The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly for road safety measures to reach zero deaths on EU roads by 2050. The resolution on EU road safety, adopted by 615 votes, notes that around 22 700 people die on EU roads every year, with around 120 000 seriously injured. Based on the  Recommendations on next steps towards “Vision Zero” Report, the measures include: Safe speed limits – 30km/h in residential areas, Zero-tolerance for drink-driving and European road transport agency to support safe and smart transport.  

The EU-funded Horizon 2020 project Levitate (Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles) is organising a Webinar under the theme Policy interventions, which will be held online, on 18 October.  The Webinar will provide insights on the potential impacts of introducing policy measures related to on-street parking repurposing, road-user pricing and dedicated CAV lanes. These policy interventions have been assessed using realistic traffic models  in terms of their impacts on traffic, the environment (CO2, NOx and PM) and road safety. 

The International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences (IATSS) is organising the 7th GIFTS Symposium, which will be held online, on 18 November. In this 7th forum,  experts in transportation and safety as well as specialists from international organizations, will kick around the roles of transportation policy in response to regional and national characteristics. The aim is to exchange opinions and discuss various issues to be resolved for a sustainable transportation society and future prospects, while keeping the ideal post-corona society in mind. 

The Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety released its Good Practice Guide on Meaningful NGO Participation in the Field of Road Safety, demonstrating the unique and essential value of including NGOs in road safety decision making and implementation. The guide is a practical resource for NGOs and other civil society advocates. It describes steps that they can take to position themselves more effectively with their governments and to get their voices included in decision making. 

The 10th Symposium of European Association for Research in Transportation (hEART2022), co-organized by KU Leuven and the University of Luxembourg will take place in Leuven, on 1-3 June 2022. The Symposium will offer an opportunity for scientific discussion and interaction in relatively small groups and it will be accompanied by social events and a summer school intended for PhD students on 31 May 2022.  Short paper submission deadline: 7 January 2022

The Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft (AHG) together with the london School of Economics (LSE) organised with great success the Athens Urban Age Task Force-Sustainable Transport and Walkability Workshop, online, on 1 October. The Workshop focused on key areas of urban intervention such as public spaces, access and walkability and urban greening.  NTUA contributed actively with the following presentation:

• Assessment of the Pilot Operation of the Athens Great Walk

The American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce in Greece organised with great success the 19th Corporate Responsibility Conference under the theme Citizen Sustain: Building a better urban future, which was held in Athens, on 30 September.  The Conference aimed at setting the post-pandemic urban scene from a human-centric perspective and at driving policy-changing discussions in an inclusive collaboration among state, city authorities, business, and civil society, will feature four areas of discussion.    

The Committee on Transport and Tourism of the European Parliament published a Report titled Recommendations on next steps towards “Vision Zero”. The Report on the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030, makes an analysis of all aspects of the new policy and provides an assessment on how EU intents to implement the proposed actions, while setting political priorities and suggesting further initiatives at EU and national levels.  

The Horizon 2020 research project SHOW is organising the Pre-Hackathon Workshop, which will take place during the  ITS World Congress, in Hamburg, on 12 October. The aim of this Workshop is to develop innovative solutions to increase user acceptance and user benefit of automated mobility, focusing on human assistance stand-by in case of problems, adapting capacity to increase in demand in a flexible way and accessibility and assistance for persons with reduced mobility. 

The RADAR project within the framework of Interreg Danube Transnational Programme organised with great success the Final Conference under the theme: Striving for Safer Infrastructure for All Road Users in Danube Area, which was held in Slovenia and online, on 23 September.  Concluding the three and a half years of joint efforts in road safety methodologies, policy, and practice integration, the project comes to an end and this Conference was an opportunity to undeline the need to work towards the implementation of both the United Nations and European Commission goals on road safety.    NTUA contributed actively with the following presentation:

•  How to perform network-wide road safety assessments: creactive and proactive approaches

The Sao Paulo State Department of Traffic, together with Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) organised with great success the 1st Decade of Action for UN Road Safety Webinar, which was held online on 21 September. It was an interesting discussion on the advances and challenges of road safety and mobility in Greece, Colombia and Buenos Aires.  NTUA Professor George Yannis contributed the following key note presentation: 

•  Road Safety in Greece – A decade of improvements

The Deputy Ministry of Sport in collaboration with Motorsport Greece, in the framework of EKO Rally Acropolis, organized a Road Safety Event,  in Athens, on 8 September. Highlight of the event, was a simulated collision and rescue of an injured person, supervised by NTUA. Specifically, a passenger car performed a free fall from a height of 10 metres, only to hit the ground at a speed of 50 km/h. During the event, two strong road safety messages were  displayed: “Always wear a seat belt in the car, wherever you sit” and “We always wear a helmet and protectors on the bike”. 

The Department of Civil, Environmental, Architectural Engineering and Mathematics of Universita Degli Studi di Brescia, organised with great success the 25th Living and Walking in Cities Conference in Brescia, on 9-10 September 2021. The LWC International Conference traditionally deals with the topics of urban mobility and quality of life in urban areas, with a specific focus on vulnerable road users. The main areas and topics of the Conference were transport system and infrastructure, safe mobility for innovative cities and urban planning.  NTUA contributed actively with the following presentation:

•  Transport System & Infrastructure

The Road Safety Institute “Panos Mylonas” (RSI), organised the 16th Year Anniversary Event of the Institute, under the auspices of H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), on 9 September. The message of the event was: “With a vision, we grow stronger TOGETHER” and it was attended by a number of personalities, representatives of the country’s leadership, politicians, executives from the Public and Private sector and other important social partners who pledged the commitment to improving Road Safety in Greece. 

The  International Road Federation (IRF) released the 58th edition of the IRF World Road Statistics 2021 (WRS2021) which continues to be the major comprehensive, universal source of statistical data on road networks, traffic and inland transport, including traffic accidents. This year the WRS 2021 (data 2014-2019) includes up-to-date information for more than 200 countries and 180+ indicators, with the active contribution of NTUA for the Greek data. Split into 11 sections, it includes key data on topics such as Road Networks, Multimodal Traffic, Road Expenditures & Revenues, Road Traffic, Vehicles in Use, Energy Consumption, CO2 Emissions and Road Accidents, and much more. 

The SHOW project (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) is organising the 2nd Pan-European Workshop, titled “Which path for a meaningful, sustainable and feasible CCAM in Europe?”, which will be held in Brussels and online, on 30 September. In the workshop, speakers from European and national governmental bodies, industry, public authorities and academia will share concrete experiences from the SHOW project and other initiatives.  Registration is open 

Eva Michelaraki, NTUA PhD Candidate & Researcher, received  the Young Researcher Best Paper on Road Safety Αward 2021 during the  International Congress on Transport Research 2021. The Award is granted jointly by the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE), the Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT/CERTH), and the Hellenic Association of Toll Road Network (Hellastron).  The award concerned the paper entitled: “Modelling the Safety Tolerance Zone: Recommendations from the i-DREAMS project”, co-authored by Christos Katrakazas, Tom Brijs and George Yannis. 

The Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE) and the Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT/CERTH) co-organized with great success the “10th International Congress on Transportation Research” (ICTR 2021), which was held on 2-3 September, 2021, in Rhodes. The spotlight theme of the 2021 Congress was: “Future Mobility and Resilient Transport: Transition to innovation“.  NTUA contributed actively with the following 30 scientific papers and presentations:

•   Modelling the Safety Tolerance Zone: Recommendations from the i-DREAMS project
•   Impacts of autonomous transit services on urban networks: The case of Athens, Greece
•   Forecasting impacts of Connected and Automated Transport Systems within the Levitate project
•   Key Performance Indicators for safe fluid interactions within automated vehicles
•   Identifying KPIs for the safety assessment of autonomous vehicles through traffic microsimulation
•   Traffic impact assessment of the pilot implementation of Athens Great Walk
•   Traffic Impact Assessment of Innovative Traffic and Parking Measures in the Center of Athens
•   Analysis of traffic and parking characteristics in Athens
•   Lessons Learned from Bicycle Traffic Rules in OECD Countries
•   Investigating the acceptance of environmental parking charging and congestion charging in urban centers in Greece
•   Investigation of speeding and aggressive behavior of professional drivers on highways through an innovative smartphone application
•   Challenges, Opportunities and Constraints of Open Science in Transport Research
•   Clash of cultures in Greek traffic? What happens when a Southern European road safety culture is mixed with a Northern European road safety culture?
•   Fatigue among HGV drivers in Norway and Greece: examining the influence of national road safety culture
•   Development of the Road Safety Strategic Plan in Greece 2021-2030
•   Assessment of the evolution of road safety in Greece
•   A Common Methodology for the Collection of Key Performance Indicators for Road Safety in the EU
•   Action Plan for promoting electromobility in the Region of Attica
•   Techno-Economic Feasibility Analysis for Electromobility in the Region of Attica
•   A four-country comparative overview of the impact of COVID-19 on traffic safety behavior
•   Best practice for safe roads around schools
•   Urban Planning Standards and transportation planning
•   Design Considerations of Compound Alignments Resulting from Visibility Restrictions by Median Jersey Barriers
•   Feasibility study of pedestrian bridge construction in urban arterials in Athens
•   Investigation of factors affecting serious crash injuries in Europe
•   Public opinion on Flying Autonomous Vehicles in Greece: a stated preference approach
•   Public opinion on e-scooters in Athens: a stated preference approach
•   The impact of weather conditions and driver characteristics on road safety
•   What is the area of influence of a vehicle on the road? Theoretical Aspects and Some empirical Findings
•   Comparative Investigation of Road Accident Cost in The European Union
•  Forecasting and backcasting of Connected-Automated Vehicle impacts using multiple methodological inputs

 

The General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) decided that a high‑level meeting on improving global road safety will be held in New York in 2022, right after the Economic and Social Council’s high-level political forum on sustainable development, under the theme of “The 2030 horizon for road safety:  securing a decade of action and delivery”. The meeting will adopt a concise, action-oriented political decision to be submitted by the President of the General Assembly for adoption by that organ. 

A paper titled “Trip characteristics impact on the frequency of harsh events recorded via smartphone sensors” authored by Armira Kontaxi, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and George Yannis is published online in IATSS Research. Results indicate that maximum speed, the percentage of speeding duration and total trip duration are positively correlated with both harsh acceleration and harsh braking frequencies. On the other hand, the exposure metric of total trip distance was found to be negatively correlated with both harsh event types. A small positive correlation of the percentage of mobile use duration with harsh accelerations was also detected. 

The World Road Association – PIARC recently published a Report titled “Automated Vehicles – Challenges and Opportunities for Road Operators and Road Authorities“.  It is likely that some support from the infrastructure will be needed to reach higher levels of automation. Among others, this Report provides initial insights on digital infrastructure and mentions 11 key challenges to tackle regarding social issues in order to make automation a success. 

A paper titled “Impact of socioeconomic and transport indicators on road safety during the crisis period in Europe“, authored by Dimitris Nikolaou, Katerina Folla and George Yannis is published online in International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion. The results of this research show that the evolution of human development affects the outcomes of road crashes more than suicides and passenger-kilometers travelled. After the end of the crisis, the impact of human development is even higher. Concerning passenger-kilometers travelled, there is an increase in the relative impact on road fatalities after the end of the crisis. 

The project EDWARD (Every Day Without A Road Death) is organising a Week of Action under the theme: Fit for the Road, on 13-17 September. A number of Road Trips aim to showcase great examples of road planning, design and engineering, the safest vehicles, nationwide efforts to deter dangerous behaviour and advances in emergency post-crash care. 

iRAP in cooperation with the Regional Road Safety Observatories in Africa (ARSO), Asia-Pacific (APRSO), Ibero-America (OISEVI), Europe (ERSO) and West Balkans (WBRSO), is organising the 2021 iRAP Innovation Workshop which will be held online, on 7 and 14 October. The Workshop will take place under the theme “Data Driven Innovation to Halve Global Road Deaths by 2030” and it aims to bring together global innovation, policy, technical and road safety leaders, along with investment experts, with the capacity to implement change and eliminate high-risk roads. Registration is open 

The 33rd ICTCT Conference will be held online, on 28-29 October under the theme: Paving the way to safer active urban mobility—challenges and opportunities. Among other topics, the Conference will include two special sessions titled: Processing of traffic safety relevant data: data generation, data fusion, data enhancement and Surrogate measures of safety.  Registration is open 

Nneka Henry, Head of the UN Road Safety Fund (UNRSF), together with Namita Shah, Chairwoman of the  TOTALEnergies Foundation, published an article titled: Saving Young Lives, Protecting the Planet, and Growing the Economy: Road Safety for 2030. The article highlights that the global road safety crisis is the leading cause of death among children and youth and that the UNRSF and partners outline ways to make travel safer in developing countries, where 93% of the world’s road traffic deaths occur. 

A paper titled “Investigation of the speeding behavior of motorcyclists through an innovative smartphone application“, authored by Armira Kontaxi, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and George Yannis is published online in Traffic Injury Prevention. The present research contributes a preliminary example of the quantitative documentation of the impact of personalized rider feedback on one of the most important human risk factors; speeding. The ultimate objective when providing feedback to riders is to: (i) trigger their learning and self-assessment process, thus enabling them to gradually improve their performance and (ii) monitor the shift of riding behavior as the application provides feedback. 

CIVINET is organising the 1st CIVINET Greece-Cyprus Forum under the theme “Greek Society Towards the Challenge of Sustainable Mobility on the horizon of 2030”, which will be held in Athens, on 9-10 December 2021. The Conference will be an opportunity for scientific organisations and researchers all over Europe to share their research results, tools, studies, and innovative solutions, with the rapidly growing Greek-speaking sustainable mobility community. 

The Second Meeting of the Road Safety Governmental Committee was held on 27 July at the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. The discussed topics were the upgrade and the promotion of the educational platform “e-drive academy”, the digitalization of the fines’ imposition and collection due to Road Traffic Code violations and the collection of good quality data for a uniform and systematic record of road crashes. Participants in the committee were: the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Yannis Kefalogiannis, the Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection Eleftherios Oikonomou, the Alternate Minister of Interior Stelios Petsas, the Deputy Minister of Education and Religious Affairs Zeta Makri, the Deputy Minister of Digital Governance Georgios Georgantas, the coordinator of the Road Safety Executive Committee Amalia Polydoropoulou and NTUA Professor George Yannis.  

A paper titled “Examining the relationship between impaired driving and past crash involvement in Europe: Insights from the ESRA study” authored by Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Athanasios Theofilatos, Alexandra Laiou, Eva Michelaraki, George Yannis and Tova Rosenbloom, is published online in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion.  In this research, binary logistic analysis indicated that components involving overall personal and communal acceptance of impaired driving, overall and past year personal behaviour towards impaired driving and frequency of typical journey checks by traffic police were all quantities positively correlated with past crash involvement.