading sustainable urban mobility event, providing an opportunity for cities and regions to showcase their transport achievements, including recent safety developments, to a large audience of mobility experts, practitioners, and decision-makers from both the public and private sector. Urban Road Safety is a key conference priority. Researchers can submit their abstracts until 26 April 2024.
The results of the ESRA3 (E-Survey of Road users’ Attitudes) global survey on road users’ safety attitudes, self-declared behaviour on traffic and other background data such as exposure and traffic legislation, have recently been visualized through the ESRA3 Dashboard. VIAS, with the active contribution of NTUA, has produced the 39 Country Fact Sheets that show national results compared to regional average values. Several other Thematic Reports are expected to be published in 2024.
The European Commission published preliminary figures on Road Safety in the EU, showing that around 20,400 people were killed in road crashes last year, a small 1% decrease on 2022. This represents however 2,360 fewer fatalities (-10%) compared with the pre-pandemic year 2019. It is remarkable that within urban areas, vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists and users of powered two-wheelers) represent almost 70% of total fatalities, whereas EU-wide, more than 2,000 cyclists were killed in 2022.
The International Commission for Driver Testing (CIECA) in cooperation with the Roads & Transport Authority of Dubai organised with great success the 56th CIECA Congress, which was held in Dubai, on 5-8 March 2024. This congress, titled “Preparing drivers for smart mobility and road safety”, allowed for vivid discussion on key safety measures for driver testing and safer driving from across the world. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
The World Road Association – PIARC recently published a DataBook of Roads and Road Transport for 2020-2023. This report focuses on the collection of various data related to roads, road transport and safety which are internationally comparable with their accuracy and consistency ensured. The results of the data synthesis of roads/road transport and some kinds of basic data are graphically represented and must be informative for PIARC members. Also included is a summary of the work of PIARC presented as conclusions.
The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) in collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety and UK Aid have recently published the Guide for Safe Speeds Report: Managing Traffic Speeds to Save Lives and Improve Livability. This Report outlines interventions that work and provides guidance on how to select and implement speeds that are safe for all road users, including city-wide 30km/h speed limits. It also explains how barriers to changing traffic speeds can be overcome.
The Expert Group on Urban Mobility (EGUM) of the European Commission has recently delivered its first set of Recommendations. These Recommendations focused on three pillars: how to ensure prioritisation of public transport in urban areas, how to increase public transport inclusiveness and how to deal with the worker shortage and evolving skill requirements of the public transport sector. Road safety is an important component of these Recommendations.
The European Conference of Transport Research Institutes (ECTRI) organized with great success the 7th ECTRI Safety Webinar, which was held online on 23 February 2024. The scope of the Safety Thematic Group concers safety culture, safe mobility for all, automation and digitalization safety implications, transport safety data collection and use and safety in junctions. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
NTUA Professor George Yannis made a key contribution to the vivid debate for the future of mobility & transport in Europe, organised by the European Commission – DG Move on 21 February 2024 in Brussels. He attempted to decode the slow deployment of vehicle automation, the role of artificial intelligence and digitalisation together with the necessary new business models for automated mobility in Europe stating that “Automation should be seen more as a social than a technology challenge“. 
On the occasion, he also promoted strongly Public Transport as the only way to serve the increased urban and interurban transport demand in Europe and the 30km/h city-wide speed limits for safer, healthier and greener cities in Europe.
The Private Passenger Car Owners Association of Greece organised with great success the Vision Zero Road Crashes Conference which was held in Athens on 21 February 2024. This Association contributes to the improvement of the country’s road network safety, ensuring better traffic conditions for passenger cars. This conference focused on if and how it is possible to have zero road crashes in Greece. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
