The Department of Civil, Environmental, Architectural Engineering and Mathematics of Universita Degli Studi di Brescia, will organise 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 will be transport system and infrastructure, safe mobility for innovative cities and urban planning. 

Rhodes’ Rescuers Association have organised with great success a three-day Webinar titled “Road accidents: Don’t just observe – Act” which was held online on 18-20 December 2020.  The Webinar results are expected to bring significant value to road safety efforts at local, regional and national level. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:

• Critical issues and priority actions for road safety in Greece
  

University of Aveiro will organise the 24th Working Group on Transportation Meeting (EWGT 2021) which will be held in Aveiro, Portugal, 8-10 September 2021. The main goal of the Meeting is to share information and experiences of research activities, to encourage joint research and the development of theoretical methods and applications, to promote the cooperation among different institutions and organisations, leaders at national level in the field of traffic, transportation and logistic systems.

The “Hellenic Association for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems – ITS Hellas, has organised with great success the 6th Intelligent Transport Systems and Developments in Greece Conference which was held online on 14-15 December 2020 with the support of the European Commission Representation in Greece, focusing on issues related to European goals and national aspirations and efforts for the transition to a sustainable and “green” mobility.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:

•  SWOT analysis for electric mobility in Athens
•  New data for supporting Road Safety actions

The European Union Road Federation (ERF) has organised a Roadside Safety Event which was held with great success online on 15 December 2020. The conference was a unique opportunity for road safety experts around the globe to exchange information concerning the latest trends and developments in the area of roadside passive safety and road safety design.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:

•  Impact of Median Jersey Barriers in the Design of Compound Alignments

Africa’s Road Safety Data Challenge (ARSO), Asia Pacific Road Safety Observatory (APRSO) and Ibero-American Road Safety Observatory (OISEVI) with the support of international development organizations, co-organised the Global Meeting of Regional Road Safety Observatories which was held online with great success, on 8-9 December 2020. This Global Conference helped in keeping the momentum created at the Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, and contribute to strengthening collaboration and harmonization across these regional observatories. 

POLIS, the European Cities Network, has organised with great success the 2020 Annual Polis Conference which was held online from 30 November to 3 December. Cities and Regions showcased their transport achievements and get connected with up to 600 committed transport innovation professionals who work in local and Regional Governments and related public and private sector Organisations. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:

•  Development of a Policy Support Tool to assess Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organising with great success an online PIN Talk titled “How to improve the safety of goods vehicles in the EU?“, which was held on 14 December. The event focused on the safety of goods vehicles in the EU, looking at goods vehicle safety but also the safety of goods vehicle drivers and all other road users.   

ERTICO will organise the ITS World Congress which will take place on 11-15 October 2021, in Hamburg, Germany under the theme “Experience Future Mobility Now“. Every year, ERTICO organises an ITS regional or World Congress in Europe. The Congresses are the yearly celebration of smart mobility: they underline the importance of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), particularly in cities and regions where they are hosted, and are important channels to raise awareness of smart mobility solutions among policy makers, experts and the general public. 

The Horizon 2020 research project SHOW (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) will organise the 1st Ideathon, which will be held online on 15 January 2021. Amongst others, the participants will have the chance to contribute to the development of automated urban mobility solutions that address end-users’ real needs and get access to advanced knowledge on automated mobility and gain insights in the needs of different user groups. 

World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Europe has announced the first session in a series of webinars on Road Policing for Road Safety, titled: “Traffic Management vs Road Policing“. The session was held on 1 December 2020. As part of a wider series of topics on road policing and enforcement for road safety, Detective Chief Superintendent Andrew Cox, will present on the transition in operational thinking from traffic management to road policing.  

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) together with the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport under the auspices of the European Commission – DG Move, organised with great success the online EU Road Safety Exchange National Workshop for Greece on 24 November 2020. ‘EU Road Safety Exchange’ is a three-year twinning project (2019-2021) that supports improved institutional capacity and exchange of knowledge and best practice on road safety topics between EU Member States. Speeding and Powered Two Wheelers’ safety have been selected as priority road safety topics for Greece and best practices from France and Spain respectively on these topics were kindly presented by national experts, followed by thorough discussion.  

Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr. Ioannis Kefalogiannis stated that: “Serious effort and international cooperation on key road safety problems can bring  important reduction of road casualties in Greece”. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:

•  Powered Two Wheelers Safety Greece – State of play

The Horizon 2020 project SHOW (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) will  organise the 1st Concertation Workshop, which will be held online on 16 December 2020, from 10.00am to 4.30pm CET. The workshop will focus on discussions about the planning of demonstrations for fleets of Automated Vehicles around Europe, concerning mainly road transport for both passengers and goods.  

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) is organising the 100th Annual Meeting, which will be held online throughout January 2021. The meeting program will cover all transportation modes, addressing topics of interest to policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions. A number of sessions and workshops will focus on the spotlight theme for the 2021 meeting: Launching a New Century of Mobility and Quality of Life. This year’s meeting also will feature dozens of sessions on how COVID-19 has impacted transportation and how transportation professionals and researchers are responding. 

The Laboratory of Health and Road Safety (LaHeRS) organised with great success an online Conference titled: “Road Safety Culture, Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow” on 20-21 November.  The Conference was addressed to teachers and all kinds of specialists who aim at promoting safe transportations.  New developments in the field of road safety culture were discussed followed by a fruitful discussion on innovative methods, modern tools and good practices in the education field.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:

•  Tourism and Road Accidents in Greece

The Road Traffic Safety Agency of Serbia (RTSA) together with several Serbian and international road safety Governmental, Academic and other organisations will organise the 16th International conference Road Safety in Local Communities, on April 14 – 17, 2021.  The first announcement is released and authors are invited to submit their papers.  

The UN Road Safety Collaboration is organizing the global campaign for the Sixth UN Global Road Safety Week, 17-23 May 2021. The 6th Global Road Safety Week will have as theme managing speeding. It will also be a great opportunity to mobilise the global population (Authorities, stakeholders, citizens) and launch the global plan for the newly proclaimed Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030. During this week, several road safety events are expected to be organised worldwide. 

The  European Federation of Road Victims (FEVR) together with the WHO Regional Office for Europe  and UNRSC members commemorated the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (#WDoR2020) on 15 November 2020, as an “appropriate acknowledgement for victims of road traffic crashes and their families”.  Some of the objectives of WDoR 2020 are to provide a platform for road traffic victims and their families to remember all people killed and seriously injured on the roads, to acknowledge the crucial work of the emergency services and to draw attention to the generally trivial legal response to culpable road deaths and injuries.   

In Greece, EFTHITA Rhodes is organising a special event on 15 November 2020, by presenting a poster on the west side of the building of the Greek Parliament, passing the message “Remember-Support-Act”  

The Pioneer Alliance organised successfully an open session for Viewpoints on Sustainable Cities, within the Internet of Things for Smart Cities School. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations: 

•  Automation and public transport
•  New Data for Urban Road Safety
  

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) and DVR with the support of the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, are organising  an online PIN Talk, which will be held on Thursday 19 November from 10:00-12:00.  National experts from Germany will share their experience with international and private sector experts on how to involve stakeholders in road safety programmes. 

The European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC), the European Green Vehicles Initiative Association (EGVIA) and the European Commission are organising the 4th European-wide Conference dedicated to the presentation of results from road transport research in H2020 funded projects (H2020RTR), which will be held on 30 November & 1 December 2020. The Conference aims at presenting what the projects have discovered, how they overcame the hurdles and challenges and resolved them, and what are the next research steps in the fields covered by their research.  

The International Road Federation (IRF), together with Qatar University, Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Center, Khatib and Alami and World Conference on Transport Research Society, are organising an Online Technical Workshop on “Role of Road Safety Audits in Improving Traffic Safety”, which will be held on 8-10 November 2020.  The Workshop aims at building the understanding of the importance and benefits of RSAs. Furthermore, it provides basic information on the scope and procedure of RSAs as well as the role and skills of the RSA team.  

IRF is organising an online conference titled “Roads to Recovery: a Sustainable Mobility for a Sustainable Future” which will be held on 12 November 2020. The main objective of the conference is to discuss priorities for the road sector going forward. The conference will be structured around three main sessions: High-Level Panel debate on Recovery for the Road Sector, Safer roads to save lives, Fostering innovation to accelerate road sector transformation. 

Within the 18th European Week of Regions and Cities organised by the European Committee of the Regions,  RADAR and SLAIN projects were featured in the session ”Modelling the future of Road Safety using Network-wide Risk Assessment”, which was held with great success on 14 October 2020.  Key questions concerned: How do you design a safe road infrastructure? How can you identify risk on roads? How do you propose an economically viable crash countermeasure?    

NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Network-wide Road Safety Assessment

POLIS in cooperation with the LEVITATE and CoEXist projects organised with great success a webinar titled “Mobilising Mobility: Impact assessment of automated vehicles” which was held on 15 October 2020. The Webinar provided insights into the methods developed for assessing the impacts of automated vehicles across a range of mobility domains and the findings from their application in real-life scenarios and using policy options such as parking regulation, road pricing and dedicated AV lanes.  

European Commission DG Move together with the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation organised an important Executive Seminar on “Speed and Speed Management in Road Safety Policy” held online on 8 October 2020, with the active contribution of NTUA.  Key Road Safety Experts contributed to a Synthesis Paper intended to guide policies in speeding globally  together with the respective Key Conclusions  highlighting the need for:

• high quality communication on the centrality of speed and speed management at all levels of government;
• more efficient speeding enforcement, including the use of dynamic speed limits;
• promoting Intelligent Speed Assistance Systems in vehicles (ISA)
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on speeding to support evidence-based road safety policies;
• partnerships between all levels of government and with stakeholders and industry in order to make speed a central road safety issue for all

The Forum of European Road Safety Research Organisations (FERSI) is organising the 2021 Road Safety Conference which will take place on 28-29 October 2021 in Hague, Netherlands. The conference focuses on the exchange of national and regional experiences with implementing evidence-based road safety measures with specific focus on the road to successful implementation, including overcoming barriers and promising ways to facilitate decision making. Extended abstracts submission deadline: 15 February 2021 

The International Council for Road Safety International (ICoRSI) organised with great success a series of twelve Global Road Safety Dialogues on current key issues in road safety, which were held online on 20 October – 5 November 2020. Each dialogue features Key International Road Safety Experts on the subject who will be challenged by an Interlocutor on issues dealing with road safety interventions and research around the world.   The recordings and the presentations of all the sessions are now available:  

The International Cycling Safety Conference (ICSC2020) organised with great success a webinar titled “Single bicycle crashes as a rising problem” which was held online at November 5th 2020. The large majority of serious injuries among cyclists are due to single crashes and in a few countries the same applies to cyclist deaths. This special session highlights the size of the problem, trends, existing data and knowledge and provide a discussion about why so little is known about causes and measures to address single-bicycle crashes.  

The International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences (IATSS) organised with great success the 6th Global Interactive Forum on Traffic & Safety which was held online on 26 November 2020. Researchers and practitioners at this symposium clarified the definition and measurement of “traffic culture” and explored its relationship with road user behaviour and traffic safety stakeholders actions. The results of these discussions are expected to pave the way for implementing more effective traffic safety measures in order of importance and urgency.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:

•  Global Diversity in Traffic Safety Culture

The European Union Road Federation  (ERF) organised with great success a conference titled “Shaping the Future of New Mobility” which was held on 14 October  2020, gathering more than 160 participants.. The purpose of the organisers (ERF, FIEC, the French Road Federation, the FNTP and the CICA) was to present the main findings of the international comparative study dealing with the impact of new mobility uses on road infrastructure and its equipment. The recordings and the presentations of the conference are now available:     

The Institute of Communication & Computer Systems within the EU funded Horizon 2020 project L3Pilot organised a Summer School titled “Developing and Testing Automated Driving“, which was held on-line with great success, on 9-10 September 2020. The L3Pilot Summer School 2020 focused on the theory and practice of Automated Driving Implementation and Testing and in particular on the progress of the largest European pilot-testing of SAE Level 3 driving functions implemented by L3Pilot partners. 

NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  A methodological framework from data collection to impact assessment of autonomous vehicles

The IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society (ITSS) organised the 23rd IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC) which was held on-line, on 20-23 September 2020. The conference focused on new developments in theory, analysis, simulation and modeling, experimentation, demonstration, case studies, field operational tests, and deployments. 

NTUA actively contributed with the following paper and presentation:   Impacts of Autonomous Shuttle Services on Traffic, Safety and Environment for Future Mobility Scenarios

The SHOW (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) project organised its 1st Pan-European Workshop, titled «How to make CCAM in Cities a reality» which was held on-line on 18 September 2020. In this workshop, a selection of high-level keynote speakers shared their views and experiences about Connected and Cooperative Automated Mobility, while interactive sessions about Use Cases for CCAV in Urban Mobility and Best Practices for Business and Operating Models in Europe and worldwide took place.  

KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence (KIOS CoE) of University of Cyprus organized the 23rd EURO Working Group on Transportation EWGT 2020 which took place with great success in Paphos, Cyprus, on 16-18 September 2020. The sessions focused on various themes including advanced methodologies for road safety analyses.   NTUA actively contributed with the following paper and presentation:  European Countries’ Road Safety Evaluation by Τaking Ιnto Account Multiple Classes of Fatalities

The International Transport Forum (ITF) is organising three on-line webinars titled ‘Safe system in cities: multi-agency commitment for a Vision Zero agenda in London’,  ‘Safe speeds in cities: street design, speed limits and law enforcement’ and  ‘Safe streets in cities: identifying dangerous locations before a serious crash happens’ which will take place on 17, 24 September and 1 October 2020, respectively. The webinars will explore the policy toolkit for the elimination of serious and fatal crashes. This includes speed management, street design, predictive analytics, procurement and the engagement of a wide range of stakeholders.   

ActTravelWise orginised a webinar titled “The Emergency Active Travel Fund: Plans and Implementation at the Local Level” which was held with great success on 14 September 2020.  Authorities who received funding under the Emergency Active Travel Fund, shared their plans and how they intend to implement them on the ground to benefit local residents. Athens took the opportunity to introduce a step-change in active travel infrastructure. Lastly, a panel discussion took place, with the opportunity for other local authorities to share their plans and any issues or challenges. Presenters: George Yannis, Laura Wells, Ambrose White, Lynsey McGarvey, and Sian Fox.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Athens Great Walk transformation project

The Slovenian Traffic Safety Agency organized the periodical training course for Road Safety Auditors which took place with great success on September 14-16, 2020 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

NTUA actively contributed with the following lecture:  Innovations in Road Safety Audit practices in the European Union and internationally

Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety is organising an online Q&A session with Dr. Etienne Krug, Director of the Department of the Social Determinants of Health, WHO which will be held at 3pm CEST/9am EDT Tuesday 22 September 2020. This webinar will give an insight on the new UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/74/299 on improving global road safety answering questions like what the resolution is, why it matters, and how it can help you to advocate for safer roads.  

The International Road Federation (IRF) and the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) organised a free webinar which was hosted on 9^th September at 14:00 under the frame of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration (UNRSC). The Ten Step Plan for Safer Road infrastructure has been produced by the UNRSC partners to support countries seeking to implement initiatives in relation to the improved safety of road infrastructure and broader transport networks, the UN Convention on Road Traffic and Road Signs and Signals and the achievement of UN Member States Agreed Global Targets 3 and 4 for safer new and existing roads. The webinar provided to the participants the opportunity to learn about the Trust Fund and this new pilot project.  

The chair of Transportation System Engineering of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is organising the 7th IEEE International Conference on Models and Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems (MT-ITS 2021) to be held on the 16-18 June 2021 in Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Two Special Issues will be organised following the conference in the IEEE Open Journal on Intelligent Transportation Systems, and the Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems: Technology, Planning and Operation.  

 Paper submission deadline: October 1st, 2020

The International Road Federation (IRF), together with Qatar University, Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Center, National Traffic Safety Committee of Qatar Government and World Conference on Transport Research Society, are organising a Webinar on “Global Trends on the Status of Traffic Safety under the Covid-19 Pandemic”, which will be held on 29 September 2020 at 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM CEST. This webinar aims to discuss the potential impacts of the current Covid-19 Pandemic and the associated mobility restriction policies on road traffic safety status.  

The International Road Federation (IRF) is organising the first IRF Executives Talks with Florent Menegaux, CEO, Michelin, which will be held on 11 September 2020 from 14:00 to 14:30 CEST (UTC+2) by Webinar. The ‘IRF Executives Talks’ is a series of 30 min talks with high-level executives from the transportation sector highlighting the challenges the sector faces, innovative programmes & ideas and a lot more.  

The 7th International HUMANIST Conference will be host on May 2021 in the Rhode Island, Greece. The theme of the conference is “Human Perspective in an Evolving Transport Era“. The 2021 conference will bring together researchers, experts and stakeholders from several multidisciplinary communities that are active in the field of human factors in transport. Topics for this year’s symposium include, but are not limited to: C-ITS, driver monitoring, automation, electrification, new vehicle types, smart cities, towards effective MaaS and mobile transport apps, enhanching accessibility and inclusion ensuring the safety of VRUs, ergonomics (passive safety, new vehicles interior). 

The 2020 International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury Europe Conference will take place on 8-10 September 2021 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. Instead of the 2020 conference there will be a live session on Wednesday, 9 September 2020. 

The 9th conference of European Association for Research in Transportation (hEART) will take place in Lyon on 3-4 February 2021. The conference is organized by the Transport, Urban Planning and Economics Laboratory (LAET), and will cover relevant areas of transportation research with focus on methods, models and planning of transport systems. The aim of the conference is to connect researchers in transport modelling, transport economics, transport engineering and transport policy with advanced practice and state of the art. Bringing together leading experts and promising young researchers, the symposium offers an opportunity for scientific discussion and interaction in relatively small groups. 

Short paper submission: 1st February 2020

ESRA2 (E-Survey of Road Users’ Attitudes) project with the active contribution of NTUA is organising six on-line webinars under the theme “Measuring Global Traffic Safety Cultures to Support Effective Road Safety Policy Development” started in September 2020. The Webinar topics concern: Enforcement and traffic violations – Seat belt & Child restraint systems – Senior road users – Support for policy measures – Pedestrians – Cyclists – Moped drivers and Motorcyclists  (16 December 2020 by NTUA) – Gender Issues –  Young road users – Subjective safety and risk perception – Vehicle automation.  Registration is open. 

The French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks (IFSTTAR) is organising the 7th International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention (DDI2021) under the theme “Disconnected drivers during manual, assisted, and automated driving”, which was going to take place in Lyon, France, on October 12-14, 2020 will be postponed to the second half of October 2021. The conference topics include theory, measurement, effects, crash risks, and prevention/mitigation related to driver distraction and inattention. Moreover, DDI2020 will focus on the driver/occupant status. Participants are invited to present and discuss work covering disconnected drivers in assisted (drowsiness, out-of-the-loop, overreliance), and in autonomous vehicles (sleeping, take overs, etc). 

VTI – Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute in collaboration with SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Center at Chalmers are organizing the 7th International Conference on Traffic and Transport Psychology (ICTTP), which will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, on 23-25 August 2022. The conference philosophy is Taking the Vision Zero Initiative into a New Decade. The Swedish Vision Zero Initiative on road safety is an ethical standpoint that no-one should die or be seriously injured in traffic. The key focus of this conference will, therefore, be on the role that traffic and transport psychology can play in reaching the ethical standpoint that no-one should die or be seriously injured in traffic by providing a common ground for future interdisciplinary research. 

Urbanism Next, New Urban Mobility alliance (NUMO),  POLIS, TNO, Gemeente Rotterdam, and Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management are rescheduling the Urbanism Next Europe conference to June 10 and 11, 2021, with its pre-Conference workshop set on June 9, 2021, in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The sessions at Urbanism Next Europe will feature in-depth presentations exploring how technological, societal and economic mobility trends will change land use, urban design, transport, real estate, environment, equity,  health, economy and governance. The conference will gather 350 decision-makers and urban professionals from Europe and beyond. 

The PRAXI Network and the General Secretariat of Research and Technology organised the “Climate-neutral & Smart Cities” webinar within the framework of Horizon Europe, on July 7, 2020. The webinar presented the mission and enrolled in a discussion between stakeholders from academia, research and public authorities.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Sustainable Mobility in Smart Cities

The University of Thessaly, Department of Civil Engineering, Traffic, Transportation and Logistics Laboratory (TTLog), organised on-line the 5^th Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility (VirtualCSUM2020) on June 17-19, 2020. The theme of this year’s conference was “Advances in Mobility as a Service Systems” and its objective was the dissemination of knowledge and the exchange of good practices among researchers and practitioners in the domain of urban transportation.   NTUA contributed actively with several traffic safety papers and presentations:

In the framework of the European Mobility Week, it will take place the ROADPOL Safety Days (formerly known as Project EDWARD) on 16-22 September, in Mainz, Germany depending on the development of the COVID-19 situation. The aim of the ROADPOL Safety Days is to reduce the number of traffic fatalities, which is 70 per day across Europe, to zero at least in one day. Schools, road safety organizations and many others support the event with larger and smaller events but everyone else can also participate.  

The EU-funded Horizon 2020 project Levitate (Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles) organised with great success the 2nd Webinar on the impacts of automation in urban transport – featuring local urban strategies on 11 June, 2020.  This webinar provided an insight into the challenges that urban mobility is facing due to the COVID-19 crisis and into mid-term local mobility strategies. There were presentations from LEVITATE partners: NTUA, Transport for Greater Manchester, and Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.  The full recording of the webinar is available:  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Urban Transport Services

The Laboratory for Road Engineering and Sealing Components of the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) organised the 9th International Conference on Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Pavements (MAIREPAV9) which took place with great success on 1 – 3 July 2020, in Zurich. The MAIREPAV series aims to promote and discuss the state-of-the-art design, maintenance, rehabilitation and management of pavements. MAIREPAV9 focused on sustainable design, testing and evaluation, and management of pavement infrastructures. The conference aimed to present and discuss current knowledge of the ever-changing challenges to researchers, engineers, managers and professionals from all over the world who are involved in design and management of pavements.  NTUA actively contributed with the following paper:   Stochastic Prediction of Short-Term Friction Loss of Asphalt Pavements: A Traffic Dependent Approach

The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), in cooperation with the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE) organises the 8th Road Safety & Simulation International Conference 2021 (RSS2021) which will be held on 22-24 September 2021 in Athens, Greece. The Conference’s theme this year will be: “Road Safety and Digitalisation” aiming to capture all recent trends in road safety emerging technologies, surrogate measures, augmented and virtual reality, big data, modeling and simulation, which are expected to boost global road safety in the coming years. Road safety experts and scientists from all over the world will join forces for a widely open and vivid discussion on both traditional and innovative solutions with high potential for traffic safety improvement.  

Abstract submission deadline 30 November 2020: Submit Now

Within the framework of 15th International Conference Road Safety in Local Communities, UNECE together with the Serbian Road Traffic Safety Agency organised  with great success an online Workshop on 25 June 2020. The aim of the Workshop was to strengthen knowledge of representatives of the South‐East Europe member States on road safety management, evidence‐based decision making on road safety strategic goals and targets and the role of the Global Framework Plan of Action of Road Safety in development of road safety system.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  EU Strategic Action Plan on Road Safety

European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) published the 14th edition of PIN Annual Report , presented at the 2020 ETSC Road Safety Performance Index Award event which took place on-line with great success on 17 June 2020. Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia and Portugal have reduced road deaths the most since 2010 while road deaths in Malta, the Netherlands and the UK were higher in 2019 than in 2010. Road safety progress is demonstrated but away from the decade targets. Estonia was awarded with the 2020 European Transport Safety Council Road Safety Performance Index Award.    

The 6th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology took place virtually with great success, on 23 – 26 May, 2020.  The theme of the congress was “Time for Action: Predict, Prevent, Repair”.  The sessions focused on showing the novel therapeutic interventions, designed to predict, protect and repair neurodegenerative diseases. Some sessions concerned cognitive impairment and road safety.  NTUA contributed actively with the following presentations:

• Driving behavior of patients with mild Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) or amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) carriers of the apolipoprotein e4 allele (APOE4)
•  The subjective perception of driving ability of patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and mild Alzheimer’s Disease Dementia (AD)

The Hellenic Association of Driving Instructors together with Key Transportation Organisations in Greece organized an International Multidisciplinary Traffic Safety on-line Conference on 29-30 May 2020. The Conference aims concerned 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.     NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:

The Traffic Safety Agency of Republic of Srpska in cooperation with the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organized  with great success the 9th International Conference Road Safety in Local Community, in Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska on 29-30 October 2020.  The Conference  was aiming to strengthen and develop capacities at the local level and create synergies for significant road safety improvements in the country.   

NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Road Safety Strategy in Greece

The Transport Research Arena Conference (TRA 2020) organised by the European Commisison and the European transport research platforms (ACARE, ALICE, CEDR, ECTP, ERRAC, ERTRAC, ETRA, Waterborne), was scheduled to take place in Helsinki, Finland from 26-30th April 2020, themed “Rethinking transport – towards clean and inclusive mobility”. The conference was cancelled, though, due to the corona virus crisis.  Nevertheless, all scientific papers are scheduled to be published at the Conference Proceedings. NTUA’s TRA conference papers (full paper + presentation) are listed below:

•   Investigation of traffic and safety behaviour of pedestrians texting or web-surfing
•   Analysis of the impact of nighttime driving to drivers’ behavior in rural roads through a driving simulator experiment
•   Investigation of the impact of weather conditions to young drivers’ behaviour and safety in cities
•   Spatial analysis of driver safety behaviour using data from smartphones
•   Modelling the economic impacts of road crashes in Greece
•   Elderly drivers with brain disorders: Is their driving behavior the same before and after an unexpected incident?
•   Exploring the Establishment of a European Transport Research Cloud
•   Clash of cultures in Greek traffic? What happens when a Southern European road safety culture is mixed with a Northern European road safety culture?
•   Road user safety attitudes towards driver fatigue
•   Cycling under the influence of alcohol and drugs: current situation and risks
•   Identification of Road Safety Risk Factors in Africa
•   Road Safety Modelling: Macroscopic and Microscopic Approach
•   Development of a Platform for Global Road Safety Data Analysis
•   Advanced driver monitoring using smartphone applications: The BeSmart project
•   Driver feedback during naturalistic driving experiments: A review of types, methods and future challenges
•   Towards behavioral models for autonomous driving acceptance
•   i-DREAMS: an Intelligent Driver and Road Environment Assessment and Monitoring System
•   State of the art on measuring driver state and technology-based risk prevention and mitigation: Findings from the i-DREAMS project
•   Developing a Policy Support Tool for Connected and Automated Transport Systems
•   A Review on Societal Impacts of the Future Connected and Automated Transport Systems

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. 

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:

• The Road Safety Strategy in Greece
•  The European Road Safety Action Plan

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. 

The Mobility 2020 and Road Safety Conference (MOBILITET) organised by the Institute of Transport Economics (TØI), took place with great success on 4-5 February  2020, in Oslo, Norway. The MOBILITET 2020 gathered Norwegian and international scientists, politicians, key figures from the government and business community to discuss on climate issues, urbanization, innovation, technology, traffic safety and mobility trends.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Skal den enkeltes frihet gå på bekostning av andres ulykke?

The “Innovation, Emerging Mobility Trends, and the Role of the Private Sector in Road Safety” event which was organised by the International transport Forum (ITF), the Volvo Group and the ITF Corporate Partnership Board (CPB), was held with great success on 18 February 2020, in Stockholm, Sweden. The event brought together top road safety experts, policymakers and other stakeholders which highlighted the importance of the ongoing innovative work of key global companies in improving road safety; with new technologies and data being the major catalysts.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:   CPB Report: Safer Roads with Automated Vehicles?

The 3rd Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety took place with great success on 19–20 February 2020, in Stockholm, Sweden marking the conclusion of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety coordinated by the World Health Organisation (WHO). More than 1,700 participants from around 140 countries discussed extensively how the global targets for road safety can be developed, not the least in relation to the already existing goals for road safety in the 2030 Agenda.  During the Conference, the Stockholm Declaration focusing on global road safety efforts up to 2030 was presented, together with the recommendations from the Academic Experts Group. 

NTUA contributed actively in various sessions including:  The ITF/CPB Report: Safer Roads with Automated Vehicles? and reporting session on Developing New Technologies for Road Safety.

The International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (ICADTS) and Coimbra Higher School of Engineering (ISEC) in close collaboration with World Association for Connecting People (WACP), InOutCister (Lda), Robocorp (I2A-IPC) and Digitware are organizing the 23rd International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (ICADTS) Conference, which will be held in Coimbra, Portugal, on 21-23 October 2020. Representative members of organizations will work to define prevention strategies, assessment methodologies and implementation of new practices and processes aimed at increasing traffic safety. Speakers are expected to share their experiences to start the new decade with a clear goal: Commit to act for safe mobility. 

iRAP in cooperation with ITF and the World Bank organized a workshop entitled: “Achieving the UN Road Safety Targets by 2030” which took place on 17-18 Febuary 2020 in Stockholm,  Sweden. The iRAP innovation workshop brought together leaders at the highest level of global and regional impact including government, policy, financing, technology, infrastructure management and data innovation. A number of sessions focused on the global structure needed to deliver the 2030 targets, big data for big life savings, lobal planning and design standards, international case studies of success and the business case for safer roads and investment innovation. 

The 27th ITS World Congress in Los Angeles will take place in Los Angeles, CA, on 4-8 October, 2020. The conference will focus on the New Age of Mobility and will cover areas such as: 1) Seamless Mobility and Changing Behavior, 2) Fueling the Future: Alternative Fuels and Emission, 2) The Path to Vision Zerο, 3)Disruption on the Digital Highway: Data, 4)Technology from Entry to the Last Mile, 5)Connectivity or Spectrum / Networks, 6) Intelligent, Connected and Automated Vehicles, 7)Organizing for Success, Governance, Business Models, International Cooperation. It is the intent of this World Congress to focus on these issues through the exchange of information and dialogue among our attendees. 

Vlaamse Stichting Verkeerskunde (VSV) in cooperation with Flanders, Road Safety GB, UHasselt, ETSC and Polis are organizing a European Road Safety Summer School which will take place in Mechelen, Belgium, on 24-28 August 2020, targeting road safety professionals. The schedule of the Summer School for these 5 days included key topics on:  road safety strategies, strategies in education and awareness raising, infrastructure, technologies, enforcement and technical site visits.    

The 6th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems (VEHITS) will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, on 2-4 May 2020. The purpose of VEHITS 2020 is to bring together engineers, researchers and practitioners interested in the advances and applications in the field of Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems. This conference will cover areas such as Connected Vehicles, Data Analytics, Intelligent Transport Systems and Infrastructure, Intelligent Vehicle Technologies, Smart Mobility and Sustainable Transport Services.  Paper Submission Deadline: 5  February 2020

The Greek Ministry of Development and Investment organised with great success the National Conference on Growth for the Partnership Agreement 2021-2027, which was held in Athens on 17 January 2020. The Conference for the upcoming period 2021 – 2027 marks the official launch of the dialogue of all productive forces, social and scientific bodies and policy makers. The aim is to formulate strategic choices at National and Regional level for all the critical development and socio-economic issues of the new period 2021-2027. Transport and road safety were key components of the discussions.  NTUA Professor George Yannis contributed  actively with the following presentation: Critical challenges for a Sustainable National Transportation System  

The Greek Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport in cooperation with the partners of the European program CIVITAS SUMPs-UP organized with great success a two-day event on 16 and 17 January 2020 on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP), in Athens. The purpose of the event was to provide support for the development of sustainable cities and to ensure accessibility for pedestrians, bike users and all citizens. Road safety was a key component of the urban mobility discussions. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation: Road Safety Measures for Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans 

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) 99th Annual Meeting was held with great success in Washington, D.C., on 12–16 January 2020. The meeting program covered all transportation modes, with more than 5,000 presentations in nearly 800 sessions and workshops, addressing topics of interest to policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions.  A number of sessions and workshops will focus on the spotlight theme for the 2020 meeting: A Century of Progress: Foundation for the Future.   NTUA road safety presentations concerned:

•   Passing Sight Distance Assessment through the Interaction of Road-Vehicle Parameters
•   Investigation of Traffic and Safety Behavior of Pedestrians Texting or Web-Surfing
•   Economic Assessment of Road Infrastructure Safety Schemes in Greece Using Crash Prediction Methodology

The Horizon 2020 project Drive2theFuture is organising the 1st Drive2theFuture Workshop which will be held in Brussels, Belgium, on 6^th March 2020. Drive2theFuture’s mission is to prepare “drivers”, travellers and vehicle operators of the future to accept and use connected, cooperative and automated transport modes and the industry of these technologies to understand and meet their needs and wants. The Workshop will focus on the discussion, exchange of ideas and learning about the future of user-centered automation.  

The Association for European Transport will hold the 48th European Transport Conference, which will take place online, on 9-11 September 2020.  The European Transport Conference (ETC) is the annual conference of the Association for European Transport. Each year the conference presents the opportunity to interact with a range of speakers across the Transport Industry, including several Road Safety Topics. The range of topics, the multi-seminar approach and the networking environment make ETC unique among transport conferences, making it the established premier event of its type.   

The Department of Highway Engineering of the Gdansk University of Technology and the Foundation for the Development of Civil Engineering in Gdansk is organizing the 13th International Road Safety Conference GAMBIT 2020.  The Conference has been postponed and it will be held on 7-8 September 2020 at the Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland.  The conference focusing on challenges and requirements of improving road safety until 2030,  it will cover topics such as challenges and opportunities for implementing Vision Zero, programmes and strategic actions for road safety until 2030, road safety innovation, from science to practice – an overview of road safety research projects, vulnerable road users, new technologies for road safety, road safety in road design guidelines, safe road surfaces, road safety management, safe public transport and urban mobility versus road safety.  

ARCADE Joint Connected and Automated Driving (CAD) Network and ERTRAC Working Group on “Connectivity and Automated Driving” are organizing the 3rd Stakeholder workshop of the joint CAD network which will be held in Brussels, Belgium, on 13 February 2020. The workshop is targeted stakeholders from industry, scientific research, policy makers, public and road authorities, user associations and others with an interest in Connected and Automated Driving. 

The International Expert Symposium on Accident Research (ESAR) will take place on 23-24 March 2021, in Hannover, Germany. ESAR is organised by the Medical School of Hannover and it is a scientific colloquium that can be seen as a platform for exchanges of information on accident research issues. The conference will focus on accident research general, accident causation, pre-crash analysis, accident reconstruction, new data sources for accident research such as video observation and EDR, injuries, regulation and consumer information.  

The ARCADE with the support of the European Commission Directorate General for Research & Innovation (RTD) as well as the ERTRAC European Technology Platform is organizing the 2nd Interactive Symposium on Research & Innovation for Connected and Automated Driving in Europe which will take place on 28-29  April 2020, in Helsinki, Finland. The event will be held within the framework of Transport Research Arena conference (TRA2020) and will facilitate in depth discussions around specific topics for Research & Innovation in Connected and Automated Driving, in a three-hour workshop format. It is targeted at public and private stakeholders in road transport, interested in exchanging views on immediate next steps and future actions required for connected and automated mobility, while participation is only open to registered participants of TRA. 

The 2019 Urban Growth Conference tοοk place on 11 December 2019, in Athens, Greece, organised by Boussias Conferences. The conference brought together industry leaders, government officials, executives of public and private companies, engineers, academics and researchers with the aim of providing solutions for the design and implementation of sustainable cities. The themes of the conference focused on today’s urban development, sustainability in industrial production, infrastructure and eco-architecture, sustainable urban mobility, investment opportunities and public-private partnerships, circular economics, water use and digitalization of cities.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Sustainable Urban Mobility in Smart City

The 5th Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems and related developments in Greece, which is organised by the “Hellenic Association for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems – ITS Hellas, took place with great success on 17 & 18 December 2019 at the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Athens, Greece.  The conference focused on the broad deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) as a tool to achieve economic growth and prosperity and ensure the effectiveness, efficiency and safety of transport for the benefit of the respective industry, the end-users and the environment. During this important for the Hellenic transport sector event, prominent Greek and foreign speakers thoroughly discussed and presented a number of key-topics, through several sessions and a number of Round-Table discussions.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  i-Dreams – Enhancing drivers safety by monitoring the behaviour through smartphones

The International Alcohol Interlock Symposium organised by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) planned for 27-29 September 2020, in Oslo, Norway, is rescheduled to September 26-28, 2021. Alcohol interlock programs have expanded greatly in recent decades. Since 2000, the Alcohol Interlock Symposium global forum has hosted leading experts to discuss ongoing research and development regarding alcohol and drug impaired driving, interlock programs, and road traffic safety.  

The  Lund University and the Swedish Cycling Research Centre at the National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) are organizing the 9^th International Cycling Safety Confer ence (ICSC2021) which is going to be held in Lund, Sweden, on 10-12 November 2021. 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 or safety solutions. The conference facilitates interaction between participants and offers a premium forum to share scientific results and ideas, and favours networking in the cycling safety community. 

E-Survey of Road Users’ Attitudes (ESRA2) is organizing the International Conference on Measuring Traffic Safety Culture which will take place on 1-3  April 2020, in Paris, France. The Conference will focus on measuring traffic safety culture using road users attitude metrics including new thematic reports on seat belt & child restraint systems, automated vehicles, risk perception, enforcement, cyclists, and elderly road users as well as first results from sixteen new countries.  Conference registration is open at: .

At a press conference organized by «Fondation VINCI AUTOROUTES» for Responsible Driving that took place with great success in Athens on 28 November 2019, the results of the “Euro-barometer for responsible driving” survey were presented, that took place in 12 European countries. It is the second year that Greece is included in the survey.  The major risks for road safety in Greece according to the survey are drowsiness and inattention during driving.  

Several highly interesting pre-events are organised by various international road safety organisations, mainly the days before the 3rd Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety which will take place on 19–20 February 2020, in Stockholm, Sweden, marking the conclusion of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. The full list of pre- and post-side events, including details regarding the scope, date and location of each one, is available in the following link: 

The 52th CIECA General Assembly and Congress has been postponed and will take place on 21-24 October 2020, in Porto, Portugal. The General Assembly and Congress will be hosted by the  Associação Nacional de Escolas de Condução Automóvel (ANIECA). With the Congress, entitled “Different drivers & vehicles. Safety for all”, CIECA will be focused on the exchange of driving licenses without any educational process or examination,  the use of a single training model for all candidates or the adoption of a tailored training strategy and the driver’s ability to drive vehicles with different technologies.  

The 2019 Polis Conference tοοk place on 27 and 28 November 2019, in Brussels, Belgium, organised by POLIS, the European Cities Network, celebrating the network’s 30^th anniversary. The conference provided an opportunity for cities, metropolitan areas and regions to showcase their transport achievements to a large audience, and for the wider transport community to engage with representatives of local and regional authorities on innovative transport solutions. Modern road safety problems and solutions in urban areas constituted a key focus area of the Conference.    NTUA contributed actively with:

• a presentation   The Effect of Mobility Characteristics on Road Safety in European Cities
• contribution at the Closing Plenary Panel Session:   Who’s the Action Hero in Vision Zero?: Mobility and Safety, New Road Safety Data
• signing the City Declaration: The new Paradigm for Safe City Streets

The Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals (CARSP) and La Prévention Routière Internationale (PRI) in partnership with the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) and Desjardins, are organizing the 2020 Joint Conference which postponed to June 2021. The theme of the conference is “Equitability: Road Safety for all through Vision Zero and Sustainable Safety” and it will integrate two events, the 30th CARSP Conference and the 14th PRI World Congress. Equitability was chosen to highlight the need for “road safety for all” across road users, while road safety deficiencies are experienced universally. This year’s conference will offer the Students Paper Competition, the Vehicle Safety Enhancement Special Student Award and the Student Poster Competition whereby students can showcase their work on a road safety topic.   

The College of Applied Technical Sciences “Tempulli” in cooperation with the Faculty of Public Safety, Kosovo Academy of Public Safety are organizing the 7th International Conference “Mobility Challenges in Transport and Public Safety” which will take place in Kosovo, on January 23-25, 2020. The objective of the conference is to create a new platform for eliciting issues related to public safety, traffic, transport, road safety, logistics, mobility, environment and alternative energy. The call for participation is open to all academics, researchers, teachers, experts and students of all technical sciences. 

Deadline for submission of abstracts: December 6th, 2019.

ECTRI organized the Autumn Assembly of Members Meeting which took place with great success in Madrid, Spain, on November 18 & 19, 2019 and hosted by the Technical University of Madrid (UPM). NTUA as new member of ECTRI presented the current and future activities of the:

•  Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering
•  NTUA Road Safety Observatory

On November 21, 2019, in Budapest, a Road Safety Experts Workshop was organised by the RADAR project within the framework of Interreg Danube Transnational Programme, titled ITS and other speed management strategies.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:

•   Speed Management in Greece
•   ITS and Speed Management in Europe

The International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF) organised a Meeting at DEKRA headquarters, in Klettwitz, Germany, on 23-24 October 2019, in which the latest international road safety developments were discussed. NTUA contributed actively with the following presentations:

•  Impaired Cycling and Crash Involvement
•  Open Science in Road Safety Data
•  SaferAfrica: Final Results