Author: Virginia Petraki
The World Road Association – PIARC recently published a Report titled “Implementation of National Safe System Policies: A Challenge”. This report provides a contribution to global road safety through a summary of National Safe System Policies and Implementation in relation to the Safe System approach. The report also highlights the steps that low, middle and high-income countries alike can take to accelerate progress towards Safe System outcomes. The report includes a number of key findings from a review and survey of international practice related to national Safe System policies and implementation, which are listed below and expanded further in the body of the report. The focus of this report is related to infrastructure road safety elements, with limited focus on the institutional arrangements and management of safety. 
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published the 39th PIN Flash Report “How to improve the safety of goods vehicles in the EU?“. This report examines the toll transport of goods and services has taken in terms of road deaths over the period 2010 to 2018. It examines the performance of individual countries, as well as the European Union as a whole, in tackling the risks, and describes some of the policies needed to reduce deaths and serious injuries in the future. 
A new NACTO resource on emerging street practices for pandemic response and recovery was developed through a collaboration between NACTO, the NACTO Global Designing Cities Initiative, Bloomberg Associates, Street Plans, and Sam Schwartz. This resource aggregates and synthesizes emerging practices in transportation and street design in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights cities’ current efforts to re-organize streets to best manage this crisis and support economic recovery. This new resource will be revised and expanded regularly as more data becomes available on what approaches are the most successful at meeting city goals.
The newsletter May 2020 of the Horizon 2020 project Levitate (Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles) was recently released highlighting the relation of automated vehicles and COVID-19. It presents an interview with Helmut Augustin, City of Vienna, and the first LEVITATE webinar on the impacts of automation in freight transport. The newsletter also highlights the upcoming 2nd webinar on the impacts of automation in urban transport on 11 June 2020.
The Horizon 2020 project Levitate (Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles) is organising the 2nd webinar on the impacts of automation in urban transport – featuring local urban strategies on 11 June, 2020 (10:00-11:30 CET). This webinar will give an insight into the challenges that Urban mobility is facing due to the COVID-19 crisis and into local mobility strategies for longer terms adapted to the new normal. There will be presentations from LEVITATE partners: National Technical University of Athens, Transport for Greater Manchester, and an additional city representative (tbc).
The 2nd Newsletter of the Horizon 2020 project BeOpen (European forum and observatory for open science in transport) was recently released highlighting the results of the second project meeting (Piraeus, February 2020), the EOSC Symposium results and the EC President’s speech mentioning the importance of the European Open Science Cloud. Sign up here:
Sign up here: 
The European Commission has recently published the “Study on the feasibility, costs and benefits of retrofitting advanced driver assistance to improve road safety”, prepared by VTT and Ecorys. This study examined the technical feasibility of various retrofit ADAS systems (voluntarily or mandatory installable) while demonstrated the potential safety impacts of retrofitting the vehicle fleet and presented a cost-benefit assessment for the measures. Detection and warning of pedestrians and cyclists nearby the front or side of the vehicle proved having the highest benefit-cost ratio, as addressing the Vulnerable Road Users safety, being the key current road safety problem.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) published recently the “European Regional Status Report on Road Safety 2019” with the active contribution of NTUA. The European Regional Status Report on Road Safety describes the progress made by Governments in the Region. This Report demonstrates that over 221 people are killed on roads every day in the WHO European Region while thousands more are injured or disabled, with long-lasting effects. People from the eastern part of our Region bear the highest burden of road-traffic mortality and morbidity.
Audrey Testaferrata de Noto has successfully defended his PhD dissertation titled: Driver Perception-Reaction Times in Level 3 Automated Vehicles. This PhD thesis was carried out at the Faculty for the Build Environment of the University of Malta under the supervision of NTUA Prof. George Yannis. The scope of the research was to establish the Perception-Reaction Time (PRT) of drivers in a simulated Level 3 vehicle and to examine the interdependency between the person-specific characteristics in relation to different scenarios featuring different in-vehicle distractions and different type of alerts and subsequently to compare these values with those of standard specifications used in road design in different countries for the calculation of Stopping Sight Distances (SSD). The results gave an average perception-reaction time of 4.23 seconds and showed that the younger age groups have lower PRTs for all scenarios than their older counterparts. 
Every year Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina), loses many valuable human lives and incurs enormous economic costs caused by road accidents. The Traffic Safety Agency of Republic of Srpska in cooperation with the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) are organizing the 9th International Conference Road Safety in Local Community, which will take place in Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska on 29-30 October 2020 aiming to constantly strengthen and develop capacities at the local level and create groups of road safety experts who will have enough enthusiasm, courage and will to fight with this problem facing the country. Title and abstract submission: 24 May 2020
Title and abstract submission: 24 May 2020
A paper titled “An exploration of European road users’ safety attitudes towards speeding” authored by Alexandra Laiou, Athanasios Theofilatos, George Yannis, Uta Meesmann and Katrien Torfs is now published in Journal of Transportation Safety & Security. The objective of this paper is to analyse attitudes and opinions of Europeans on speeding and compare them amongst countries based on demographic characteristics as well as to provide a number of recommendations to be used in the effort to reduce speeding and improve road safety. All reported attitudes depend strongly on participants’ gender and age. The majority of people who accept driving over the speed limit do not believe that speed limits are set at acceptable levels. 
The Hellenic Association of Driving Instructors together with Key Transportation Organisations in Greece are organising an International Multidisciplinary Traffic Safety Virtual Conference on 29-30 May 2020. The Conference aims concern the evaluation of traffic and road safety in Greece, the identification of current and future pedestrians and vehicles traffic problems in Greece related to new technologies, the exchange of experiences from scientific studies, and current traffic safety actions and practices in Greece and internationally. The online program of the Conference is available:
The online program of the Conference is available: 
The 1st newsletter of the Horizon 2020 project Drive2theFuture (Needs, wants and behaviour of drivers and automated vehicle users today and into the future) was recently released highlighting the 1st Drive2theFuture Workshop (Brussels, March 2020), together with the Autonomous Vehicles consumer survey and the results from the three Plenary Meetings which took place so far. The 1st Newsletter highlights also the 12 pilots of the project and makes a reference to the three Horizon 2020 projects which focus also on driver behaviour and acceptance of connected, cooperative and automated transport. Sign up here.
Sign up here.
In France since July 1, 2018, the speed limit on all two-way roads, without a central separator, outside urban areas was reduced from 90 km/h to 80 km/h. The French Road Safety Observatory (ONISR) and Cerema published recently a provisional 18-months evaluation in which it was demonstrated that over the year 2019, compared to the reference average for 2013-2017, 211 lives were saved on the network outside built-up areas outside motorways, while at the same time 44 more lives were lost in built-up areas.
Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) in collaboration with the VIAS Institute recently published the Manual on “Towards the 12 voluntary global targets for road safety”, providing guidance for countries on activities and measures to achieve the voluntary global road safety performance targets. It spells out what type of activities need to be undertaken, what data sources can be used and how performance can be measured and presented. It defines each target and points out what actions need to be taken and how each target can be measured.
The Horizon 2020 project Levitate (Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles) organised a webinar on the future impacts of automation in freight transport on 23 April 2020, 10:00-11:30 CET. This webinar gave an insight on autonomous solutions in freight, as well as their future impacts and potentials in the transport sector. It was presented an introduction of LEVITATE and its use case on freight transport, the project ALEES from VIL (Platform for the logistics sector in Flanders) and an overview of ALICE on Autonomous Freight Transport Potentials.
International Road Federation (IRF) – Geneva in collaboration with the European Union Road Federation (ERF) and the European Association of Tollway Operators (ASECAP) organised the IRF Virtual Workshop on “Unleashing road infrastructure potential for Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM)”, on 23 April 2020. This workshop session provided insights into the role, the vision and challenges of the road infrastructure sector in this transition period towards Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM). With an average audience of 200 international participants, 12 speakers from different backgrounds described how road infrastructure stakeholders will contribute to the new mobility ecosystem stressing the importance of mutual understanding and collaboration with other sectors.
The results of the EU-funded Horizon 2020 SaferAfrica project are highlighted at the Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) of the European Commission. SaferAfrica, aiming to share expertise between Europe and Africa, focused on four pillars: Road Safety Knowledge and Data, a Road Safety Traffic Management Capacity Review, Capacity Building and Training and Sharing Good Practices. The most innovative results of the project are the African Road Safety Observatory and the African-European Dialogue Platform on Road Safety, developed with the active contribution of NTUA.
UNECE and the Ministry of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina organised the Transport-related SDGs and Road Safety System Workshop which took place with great success in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, on 4-5 March 2020. The aim of the Workshop was to strengthen the knowledge of competent institutions in the field of road safety in Bosnia and Herzegovina and experts on transport‐related SDG and how to define framework road safety strategy and improve road safety situation. NTUA road safety presentations concerned:
A Diploma Thesis titled “Spatio-temporal analysis of traffic safety using data from smartphone sensors” was recently presented by Elina Frantzola. Data from smartphone sensors on driver behaviour were combined with traffic data from the Athens Traffic Management Centre and the respective geometric characteristics from Google Maps in order to produce the respective GIS maps and allow for statistical analysis. The statistical models developed demonstrated that traffic characteristics (traffic speed and occupancy) have the most statistically significant impact on the frequency of harsh events compared to road geometric characteristics and driver behaviour data. Finally, a strong correlation between harsh events and time variation was found, indicating an overall increase in harsh events during nighttime.
A Diploma Thesis titled “Driving behaviour during texting and surfing in rural roads using a driving simulator” was recently presented by Marios Sekadakis. The aim of this Diploma Thesis is to investigate the impact of texting and web surfing through smartphone on the driving behaviour and safety of young drivers on rural roads. It was found that driver distraction leads to statistically significant increase of accident probability, headway distance and lateral distance variation. On the other hand, it was observed that speed variation and headway distance variation were reduced.
A Diploma Thesis titled “Investigation of Flying Autonomous Vehicles traveller acceptance in Greece” was recently presented by George Priftis. The objective of the present Diploma Thesis is to investigate traveller acceptance of Flying Autonomous Vehicles in Greece, as well as the identification of the most significant factors affecting that decision. Results show that the of acceptance mostly depends on the cost, time, comfort, choices, habits and demographics of Greek travellers. Faster and cheaper trips together with higher technology culture lead to higher acceptance of flying autonomous vehicles.
A Diploma Thesis titled “Comparative Analysis of Traffic Accident factors per Driver Nationality in the European Union” was recently presented by Aikaterini Skliami. The aim of this Diploma Thesis is the comparative analysis of road accident factors for the various nationalities of killed driver in the European Union. The application of the models revealed that driver nationality had a statistically significant effect on the number of drivers killed in traffic accidents. The main factors differentiating traffic accidents of local and foreign drivers are driver gender and accident area type.
A Diploma Thesis titled “Driver choices towards ridesharing” was recently presented by Athanasia Boulougari. The objective of this Diploma Thesis is to investigate and analyse drivers’ preferences towards ridesharing, with focus on investigating whether passengers intend to share vehicles and identifying the main factors determining the choice of ridesharing service as a travel mode. Results indicate that especially young and female travelers were found willing more to use ridesharing services. Furthermore, it was found that when traveling for work, increased transit time and number of work related weekly trips lead to increased probability of ridesharing use.
The fifth edition of the Glossary for Transport Statistics is now published by the ITF, Eurostat and UNECE. The Glossary for Transport Statistics was published for the first time in 1994 with the purpose of assisting member countries during the collection of data on transport using the Common Questionnaire developed by the UNECE, ITF and Eurostat. It now comprises 744 definitions and represents a point of reference for all those involved in transport statistics. The road accidents section can be proved highly useful for international road safety statistics.
The Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked this year 11th in Europe and 39th worldwide among all Civil Engineering Schools. This ranking is produced by the QS Organisation (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020) based on the following criteria: Research, Teaching, Employability, Facilities, Internationalization, Innovation, Engagement and Access. NTUA road safety activities have contributed to this ranking.
The 2020 International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury Europe Conference will take place on 9-11 September 2020 in Munich, Germany. The focus of IRCOBI is on the avoidance and reduction of the severity of traffic accidents, with special emphasis on advanced safety technologies and the biomechanics of injury.
POLIS, the European Cities Network, is organizing the 2020 Annual Polis Conference which will take place on 2-3 December 2020 in the Arnhem-Nijmegen City Region, Netherlands. The Polis Annual Conference provides an opportunity for cities and regions to showcase their transport achievement to an audience of mobility experts, practitioners and decision makers. Polis Conference also provides a unique opportunity for an organisation to connect with up to 600 committed transport innovation professionals who work in local and regional governments, and related public and private sector organisations.
The Universities’ Transport Study Group (UTSG) Executive Committee decided that the 52nd Annual UTSG Conference at the Loughborough University on the 6th to 8th July 2020 will not be a face-to-face conference due to the global coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, the Smeed competition will still take place with presentations being made in a virtual environment on Monday 6th July 2020 and Annual Business Meeting of UTSG on Tuesday 7th July 2020 between 10am and 12 noon via the virtual conferencing facility webex. One key UTSG activity is an annual conference for staff, research students and other relative newcomers to transport research of member institutions and overseas universities, which is designed to discuss research needs, research in progress, and to give research students the opportunity to present papers on their work.
NTUA supports and endorses the Stockholm Declaration, as the outcome document of the 3rd Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety 2020, focusing on global road safety efforts up to 2030 presented by the Swedish Minister for Infrastructure. The Declaration went through an extensive consultation with WHO Member States through their permanent representations in Geneva, and a transparent and inclusive public consultation open to everybody around the world and is expected to guide all road safety efforts around the globe for the decade up to 2030.
