Voi Technology recently published the Voi’s Annual Safety Report with the active contribution of NTUA, under the theme Safer streets with shared micro-mobility, intended to increase transparency and foster a dialogue on how shared micro-mobility can make cities safer.  The report covers Voi’s actions to improve road safety, insights on safety risks and opportunities for shared micro-mobility across Europe. Heavy, fast-moving vehicles present the greatest road safety risks, and lack of safe road infrastructure is a significant risk for all lightweight travellers.  

The Association for European Transport is organising the 49th European Transport Conference which will be held online, on 13-15 September. The ETC 2021 conference maintains its unique identity of a multidisciplinary, multi-seminar format but in an online environment and it will offer eight simultaneous seminars per day plus plenary sessions. Key conference themes to be explored this year include COVID-19 and the consequences, the Climate Emergency and Inclusion and Diversity.  

The International Road Federation (IRF) is organising the IRF Annual Conference 2021, under the theme “Innovation: Charting Pathways to Sustainable Mobility” which will be held on 20-21 October 2021. With fast-growing populations leading to significant urbanisation, the demand for new transport infrastructure is predicted to see massive growth in coming decades. The new challenges that the Conference aims to focus on, are the increasing expectations of businesses, service users and the public and the need to reduce carbon emissions and waste. 

The United Nations (UN) are organising the Second United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conference which will take place in Beijing, on 14-16 October 2021. The Conference will focus attention on the opportunities, challenges and solutions towards achieving sustainable transport worldwide. The programme of the Conference will reflect the diversity and complexity of the transport sector and will provide an opportunity for policy dialogue as well as forging partnerships and initiatives to advance sustainable transport. 

The Faculty of Social Sciences at Bar-Ilan University organised with great success the 29 Annual Conference of the Research Institute of Human Factors Road Safety which was held online, on 8 July 2021. Experts from all over the world discussed the latest experiences and developments in road safety, with emphasis on the pandemic effect on road crashes.  NTUA contributed actively with the following presentations: 

•  Road Safety in Greece A success story?  (key-note presentation)
•  Key factors of COVID-19 impact on mobility and safety

The Association of Young Local Authorities (ENA) in collaboration with the Road Safety Institute “Panos Mylonas” (RSI), organised with great success a Conference titled “Road Safety in Greek islands“, which was held online, on 23 June 2021. The Conference was opened by the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Yannis Kefalogiannis, who referred to the National Action Plan on Road Safety and pointed out the important distinctions of Greece in this field. In addition, Mr. Panagiotis Papantoniou (President of the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers), Mrs. Amalia Polydoropoulou (Professor of the University of the Aegean), Mr. Vangelis Makris (Collaborator of the IOAS “Panos Mylonas”), Mr. Giannis Themelaros (Deputy Regional Minister of Transport and Communications of Dodecanese) and Mr. George Karamanolis (CTO / CIO Co-Founder of Crowdpolic), participated in the event. The Conference focused on the effort to reduce road accidents for the safety of inhabitants and tourists of the greek islands.       

The sixth Newsletter of the Horizon 2020 project BeOpen (European forum and observatory for open science in transport) was recently released with all the latest developments and the deliverables of the project.  This Newsletter focused on the BeOpen final event, which took place online on June 9, 2021, with presentations and discussions helpful for a better understanding of open science and how the BE OPEN project helped to move the concept forward in the transport domain. 

The Technical Chamber of Greece organised with great success the Green Deal Greece 2021 Conference, which was held in Athens, on June 29, 2021. The theme of the Conference was “2020-2030: a decade of a green revolution” and it focused on the opportunities and the challenges that Greece has to face regarding the European Green Deal.     NTUA contributed actively with the following presentation: 

•  Electrobility, Sustainable mobility, Green transport

The UK Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) organised with great success the PACTS Conference: Safe and healthy travel, which was held online, on 29 June 2021.  The Conference was supported by the Department for Transport and Highways England and focused on Vision Zero, active travel,  micro-mobility, speed and infrastructure.   NTUA Professor George Yannis contributed the following key note presentation: 

•  Road Safety in Greece on the way to Vision Zero

Τhe European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) together with the Flemish Foundation for Traffic Knowledge (VSV) and Fundación MAPFRE have recently published the LEARN! Manual envisaged as a starting point for those who design, test, implement and evaluate educational activities on traffic safety and mobility, and are embarking upon the creation of new, or updating existing, activities. The new resource should also be useful to Ministries, Authorities, Schools and Organisations when deciding on which activities and projects to buy or fund.  

Transport MEPs say that the goal of zero deaths on European roads by 2050 (Vision Zero) calls for more robust measures on road safety, such as, 30 km/h speed limit, zero-tolerance for drink-driving and more safety features in infrastructure and vehicles. Transport MEPs call on the Commission to establish a European road transport agency to support sustainable, safe and smart road transport and to consider the incorporation of a “driving safe mode” for mobile and electronic devices of drivers in order to inhibit distractions while driving. 

The Horizon 2020 projects BeOpen (European forum and Observatory for open science in transport) and OSCAR (Open ScienCe Aeronautic & Air Transport Research) co-organised with great success the “BE OPEN meets OSCAR: Open Science Collaboration” joint workshop, which was held online, on 16 June 2021. The event focused on providing general guidelines for Open Science promotion, regulatory schemes for Open Science operationalization and presenting interactive tools for enhancing Open Science collaboration amongst transport stakeholders.   NTUA contributed actively with the following presentation:  European Code of Conduct of Open Science in Transport

The 7th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) took place virtually with great success, on 19-22 June, 2021.  The theme of the congress was “Towards Precision Neurology”. Latest best practices in neurology was discussed, including cognitive impairment role in fitness to drive.  NTUA contributed actively with the following presentation:  Alzheimer’s Dementia and predictors of Driving Cessation: Results from a 4-year Longitudinal Study  

Greece was awarded with the 2021 Annual Road Safety Award of the European Transport Safety Council for achieving the 2010-2020 target of reducing road fatalities by 50% (performing 54% decrease from 1.258 road fatalities in 2010 to 579 in 2020), making also NTUA proud of its contribution. This significant improvement over the last decade is the result of constantly increasing effort by the Public Authorities and all road safety stakeholders on infrastructure improvements (new motorways, new urban mobility schemes, etc.), legislation (new traffic fines scheme, driving licence, etc.), campaigns and education schemes. As a result, Greek drivers changed significantly their safety behaviour, initially triggered by the economic crisis but maintained also well after, demonstrated in a constantly improving road safety culture of a more mature society. However, even if Greece progressed from 26th to 20th position during the decade, collective efforts should continue as it still lags well behind the EU average.  

The 4th Newsletter of the EU funded Horizon 2020 project Levitate (Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles) was recently released focusing on the results of the latest Levitate Webinar titled “Road safety assessment of automated vehicles“, and on several events and news on Road Safety.

The RADAR project within the framework of Interreg Danube Transnational Programme, organised on 15 June 2021 the 6th Road Safety Expert Group online Meeting with focus on road infrastructure safety management. Key experts contributed into a vivid discussion on the challenges and opportunities brought by the new EU Directive on road infrastructure safety management.    NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:   Network-wide Road Safety Assessment

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) published the 15th edition of PIN Annual Report , with the active contribution of NTUA, presented at the 2021 ETSC Road Safety Performance Index Award event which took place online with great success on 16 June 2021. While the collective EU road death reduction target for 2020 was not met, all countries made improvements, and saved lives by trying to reach it. Only Greece reached the target with a 54% reduction in road deaths. Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Belgium, Slovenia, Italy, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Denmark, Austria and Hungary achieved a decrease above the EU average of 37%, while the other countries progressed to a lesser extent. The progress was slowest in the Netherlands with a 5% decrease and the UK with 14%. 

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), in collaboration with the International Transport Forum (ITF), has launched the FIA Disabled Motoring Website. The FIA Disabled Motoring website provides access to information on facilities and options for people with disabilities travelling by car in different countries around the world. It is based on data collected from FIA Member Clubs and ITF Member States around the globe. The website is also a resource for everyone travelling outside their own country who are unsure about the rules and conditions for disabled drivers. 

The Forum of European Road Safety Research Institutes (FERSI) is organising a Symposium titled: “Implementing evidence-based road safety measures, removing barriers and enhancing public support“, which will be held online, on 14 October 2021. The Symposium will consist of three presentations on vulnerable road users, speed and road safety management. Practitioners and decision makers who have been successful in implementing effective but sometimes controversial road safety measures will share their experience.  The symposium is a prelude to a physical conference on the same topic that will held in the autumn of 2022.  

The network of thematic experts Vip4Ride is organising the 2nd International Conference which will be held in Alexandroupolis, Greece, on 14-15 October. The Conference will be held under the theme: “Intermodal Transports: Innovations in Planning, Management, Business Development & Decision Making” and it will focus on the main economic advantages of developing intermodal transport, energy and tourism sectors.Special attention is given to decision making for investments and project financing in large infrastructures to promote intermodal options. Abstract submissions deadline: 16 July 2021 

The  Australasian College of Road Safety (ACRS) has recently published the Journal of Road Safety, May 2021 Edition. The JRS accepts papers from all countries and regions around the world and publishes a diverse range of high-quality papers on road safety from researchers, policy makers, program implementers and other road safety experts, providing anyone interested in road safety with a rich source of current knowledge, evidence, developments and best practice in road safety implementation. 

Τhe European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) is organising the LEARN! Manual Webinar, which will be held online, on 23 June 2021. The LEARN! Manual is a handbook for developing and evaluating activities and programmes for traffic safety and mobility education. It sets out recommendations, criteria and guidance to develop and implement sound educational activities in an accessible way. This webinar will present the LEARN! Manual, and show how its different steps can be applied in practice through examples from across Europe.  Registrations are open

A paper titled “To cross or not to cross? Review and meta-analysis of pedestrian gap acceptance decisions at midblock street crossings” authored by Athanasios Theofilatos,  Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Oscar Oviedo-Trespaliacios and Andrew Timmis was recently published by the Journal of Transport & Health. The paper explores pedestrian gap acceptance decisions in urban midblock locations. Fixed effects and random-effects meta-analyses are used to investigate the overall effect of critical variables. Results indicate that a unit increase in vehicle speed decreases pedestrians’ odds of crossing by 10%, while a unit increase in temporal gap size increases the odds of crossing by 7.2 times. Each crossing attempt increases the odds of crossing more than 16 times. 

EFTHITA Rhodes participated very actively in the Sixth UN Global Road Safety Week with several actions promoting speed limits of 30km/h in urban areas. Cyclists’ teams joined the cause and posters for road safety were distributed with the messages #StreetsforLife and #Love30, to raise awareness on how low-speed streets can save lives. 

The first meeting of the Road Safety Governmental Committee was held on 9 June 2021 at the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. The Road Safety Governmental Committee holds the administrative accountability of planning, implementing and supervising the National Road Safety Action Plan. In the meeting, there was a presentation of data regarding the basic pillars of the Action Plan, as well as an evaluation of the actions taken towards the Plan’s implementation. Participants in the committee were: the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Yannis Kefalogiannis as chairman, the Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection Eleftherios Oikonomou as vice-chairman,  the Alternate Minister of Interior Stelios Petsas, the Alternate Minister of Health Vasilis Kontozamanis, the Deputy Minister of Education and Religious Affairs Zeta Makri and the Deputy Minister of Digital Governance Georgios Georgantas. 

The Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked 4th globally (2nd in Europe) according to ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2021, being the best performance of any Higher Education School in Greece.  The GRAS use a range of objective academic indicators and third-party data to measure the performance of world universities in respective subjects, including research output, research influence, international collaboration, research quality, and international academic awards.  NTUA road safety activities have contributed to this ranking.  

A paper titled “Correlations of multiple rider behaviors with self-reported attitudes, perspectives on traffic rule strictness and social desirability“, authored by Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Dimitris Nikolaou and George Yannis is  published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. Numerous statistical relationships were discovered and quantified correlating the four examined unsafe rider behaviors with eight latent unobserved variables. All covariances between unsafe behaviors were found to be positive and statistically significant, indicating that a rider who will engage more frequently in every single one of the four examined unsafe riding behaviors is more likely to also engage in all the others as well. 

The RADAR project team organised with great success the 5th Road Safety Expert Group (RSEG) Meeting, which was held online, on 27 May 2021, under the theme: “Transport Safety and COVID-19“. There is a reasonable threat that investments in road infrastructure safety will be largely affected by the covid-19 and will shrink already small budgets dedicated to road infrastructure safety. Improving road infrastructure safety in the Danube area in this critical time requires action to demonstrate by facts the real impact of the pandemic outbreak on road safety.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  COVID-19 impact on mobility and safety

SAFER Vehicle, the Université Gustave Eiffel and the University of New South Wales are co-organising the 8th International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention (DDI2022), which will be held in Gothenburg, on 19-20 October 2022. DDI2022 is the primary international event on this topic, attracting delegates from more than 20 countries. It is designed to bring participants – from academia, industry and government – up-to-date on the developments and trends in the field of inattention and distraction in driving. 

Lund University and The Swedish Cycling Research Centre at VTI are co-organising the ICSC2021 under the theme “Safe cycling as an integral part of the future mobility system: planning and designing for a safe interaction between road users“, which will be held online, on 10-12 November 2021. The Conference will take place on the virtual networking platform in which efficient social interactions are made possible and it will have a special session under the theme “Cycling in pandemic time”. Abstracts submission deadline: 18 June 2021