The International Transport Forum (ITF) organised with great success the 7th Meeting of the Safer City Streets Network, which was held in Guadalajara, Mexico, on 18-19 October 2022. The Meeting’s agenda reflected plenty of key issues such as Monitoring Progress in Urban Road Safety – Release of new data and report and Inclusion, Equity, Gender, Sustainability and Participatory initiatives.   

The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) organised with great success the Road Safety on Five Continents (RS5C) Conference, which was held in Grapevine, Texas, on 10-12 October 2022. The Conference aimed to be a leading source of research results and interaction in the transport area with focus on safety and health associated with road transport. Based on this theme, participants from about 20 countries joined and about 70 presentations were held, about hot topics and the latest research in the road transport area. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation :

•  The Baseline project: Key Performance Indicators for Road Safety in EU countries, based on a common methodology for data collection and analysis

The European Commission and the Agência Nacional de Inovação (ANI) together with the European Transport Research Platforms ACARE, ALICE, CEDR, ECTP, ERRAC, ERTRAC, ETRA and Waterborne, organised with great success the Transport Research Arena Conference (TRA2022) which took place in Lisbon, on 14-17 November 2022. The pillars of the Conference were the scientific excellence, research and innovation challenges, the latest technological and industrial developments and innovative policies regarding the European Transport Research and Innovation and the cooperation of Europe with other continents.    NTUA actively contributed with 33 innovative presentations:

•   Development of the road safety strategic plan in Greece, 2021-2030
•   Effective road safety measures in Greece
•   EU countries’ ranking in different road crash types
•   Harmonization of National Access Points to Intelligent Transport Systems data: A data content and added value perspective
•   Potential safety outcomes of communication difficulties in mixed nationality crews: A study of Greek and Norwegian vessels
•   The Baseline project: Key Performance Indicators for Road Safety in EU countries, based on a common methodology for data collection and analysis
•   Assessing Driver Safety Behaviour in Greece
•   Establishing the relationship between crashes and unsafe driver behaviors in motorway segments
•   A methodology for the network-wide, in-built safety assessment of roads
•   Simulation platform from data collection to impact assessment of autonomous vehicles
•   Identifying the automated vehicle driving policy in the vicinity of pedestrian
•   The LEVITATE Policy Support Tool of Connected and Automated Transport Systems
•   The impacts of automated urban delivery and consolidation
•   How to Define a Safety Tolerance Zone for Speed?
•   Investigation of the time spent in dangerous driving conditions: Findings from the i-DREAMS project
•   Framework for behaviour change implemented in real-time and post-trip interventions of the H2020 i-DREAMS naturalistic driving project
•   Effectiveness of real-time and post-trip interventions from the H2020 i-DREAMS naturalistic driving project: a sneak preview
•   Safety impact assessment for seamless interactions through Human-Machine Interfaces: Indicators, requirements, and practical considerations
•   Traffic & Environmental Impact Assessment Under Distinct Operational Speeds For Automated Shuttle Bus Services
•   Was average speed affected by the COVID-19 response measures? Findings from Athens, Greece
•   A critical assessment of Athens Traffic Restrictions using multiple data sources
•   Traffic Impacts of Innovative Traffic and Parking Arrangements in Athens, Greece
•   The impact of cognitive disorders and other risk factors on reaction time of drivers: a Structural Equation Model approach
•   A socioeconomic analysis for a green traffic restrictions scheme in Athens
•   The impact of mobility characteristics on public transport and road safety performance in selected European cities
•   Critical impact factors of pedestrians traffic combining multiple data sources in Athens
•   Free Public Transport in Athens: a stated preference approach
•   Electric or not? Factors affecting Greek Drivers’ Preference when Purchasing a New Vehicle
•   Critical Factors Affecting Mobile Phone Use While Driving Through the Exploitation of Data from Smartphone Sensors
•   Critical travel time impact factors at the implementation of the Athens Great Walk
•   The Comparative Evaluation of Road Safety Developments in Greek Regions
•   Association Rule Mining for Island and Mainland Road Crash Injuries in Greece
•   The impact of weather conditions and driver characteristics on road safety on rural roads

The International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD), the Université Gustave Eiffel, CEREMA, ONISR and ENTPE co-organised with great success the 7th IRTAD Conference: Better Road Safety Data for Better Safety Outcomes, which was held in Lyon, on 27 – 28 September 2022 . The Conference focused on improvements in the quality of data systems and data analysis in IRTAD and other countries as an essential way to build and monitor strong road safety policies in the Decade 2021-2030, which are comprehensively summarized at the IRTAD Declaration.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations :

•  Traffic fatalities during the COVID-19 pandemic: Key lessons learned
•  EU Project Baseline measuring road safety performance indicators
•  Collection of Key Performance Indicators for Road Safety in Greece
•  Setting Priority Measures to meet Targets and KPIs: The Greek National Road Safety Plan 2021-2030
•  Driver behaviour KPIs through smartphone telematics
•  Crash data systems within the Eastern Partnership Road Safety Observatory

The Dresden Technical University organised with great success the International Cycling Safety Conference (ICSC2022) which was held in Dresden, Germany on 8–10 November 2022. The ICSC is a forum for researchers and experts in the field of cycling safety to exchange their knowledge and bring up new research topics and safety solutions. The conference included 12 parallel sessions, 2 keynote speeches, 2 poster sessions and a variety of social events.  

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) published the 16th edition of PIN Annual Report , with the active contribution of NTUA, presented at the 2022 ETSC Road Safety Performance Index Award event which took place online with great success on 15 June 2022. The EU27 collectively reduced the number of road deaths by 31% over the period 2011-2021, from 28,865 in 2011 to 19,823 in 2021. There were 57,095 fewer deaths on EU roads over the last decade than there would have been if deaths had continued at the same level as in 2011. 

The Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked this year 18th in Europe and 50th worldwide among all Civil Engineering Schools. This ranking is produced by the QS Organisation (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022) based on the following criteria: Research, Teaching, Employability, Facilities, Internationalization, Innovation, Engagement and Access. NTUA road safety activities have contributed to this ranking. 

The European Commission has added to its library of European Road Safety Observatory road safety data and analytical resources with the publication of Thematic Reports on the use of seatbelts and child restraint systems, serious injuries through road crashes and on driver impairment due to alcohol, drugs and medicines. The aim of these Reports is to aid understanding of the causes and impacts of road crashes, with the ultimate aim of achieving “vision zero” of zero road deaths or serious injuries in Europe’s roads by 2050. 

The European Commission has launched EU pilot projects to assess safety of infrastructure. These pilot projects are carried out to test methodologies for the network-wide road assessments developed with the active contribution of NTUA, required under the Road Infrastructure Safety Management Directive (RISM). The Network-wide road assessments allow national authorities to identify those sections of road where the opportunities to improve safety are the greatest and where targeted investment should deliver the biggest improvements. 

The European Commission marked the International Level Crossing Awareness Day. Almost 300 people per year die in crashes at level crossings, representing around 30% of all railway deaths. The Commission has published a thematic report on this issue, setting out the situation regarding collisions at level crossings and measures the that could be taken to prevent them. In the Western Balkans region, the Transport Community has launched an awareness campaign to try to reduce the number and severity of collisions at railway crossings. 

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organised with great success the EU Road Safety Exchange – Final Event which was held in Brussels, on 18 May 2022. Dutch-inspired improvements to cycling infrastructure in Lithuania, harmonised day and night-time urban speed limits in Poland and major new national road safety strategies in Greece and Portugal are some of the changes inspired by the EU-funded Road Safety Exchange project. The recordings of the Final Event are now available

The World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTRS) is organising the 16th World Conference on Transport Research which will be held in Montreal, Canada, on 17-21 July 2023.  For the last 40 years, WCTR has been organised every three years by the WCTR Society. WCTR allowes sharing cutting-edge research and advanced state-of-practice and provides a unique opportunity for experts to exchange ideas in all areas of transport research. Registration is now open.  

The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) has published a Report titled Detecting Urban Clues for Road Safety : Leveraging Big Data and Machine Learning Report. The Report presents opportunities to use new technologies to improve current methods for data collection and analysis for various road safety assessments. This guidance note provides a practical guide for using new data sources and analytical methods for road safety analysis in different types of projects that may impact road infrastructure or risk-related factors.  

The World Health Oganisation (WHO) recently published the revised edition of the Manual on Drink-Driving: A Road Safety Manual for Decision-Makers and Practitioners. The Manual provides guidance for decision-makers and practitioners to reduce the prevalence of drink driving and associated road trauma. It draws on experience from countries that have succeeded in achieving and sustaining reductions in alcohol-related road trauma, and includes recommendations for developing and implementing drink driving legislation, and advice on how to monitor and evaluate progress.  

The 11th Symposium of European Association for Research in Transportation (hEART2023) will take place in Zurich, on 6-8 September 2023.  The Symposium will offer an opportunity for in depth discussion in all scientific methods and analyses in transport. Event details such as registration and programme are going to be announced in due course. 

The 10th Symposium of European Association for Research in Transportation (hEART2022), co-organized by KU Leuven and the University of Luxembourg took place in Leuven, on 1-3 June 2022. The Symposium offered an opportunity for in depth discussion in all scientific methods and analyses in transport including safety, in plenary, in focus groups and in a summer school for PhD students on 31 May 2022. 

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organized with great success the Road Safety Performance Index Annual Conference (PIN conference) which was held online, on 15 June 2022. This year’s PIN Conference focused on assessing how improving road safety can help countries reach the 2030 target to cut road deaths and serious injuries by 50% and it also presented the 2022 PIN Award to a country that has made outstanding progress on improving road safety. 

The World Road Association (PIARC)  is organising the XXVIIth World Road Congress, which will be held in Prague, on 2-6 October 2023. PIARC launches a call for papers on 49 topics to contribute to the programme of this Congress, wich will be held under the theme “Together on the road again”, presenting  a unique opportunity to discuss in depth all subjects related to road infrastructures and road transport. Abstract submissions deadline: 15 September 2022   

HUMANIST organized with great success the “HUMANIST Summer School 2022“, which was held in Vienna, Austria on 14-16 September 2022. The main topic of this Summer School session was “Human Factors, Automated Driving and Active Mobility” with 2 focusses: Psychological fitness to manage automated driving & Changing mobility behaviour towards more active travel: measuring ‘experience’ and cultural factors.  

The EU-funded Horizon 2020 project Levitate (Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles) organized with great success the Project’s Final Conference, which was held in Brussels, on 25 May 2022. The LEVITATE partners shared the results achieved and the tools developed to assess the potential societal impacts of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) on the mobility system and wider livability goals, including safety, the environment, the economy and society. A focused presentation of the Levitate CCAM Policy Support Tool is also foreseen.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations :

•  Policy Support Tool
•  Automated Urban Transport Services

The Horizon 2020 research project SHOW (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) has recently released the SHOW 4th Newsletter. The Newsletter shares very interesting times for the project, with the first pilot sites progressing with their large-scale trials in public, allowing citizens to experience their automated solutions in public transport. 

Τhe European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) together with environmental and road safety organisations, has written to the European Commissioners responsible for Climate Action, Energy, Environment and Transport, calling for recommendations on lower speed limits as a way of tackling dependence on Russian oil, as well as emissions and road deaths. The six organisations say that with the catastrophic invasion of Ukraine, European reliance on Russian oil has become a strategic threat and the current crisis requires bold action. 

The ESRA2 Group (E-Survey of Road Users’ Attitudes) together with IFSTTAR/Universite Gustave Eiffel organised with great success the International Conference on Traffic Safety Culture and Performance Indicators that was held online, on 21 April 2022. The Conference was an opportunity to learn from in-depth scientific analyses of the ESRA databases, in relation to different types of road users and different aspects of attitudes, behavior and culture and highlight key road safety problems and solutions.  NTUA actively contributed with the following  presentations:

•  Correlations of multiple rider behaviors with self-reported attitudes, perspectives on traffic rule strictness and social desirability
•  Modelling self-reported driver perspectives and fatigued driving via deep learning

The European Commission announced the winners of the European sustainable mobility Αwards, where Rethymno (Greece) won the EU Urban Road Safety Award. The jury was impressed by Rethymno’s inclusive approach to road safety, which targets three main pillars: upgrading the public transport system, increasing and encouraging behavioural change through a variety of activities, and the establishment of integrated cooperation with local stakeholders. The awards were presented at a hybrid ceremony in Brussels hosted by Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Transport and Mobility. 

The Third Meeting of the Road Safety Governmental Committee was held on 31 March at the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. The main priorities of the Government Road Safety Committee are the new National Road Safety Strategic Plan for the period 2021-2030, the new Road Safety Law and the improvements of the Road Traffic Code, the National Road Safety Repository and the National Road Safety Observatory. Participants in the committee were: the Minister of State Akis Skertsos, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Michalis Papadopoulos, the Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection Eleftherios Oikonomou, the Deputy Minister of Education and Religious Affairs Zeta Makri, the Alternate Minister of Health Mina Gaga, the Alternate Minister of Interior Stelios Petsas, on behalf of the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Theodoros Livanios the General Secretary of Digital Governance and Procedures Leonidas Christopoulos and the General Secretary of Transport Giannis Xifaras. 

The Intertraffic Exhibition 2022 was held in Amsterdam, on 29 March – 1 April 2022. The Exhibition offered mobility professionals the ability to experience the latest solutions for today’s challenges with all the experts in the field and to discover the latest trends in infrastructure, traffic management, smart mobility, road safety and parking.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:

•  Safer Mobility with Artificial Intelligence
•  Big Data for Sustainable and Innovative Roads

The European Commission published preliminary figures on Road safety in the EU, showing that  road fatalities in 2021 remain well below pre-pandemic level. EU-wide, road deaths in 2021 rose by 5% on the previous year, although comparisons with 2020 are strongly influenced by the traffic level patterns in each country during the course of the pandemic. Between 2019 and 2020, the number of road fatalities fell by 17%.  

The Road Safety Institute “Panos Mylonas” (RSI) in cooperation with the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE) presented the Digital Platform DRIVE IN THE MOMENT, on March 21, in the context of the 15th Panhellenic Road Safety Week, March 21-27, 2022. The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr. Costas Karamanlis, who attended the event, referred to the National Plan for Road Safety, which extends to four main axes: Safe Roads – Responsible Drivers – Traffic Education – Fair Rules for All and welcome the initiative of the “Drive in the Moment” program, which aims to raise awareness, especially among young people, about the serious issue of distraction by using a mobile phone while driving.   

The European Commission published a Study titled Prevention of Driving under the Influence of Alcohol and Drugs. Among its conclusions, the Study argues in particular that taking steps to mitigate drink driving, such as lower permitted blood alcohol levels or alcohol interlocks, would be particularly relevant for young or novice drivers and for drivers of heavy goods vehicles. However, it also finds that there is a lack of data on drug-driving fatalities and a need to develop more accurate and usable drugs screening devices. 

The European Platform of Transport Sciences (EPTS) organized with great success the 20th European Transport Conference under the theme “After pandemic – before autonomous transport“, which was held in Gyor, Hungary, on 9-10 June 2022. This Conference was special, as it was a joint event with the European Transport Congress organized by the European Platform of Transport Sciences.