The International Cooperation on Theories and Concepts in Traffic safety (ICTCT) organised with great success the 34th Conference which took place in Winneba, Ghana, on 8-9 June 2023 under the theme Enhancing traffic safety: prospects and challenges for Safe System approach on African continent. The conference was organized in close co-operation with the University of Education, Winneba. 
The International Commission for Driver Testing (CIECA) organised with great success the 55th CIECA Congress, which was held in Vienna, on 23-26 May 2023. With this congress, titled “What do novice drivers need to know today, what skills do they need to perfect and how do we test them?“, the foundation stones of CIECA, especially knowledge, skills and testing are more in depth explored.
The European Platform of Transport Sciences (EPTS) organised the 21st European Transport Congress under the theme “The strengthening the resilience of smart cities”, which took place with great success in Prague, on 25-26 May 2023. This Conference was special, as it was a joint event with the Smart Cities Symposium and researchers with different background were encouraged to participate and share their findings.
NTUA Professor George Yannis has contributed actively at the ITF 2023 Summit held in Leipzig, Germany, on 24-26 May 2023, on key discussions on the design of safe and equitable future transport systems for all. In his presentation on Social Cost–Benefit Analysis of Key Urban Mobility Policies in Athens demonstrated the high usefulness of the social Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) for the promotion of key urban mobility and safety policies, including comprehensive appraisal of externalities (impact on safety, environment, congestion, etc.). The policies investigated concerned City-wide Speed Limit 30km/h, Congestion Charging Schemes, Ridesharing Services and Telematics Insurance Schemes, which were proved highly beneficial for the society welfare. 
NTUA Professor George Yannis has contributed actively at the “Vision Zero for the Balkans” Road Safety Conference organized by IRF in Belgrade, Serbia, on 15 May 2023, with the presentation titled “Network Wide Road Safety Assessments to diagnose road safety risk”. Some of the key issues of this conference are to promote the uptake of “Vision Zero” policies and make a compelling case for safety investment, focus on risk factors and road deficiencies that lead to injuries among vulnerable road users and advance regional cooperation. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
NTUA within the framework of the Seventh UN Global Road Safety Week organised with great success a Scientific Workshop titled “Road Safety Research Challenges” which was held in Athens (and online) on May 19th, 2023. The objective of this Workshop was to highlight through an intensive flow of presentations the main findings and challenges of key road safety research projects carried out within the NTUA Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering. 
Workshop presentations:
NTUA Road Safety Observatory – nrso National Road Safety Strategy – Greece 2030 – nrss Shared Automation Operating Models for Worldwide Adoption – Show Holistic Approach for Driver Role Integration into Automation – Hadrian Driver needs and behaviour in automated traffic – Drive2theFuture Driver-vehicle-environment interactions and safety tolerance zone – i-Dreams Smart city mapping for safer and eco driver behaviour – SmartMaps Smartphone applications for driver safety behaviour support – BeSmart Predictive Approaches for Safer Urban Environments – Phoebe AI for Vision Zero in Road Safety – Ivory E-Survey of Road users’ Attitudes – ESRA3 Support to the European Road Safety Observatory – ERSOnext Support of technical activities for the development and collection of Road Safety KPIs – Trendline National Access Point Coordination Organisation for Europe – Napcore A Methodology for Network-wide Road Assessment – NetSafety Modelling road infrastructure safety – i-SafeModels Global Road Safety Knowledge Exchange – Piarc Micromobility Safety: Back to the Future – Mimob Unsafe traffic events – Ute Promoting 30km/h speed limit in all Cities – 30 Marathons in 30 months
A paper titled “Comparing Machine Learning Techniques for Predictions of Motorway Segment Crash Risk Level” authored by Dimitris Nikolaou, Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Anastasios Dragomanovits, Julia Roussou and George Yannis has been published in Safety. The techniques considered were Logistic Regression, Decision Tree, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, and K-Nearest Neighbours. Among the five techniques, the Random Forest model achieved the best classification performance (overall accuracy: 89.3%). The findings of this study are particularly useful as the Random Forest model could be used as a highly promising proactive road safety tool for identifying potentially hazardous motorway segments. 
A paper titled “From conflicts to crashes: Simulating macroscopic connected and automated driving vehicle safety” authored by Maria Oikonomou, Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Amna Chaudhry, Pete Thomas and George Yannis, has been published in Accident Analysis & Prevention. Analysis of the outputs along with traffic data and network geometry characteristics were conducted. The results indicated that in higher Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) market penetration rates (MPRs), crash rates will be significantly lower as well as when the following-vehicle in the occurred conflict is a 2nd generation CAV.
The Horizon 2020 project i-DREAMS (smart Driver Environment Assesment and Monitoring System) organised its Final Event which was held in Brussels, on 26 April 2023. In this i-DREAMS Workshop the main accomplishments of the project for the role of human factors in transport safety were discussed. Results indicated that the integrated treatment of task complexity, coping capacity and risk can improve behavior and safety of all travellers and all transport modes, through unobtrusive and seamless behaviour monitoring.
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:
The Horizon 2020 project MEDIATOR organised its Final Event which was held in Hague, on 13 April 2023. The MEDIATOR Workshop combined speeches, discussion with perspectives from industry and policy and discussion of main scientific contribution and next steps.
The Eighth Global Meeting of Non-Governmental Organizations Advocating for Road Safety and Road Victims took place in El Salvador and online on 6-10 March 2023, co-hosted by the Vice-Ministry of Transport of El Salvador and WHO. It was a hybrid event, enabling wider participation of NGOs and other stakeholders. The Global Meeting featured capacity building opportunities, inspiration from well-known safe mobility and sustainability experts, a high-level symposium with key influencers from government, multilateral organizations, private sector, and academia, as well as extensive networking opportunities.
A paper titled “Analysis of mobile phone use engagement during naturalistic driving through explainable imbalanced machine learning” authored by Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Armira Kontaxi and George Yannis has been published in Accident Analysis and Prevention. Results indicate that the decision of drivers to use a mobile phone while driving is governed by a number of complex, non-linear relationships. Total trip distance is the most significant predictor variable by a wide margin, with mean SHAP values of 0.79 towards affecting the model decisions for the probability of mobile phone use of each driver. Fuel consumption had a particularly strong non-linear effect, as higher values of this variable lead to both higher and lower probability of drivers using a mobile phone, deviating from the safer average.
The UN Road Safety Collaboration organised the global campaign for the 7th UN Global Road Safety Week, which was held on 15-21 May 2023. World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with partners, organized periodic UN Global Road Safety Weeks. This 7th edition focused on sustainable transport, in particular the need to shift to walking, cycling and using public transport. Road safety is both a prerequisite for and an outcome of this shift.
The UK Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) organised the PACTS spring Conference 2023, which was held online, on 28 March 2023. The main theme of the Conference was Micromobility, Safety and Sustainability. Speakers from government, industry and user groups set out the landscape and particularly address safety and sustainability, both which remain key priorities for the Government.
The Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue (ICE-SAR) and the European Association for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (EuroSafe) co-organised the EU-Safety 2023 Conference which was held with great success in Reykjavik, on 5-6 October 2023. Road Safety with focus on vulnerable road users was one of the main topics of the conference.
The HADRIAN Symposium was held in Graz, Austria, on 9-10 May 2023, under the theme “Shaping automated driving for human mobility needs“. The Horizon 2020 project HADRIAN (Holistic Approach for Driver Role Integration and Automation Allocation for European Mobility Needs) evaluated an holistic approach to shape automated driving to meet societal mobility needs. Over the last three years, the HADRIAN consortium investigated innovations within this scope and tested and demonstrated them in driving simulators and in real vehicles on test tracks and open roads. Results revealed that the “Integrated fluid HMI” had a great improvement in takeover performance and distraction prevention as well as outperformed with less mental or cognitive effort, higher comfort in use, and control feeling.
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:
A paper titled “Exploiting Surrogate Safety Measures and Road Design Characteristics towards Crash Investigations in Motorway Segments” authored by Dimitris Nikolaou, Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Katerina Deliali, Yannis Handanos, Christos Karadimas, Giorgos Kostoulas, Elina Frantzola and George Yannis has been published in Infrastructures. For this analysis, a database containing data on injury and property-damage-only crashes, road design characteristics, and SSMs of 668 segments was compiled and utilized. The results of the developed negative binomial regression model revealed that crash frequency is positively correlated with the average annual daily traffic volume, the length of the segment, harsh accelerations, and harsh braking.
AMRKS and Tempulli Academy co-organised with great success the 9th International Conference “Road Safety Assessment-Challenges and Opportunities” which was held in Prishtina on 25 January 2023. This year’s conference came as a result of fruitful cooperation in several activities for road safety with the Kosovo Insurance Bureau BKS and with other institutions in this field in the country and abroad. It managed to serve as a powerful discussion platform to address the challenges and opportunities related to the road factor, which, along with the other two factors (the human factor and the vehicle factor), constitute the basic triangle of the causes of road accidents. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation :
The EU Methodology for Network Wide Road Safety Assessment
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) organised with great success the 102nd Annual Meeting, which was held on 8-12 January 2023 in Washington DC. The meeting program covered all transportation modes, addressing topics of interest to policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions. More than 600 workshops and sessions were presented. NTUA actively contributed with the following papers and presentations:
The NTUA Institute of Communication & Computer Systems (ICCS) together with the European Technology Platform ALICE co-organised with great success the 9th International Physical Internet Conference (IPIC 2023) which was held in Athens on 13-15 June 2023. This year’s conference was open to all physical internet topics and focusing on Physical Internet as a suitable approach to overcome the latest global breakthroughs. The Call for contributions welcomes submissions related to the Physical Internet principles with a variety of themes to be covered.
The European Commission together with 2Zero, ERTRAC and CCAM organised with great success the Road Transport Research Results Conference (RTR Conference) which was held in Brussels on 14-16 February 2023. For the past six years, the RTR Conference has been a unique entry point into the achievements of EU-funded projects in road transport. Once again this year, participants had the chance to learn about results and expected impacts of CINEA supported Horizon 2020 projects, and the next steps in key areas for road transport research.
RDW (The Netherlands Vehicle Authority) hosted the CITA International Conference which was held in Rotterdam on 6-8 June 2023. The theme of the Conference was “Safe and Sustainable Road Transport”. Beside the plenary sessions, with top level representatives of the most relevant stakeholders, there was an opportunity to attend different split sessions: Vehicle compliance in Low and Middle Income Countries, new technologies and data management, environmental protection, corporate Members’ presentations, inspection procedures and methods, electric Vehicle & New transport modes, the Roadworthiness Package, vehicle approval.
A paper titled “Pedestrian safety attitudes and self-declared behaviour in Greece” authored by Dimitris Nikolaou, Alexandros Ntontis, Eva Michelaraki, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and George Yannis has been published in IATSS Research. The two selected dependent variables for modelling are (i) crossing the road at places other than at a nearby (distance less than 30 m) designated pedestrian crossing and (ii) crossing the road when a pedestrian light is red. Several statistical relationships were discovered correlating these unsafe self-declared behaviours with numerous explanatory variables. From the Structural Equation Models, a positive statistically significant covariance of the two dependent variables was discovered, revealing that a pedestrian who will engage more frequently in crossing the road with red pedestrian light is more likely to also engage in crossing the road at places other than at a nearby pedestrian crossing.
The European Commission organised with great success the EU Road Safety Results Conference which was held as a hybrid event (in Brussels and online), on 8 December 2022. The Conference was an opportunity to engage with EU Member State authorities and all stakeholders across the road safety community. In addition, it allowed participants to exchange views and experiences on the efforts to reach Vision Zero. The EU Road Safety Results conference 2022 Presentations are now available.
The International Transport Forum (ITF) organised with great success the 7th Meeting of the Safer City Streets Network, which was held in Guadalajara, Mexico, on 18-19 October 2022. The Meeting’s agenda reflected plenty of key issues such as Monitoring Progress in Urban Road Safety – Release of new data and report and Inclusion, Equity, Gender, Sustainability and Participatory initiatives.
The Turkish National Police Academy – Directorate of Traffic Institute has organised with great success the 2nd International Road Safety Congress which was held in Istanbul on 17-20 November 2022. The International Road Federation (IRF Global) organised a special session on Artificial Intelligence for Safer Road Mobility in which NTUA contributed with the following presentation:
The Hellenic Association for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS Hellas) together with the Research University Institute of Communication and Computer Systems of NTUA, co-organised with great success the 8th ITS Hellas Conference, which took place in Athens on 7-8 December 2022. This Conference was held under the theme “Transportation & Logistics 2022: Research. Reshape. Innovate.”, focusing on the developments in the field of Intelligent Transport Systems in Greece. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation :
The United States Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in cooperation with participating ESV member countries organised the 27th International Technical Conference on The Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV) which took place in Yokohama, Japan, on 3-6 April 2023. The conference was held under the theme “Enhanced and Equitable Vehicle Safety for All: Toward the next 50 years”.
The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) organised with great success the Road Safety on Five Continents (RS5C) Conference, which was held in Grapevine, Texas, on 10-12 October 2022. The Conference aimed to be a leading source of research results and interaction in the transport area with focus on safety and health associated with road transport. Based on this theme, participants from about 20 countries joined and about 70 presentations were held, about hot topics and the latest research in the road transport area. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation :
The European Commission and the Agência Nacional de Inovação (ANI) together with the European Transport Research Platforms ACARE, ALICE, CEDR, ECTP, ERRAC, ERTRAC, ETRA and Waterborne, organised with great success the Transport Research Arena Conference (TRA2022) which took place in Lisbon, on 14-17 November 2022. The pillars of the Conference were the scientific excellence, research and innovation challenges, the latest technological and industrial developments and innovative policies regarding the European Transport Research and Innovation and the cooperation of Europe with other continents.
NTUA actively contributed with 33 innovative presentations:
Development of the road safety strategic plan in Greece, 2021-2030 Effective road safety measures in Greece EU countries’ ranking in different road crash types Harmonization of National Access Points to Intelligent Transport Systems data: A data content and added value perspective Potential safety outcomes of communication difficulties in mixed nationality crews: A study of Greek and Norwegian vessels The Baseline project: Key Performance Indicators for Road Safety in EU countries, based on a common methodology for data collection and analysis Assessing Driver Safety Behaviour in Greece Establishing the relationship between crashes and unsafe driver behaviors in motorway segments A methodology for the network-wide, in-built safety assessment of roads Simulation platform from data collection to impact assessment of autonomous vehicles Identifying the automated vehicle driving policy in the vicinity of pedestrian The LEVITATE Policy Support Tool of Connected and Automated Transport Systems The impacts of automated urban delivery and consolidation How to Define a Safety Tolerance Zone for Speed? Investigation of the time spent in dangerous driving conditions: Findings from the i-DREAMS project Framework for behaviour change implemented in real-time and post-trip interventions of the H2020 i-DREAMS naturalistic driving project Effectiveness of real-time and post-trip interventions from the H2020 i-DREAMS naturalistic driving project: a sneak preview Safety impact assessment for seamless interactions through Human-Machine Interfaces: Indicators, requirements, and practical considerations Traffic & Environmental Impact Assessment Under Distinct Operational Speeds For Automated Shuttle Bus Services Was average speed affected by the COVID-19 response measures? Findings from Athens, Greece A critical assessment of Athens Traffic Restrictions using multiple data sources Traffic Impacts of Innovative Traffic and Parking Arrangements in Athens, Greece The impact of cognitive disorders and other risk factors on reaction time of drivers: a Structural Equation Model approach A socioeconomic analysis for a green traffic restrictions scheme in Athens The impact of mobility characteristics on public transport and road safety performance in selected European cities Critical impact factors of pedestrians traffic combining multiple data sources in Athens Free Public Transport in Athens: a stated preference approach Electric or not? Factors affecting Greek Drivers’ Preference when Purchasing a New Vehicle Critical Factors Affecting Mobile Phone Use While Driving Through the Exploitation of Data from Smartphone Sensors Critical travel time impact factors at the implementation of the Athens Great Walk The Comparative Evaluation of Road Safety Developments in Greek Regions Association Rule Mining for Island and Mainland Road Crash Injuries in Greece The impact of weather conditions and driver characteristics on road safety on rural roads
A paper titled “Impacts of autonomous on-demand mobility service: A simulation experiment in the City of Athens” authored by Vasileios Mourtakos, Maria Oikonomou, Pantelis Kopelias, Eleni Vlahogianni and George Yannis has been published in Transportation Letters. To that end, an urban on-demand shuttle service was designed, optimized, based on a variation of the Dial-a-Ride optimization problem (DARP), and implemented in the road network of the city of Athens to serve different portions of demand with various capacity specifications. Findings show that it led to improved network level traffic conditions, as delays decreased, and that traffic impacts evolve with fleet capacity and served demand. Furthermore, the number of conflicts decreased and the environmental conditions significantly improved, with CAVs in the network, while the traveled distance increased.
The South African Roads Federation (SARF) together with IRF and PIARC co-organised with great success the 7th African Regional Conference, which took place in Cape Town on 18-20 October 2022. This year’s conference theme was “Connecting Africa through Smart, Safe and Resilient Roads: Stimulating Growth and Trade on the Continent“. PIARC Technical Committee 3.1 on Road Safety organised a seminar to demonstrate and discuss the challenges of safe and efficient road transport especially in Low and Middle Income Countries. Special emphassis was given to PIARC extensive work on road safety (Road Safety Manual, Tunnels Manual, Road Safety in LMIC, etc.).
The European Commission together with the European Partnership on Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM) and the FAME project organised the fourth European Conference on Connected and Automated Driving (EUCAD 2023), which was held in Brussels on 3-4 May 2023. This event brought together political leaders from the European Commission and Member States with high-level representatives of industry, academia, and road authorities from across Europe and internationally, to discuss whether our societies are prepared for the deployment of smart, inclusive, and sustainable mobility solutions.
The German Road and Transportation Research Association (FGSV) organised with great success the Working Committee 3.9 “Road Safety Management” which was held online on 12 October 2022, under the theme “Road Safety Management“. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
ERTICO organised the ITS European Congress, which was held in Lisbon on 22-24 May 2023, under the theme “ITS: The Game Changer”. The Congress focused on five topics on ITS and Smart Mobility, that served as the foundational basis for the entire programme. Several submissions explored best practice implementations, issues related to data ownership, privacy and security, and other aspects of data processing.
The European Commission funded Baseline project (Collection of Key Performance Indicators for Road Safety in the EU) organised with great success the Road Safety KPIs Conference which was held as a hybrid event (in Brussels and online), on 19 October 2022. The results of the extensive data collection and analysis performed in the EU countries were presented covering all 8 KPIs defined at the EU road safety strategic action plan: Speed, Alcohol, Distraction, Safety belt, Helmet, Vehicle safety, Infrastructure and Post-crash care. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations :
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organised with great success the PIN Talk “Improving the road safety of young and novice drivers”, which was held on 20 October 2022, in Prague, Czechia. The PIN Talk focused on how to improve the road safety of young and novice drivers. Representatives of the Czech Republic, Germany and Norway shared details of the steps that they have taken or intend to take to reduce road deaths among young and novice drivers in their countries.
The Transport Community organised with great success the 3rd Western Balkans Road Safety Observatory Meeting (WBRSO) which took place in Belgrade, on 6 October 2022. The Meeting covered topics related to the Western Balkans Road Safety Action Plan as well as the work plan of the WBRSO. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations :
The International Alcohol Interlock Symposium organised by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) was held with great success on 18 September 2022, in Oslo, Norway. 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 European Sleep Research Society (ESRS) organised with great success the 26th SLEEP EUROPE Congress, which was held on 27-30 September 2022, in Athens. The Congress, following the difficult period of a pandemic that barred international travel and prevented scientists from sharing their experience and progress in meetings in person, aimed to facilitate exchange of ideas and knowledge in a manner that promoted science and bonded further the scientific community by face to face interaction. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation :
The Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) organised with great success the Global Regional Road Safety Observatories (GRRSO) Dialogue on Powered Two-Wheeler Safety, that was held as a hybrid event (in Manila, Philippines and online) on 11-12 October 2022. The event brought together an unprecedented range of global experts and practitioners striving to address deaths and serious injuries resulting from motorcycle crashes. Additionally, it provided a unique opportunity to address issues relating to countries and cities where powered two-wheelers are the predominant form of transport.
The International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD), the Université Gustave Eiffel, CEREMA, ONISR and ENTPE co-organised with great success the 7th IRTAD Conference: Better Road Safety Data for Better Safety Outcomes, which was held in Lyon, on 27 – 28 September 2022 . The Conference focused on improvements in the quality of data systems and data analysis in IRTAD and other countries as an essential way to build and monitor strong road safety policies in the Decade 2021-2030, which are comprehensively summarized at the IRTAD Declaration. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations :
Traffic fatalities during the COVID-19 pandemic: Key lessons learned EU Project Baseline measuring road safety performance indicators Collection of Key Performance Indicators for Road Safety in Greece Setting Priority Measures to meet Targets and KPIs: The Greek National Road Safety Plan 2021-2030 Driver behaviour KPIs through smartphone telematics Crash data systems within the Eastern Partnership Road Safety Observatory
The Horizon 2020 research project SHOW project (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) organised with great success the 3rd Pan-European Workshop, titled “Including a technical visit to the automated bus pilot at EMT bus depot”, which was held in Madrid, on 19 October 2022. The workshop started with a series of speeches from high-level representatives from EMT, the city of Madrid and the European Commission, followed by a deeper look into SHOW insights from the real-life demonstrations that have started in numerous cities in Europe.
VTI – Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute in collaboration with SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Center at Chalmers organised with great success the 7th International Conference on Traffic and Transport Psychology (ICTTP), which was held in Gothenburg, Sweden, on 23-25 August 2022. The Conference philosophy was Taking the Vision Zero Initiative into a New Decade and the focus was 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. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation :
The International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences (IATSS) organised with great success the 8th GIFTS Symposium, which was held as a hybrid event (in Tokyo and online), on 29 November 2022. In this 8th forum, experts in transportation and safety as well as specialists from international organizations, had the opportunity to exchange opinions and discuss about the ideal traffic society and urban planning from the perspective of the “positive benefits”.
EIT Urban Mobility organised with great success the Tomorrow Mobility World Congress, which was held in Barcelona and online, on 15-17 November 2022. The event lasted three days, featuring ongoing conversations with international experts, and was a place to learn about the challenges and solutions of urban mobility.
European Commission organised with great success the European Research and Innovation Days annual event, that was held online on 28 and 29 September 2022. This is the European Commission’s annual flagship Research and Innovation event, bringing together policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs and the public to debate and shape the future of research and innovation in Europe and beyond. This year’s event provided the opportunity to discuss and shape new solutions to strengthen Europe’s resilience and its strategic autonomy.
The Urban Mobility Days Conference 2022, co-organised by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Mobility & Transport (DG MOVE) and the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU was held with great success in the city of Brno (Czech Republic) on 20-22 September 2022. Urban Mobility Days provides a unique forum for policymakers, local authorities, academics, NGOs, urban transport practitioners, and urban planners to connect and discuss the way forward for a sustainable, innovative, and equitable future for Europe’s urban mobility. This year’s theme was “Moving people and goods more sustainably”.
The Association for European Transport organised with great success the 50th European Transport Conference which was held in Madrid, on 7-9 September 2022. The conference took as its main theme: “Behavior Change-the impacts of the climate emergency and COVID-19 on long term travel patterns” and focused on the future and how transport planning can respond to the challenges of climate change and of life post-Covid.
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft (AHG) and the City of Athens co-organised with great success the Athens Urban Age Forum that was held in Athens on 16 June 2022. The Forum brought together experts from Milan, London, Paris, Barcelona and Vienna with their counterparts in the City of Athens, to discuss how European cities can transform their urban environment and improve liveability through investments in the public realm, parks and open spaces, sustainable mobility and equitable planning. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation :
The Research Institute of Human Factors in Road Safety together with Faculty of Social Sciences at Bar Ilan Center University co-organised with great success the 30th Annual Conference of Road Safety, which took place online on 28 July 2022. Thirteen Israeli lecturers and six lecturers from US, UK, Australia, Germany, Greece and Italy presented their original research on this international scientific conference. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation :
The Centro Studi Città Amica per la sicurezza nella Mobilità (CESCAM) of the University of Brescia, organised with great success the 3rd International Conference on Road Safety, that was held in Brescia, on 13 June 2022. This year the International Conference focused on “Priorities Actions Agenda”, or rather on which criteria to adopt to draw up an agenda of intervention priorities regarding road safety. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation :
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organized with great success the PIN Talk “Road Safety Strategies: Saving lives”, which was held on 7 July 2022, in Madrid, Spain. The PIN Talk focused on the role of road safety strategies in helping to reduce road deaths and serious injuries. ETSC and plenty of countries presented their latest road safety strategies.
ETSC, Fundación MAPFRE and the Flemish Foundation for Traffic Knowledge (VSV) organised with great success the 2022 edition of the European Traffic Education Seminar, which was held as a hybrid event (online and in Madrid), on 13 September 2022. The aims of the seminar were to equip young road users to become safe road users, given the appropriate education. The seminar consisted of two distinct parts, focused on sustainable mobility with traffic safety and presentations on the latest traffic education projects from across Europe.
The Dresden Technical University organised with great success the International Cycling Safety Conference (ICSC2022) which was held in Dresden, Germany on 8–10 November 2022. The ICSC is a forum for researchers and experts in the field of cycling safety to exchange their knowledge and bring up new research topics and safety solutions. The conference included 12 parallel sessions, 2 keynote speeches, 2 poster sessions and a variety of social events.
The Province of Brescia, leader partner of the Interreg Europe programme, co-organised with great success the Final High Level Political Dissemination Event of the e-MOPOLI project, which was held in Brescia on Wednesday 13th July 2022. The project, which started in 2018 and will end in November this year, involves 9 partners from 8 European countries: Italy, Slovenia, Greece, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Romania and Latvia.
The European Union Road Federation (ERF) together with AISICO, organized with great success the second edition of the International Conference on Road Safety- Smart and Safe Roads: the role of vehicle restraint systems which took place on 29th-30th September 2022 at AISICO test Lab in Italy. The main topic of the Conference was to analyze how road restraint systems are evolving to face an ever growing demand for safety in a world that is moving towards smart roads. The conference was organized in 3 sessions .
The 6th International Symposium for Highway Geometric Design (ISHGD) took place with great success in Amsterdam on 29 June 2022. The Symposium managed to encourage the continuous improvement of highway geometric design and focused on the latest breakthrough practices relating to highway engineering in their different life phases, including daily operational effects and safe highway designs. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations and papers :
Development and implementation of a methodology for the economic appraisal of road infrastructure safety schemes (Best Paper Award) Superelevation Transition Assessment on Rural Roads with Reverse Consecutive Horizontal Curves Impact of Road and Traffic Characteristics on Driver Behaviour and Safety Using Data from Smartphone Urban Street Network Upgrade for the New Intercity Bus Terminal in the City of Athens Pavement Grooving Pattern Direction Investigation as a Countermeasure of Hydroplaning Passenger Cars Safety Assessment on Interchange Ramps Passing Sight Distance -Regulations Vs Reality
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) published the 16th edition of PIN Annual Report , with the active contribution of NTUA, presented at the 2022 ETSC Road Safety Performance Index Award event which took place online with great success on 15 June 2022. The EU27 collectively reduced the number of road deaths by 31% over the period 2011-2021, from 28,865 in 2011 to 19,823 in 2021. There were 57,095 fewer deaths on EU roads over the last decade than there would have been if deaths had continued at the same level as in 2011.
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organised with great success the EU Road Safety Exchange – Final Event which was held in Brussels, on 18 May 2022. Dutch-inspired improvements to cycling infrastructure in Lithuania, harmonised day and night-time urban speed limits in Poland and major new national road safety strategies in Greece and Portugal are some of the changes inspired by the EU-funded Road Safety Exchange project. The recordings of the Final Event are now available.
The World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTRS) organised the 16th World Conference on Transport Research which was held in Montreal, Canada, on 17-21 July 2023. For the last 40 years, WCTR has been organised every three years by the WCTR Society. WCTR allowed sharing cutting-edge research and advanced state-of-practice and provides a unique opportunity for experts to exchange ideas in all areas of transport research.
The 8th Road Safety & Simulation International Conference 2022 (RSS2022) took place with great success on 08-10 June 2022 at Zappeion Megaron in Athens organized by NTUA and HITE under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the City of Athens. NTUA actively contributed with the following papers and presentations:
Exploring the development of an open data platform for road safety KPIs Which driving performance parameters affect speeding? A naturalistic driving experiment Investigation of accident modelling data in Greece A state-of-practice review on Crash Prediction Modelling A state-of-the-art Review on Crash Occurrence Analysis and Hazardous Location Identification Road Safety Audit Implementation – an international inquiry Methodological framework of creating the Levitate Policy-Support Tool for Connected and Automated Transport Systems Discovering the influence of feedback on driver behavior through a multiphase experiment based on a smartphone application Modeling the concept of a Safety Tolerance Zone: State-of-the-art and proposed alternatives Methodology for the Evaluation of Safety Interventions Real-Time Monitoring of Driver Distraction: State-of-the-art and Future Insights A review of risk factors associated with elderly, truck and office worker drivers for automated driving applications The role of values in road safety culture: Are motorcycle riders’ higher accident risk a result of their appreciation of freedom to take risk? How environmental charging policies affect urban road safety? The Demands of Road Environments as Perceived by Vulnerable Road Users Identifying crucial factors of the impact of COVID-19 on driving behaviour using feature analysis on naturalistic driving data Design of an on-road driving experiment on assessing driving behavior of older drivers Assessing Driving Performance of Older Drivers – A Literature Review Correlation of declared and revealed driver behaviour using smartphone sensors Exploring critical driving parameters affecting speeding using data from smartphones Factors contributing to safety-critical events in urban areas: A driving simulator study Identification of safety-critical events on rural roads using a driving simulator Investigation of traffic and safety behavior of pedestrians while talking on mobile phone The Role of Traffic Speed Range in Road Safety – The Case of Two-Lane Rural Highways Investigating the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on Eco-driving behavior Defining Vehicle Passing Trajectories utilizing GNSS Data Retroreflection Performance of Urban Road Signs Overtaking Trajectory Assessment Utilizing Data from Driving Simulator Vehicle Data Collection for Predicting Driving Behavior on Interchanges Road Safety and Digitalization
The International Commission for Driver Testing (CIECA) organised with great success the 54th CIECA Congress, which was held in Naples, on 8-9 June 2022. With this congress, titled “Driver training and testing: finding the balance between mobility and safety through the use of innovative technology, improved curricula and data analysis”, CIECA focused on how advancing the importance of driver training and testing can help reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured on roads every year.
The 8th Road Safety & Simulation International Conference 2022 (RSS2022) took place with great success on 08-10 June 2022 at Zappeion Megaron in Athens organized by NTUA and HITE under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the City of Athens. 320 road safety scientists from 28 countries joined this first post-pandemic global road safety in-person major event, to discuss on current and future challenges of Road Safety in the Digital Era. Conference proceedings and presentations are now available:
The 10th Symposium of European Association for Research in Transportation (hEART2022), co-organized by KU Leuven and the University of Luxembourg took place in Leuven, on 1-3 June 2022. The Symposium offered an opportunity for in depth discussion in all scientific methods and analyses in transport including safety, in plenary, in focus groups and in a summer school for PhD students on 31 May 2022.
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organized with great success the Road Safety Performance Index Annual Conference (PIN conference) which was held online, on 15 June 2022. This year’s PIN Conference focused on assessing how improving road safety can help countries reach the 2030 target to cut road deaths and serious injuries by 50% and it also presented the 2022 PIN Award to a country that has made outstanding progress on improving road safety.
The 74th AAN Annual Meeting, organised by the American Academy of Neurology, took place with great success as a hybrid event (Seattle and online) on 2-7 April 2022. The AAN Annual Meeting is the largest international meeting of neurologists and neuroscience professionals and with the return to a live, in-person meeting in 2022, there was strong professional attendance. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation :
HUMANIST organized with great success the “HUMANIST Summer School 2022“, which was held in Vienna, Austria on 14-16 September 2022. The main topic of this Summer School session was “Human Factors, Automated Driving and Active Mobility” with 2 focusses: Psychological fitness to manage automated driving & Changing mobility behaviour towards more active travel: measuring ‘experience’ and cultural factors.
The EU-funded Horizon 2020 project Levitate (Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles) organized with great success the Project’s Final Conference, which was held in Brussels, on 25 May 2022. The LEVITATE partners shared the results achieved and the tools developed to assess the potential societal impacts of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) on the mobility system and wider livability goals, including safety, the environment, the economy and society. A focused presentation of the Levitate CCAM Policy Support Tool is also foreseen. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations :
A paper titled “Autonomous Vehicles in Urban Networks: A simulation-based Assessment” authored by Athina Tympakianaki, Leyre Nogues, Jordi Casas, Mark Brackstone, Maria Oikonomou, Eleni Vlahogianni, Tamara Djukic and George Yannis has been published in Transportation Research Record. A combination of microscopic and macroscopic simulations as well as statistical methods are applied. The results indicate a positive impact in relation to capacity changes resulting from the presence of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) which vary with penetration rate. Analysis of three different urban networks, Barcelona, Bilbao (Spain), and Athens (Greece), reveals consistent trends.
A paper titled “Humanizing Autonomous Vehicle Driving: Understanding, Modelling and Impact Assessment” authored by Foteini Orfanou, Eleni Vlahogianni, George Yannis and Evangelos Mitsakis has been published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. The proposed framework consists of four sequential steps: i. conceptual design, ii. data collection, processing and mining, iii. modelling and iv. autonomous vehicles impact assessment. The connection between these steps is illustrated and various Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are specified for each impact area. The paper ends with highlighting some conceptual and modeling challenges that may critically affect the study of acceptance of autonomous vehicles in future mobility scenarios.
The ESRA2 Group (E-Survey of Road Users’ Attitudes) together with IFSTTAR/Universite Gustave Eiffel organised with great success the International Conference on Traffic Safety Culture and Performance Indicators that was held online, on 21 April 2022. The Conference was an opportunity to learn from in-depth scientific analyses of the ESRA databases, in relation to different types of road users and different aspects of attitudes, behavior and culture and highlight key road safety problems and solutions. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:
The International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (ICADTS) organized with great success the 23rd International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety Conference, which was held in Rotterdam, on 28-31 August 2022. ICADTS provides delegates with a great opportunity to network and explore ideas and solutions to current and emerging issues relating to alcohol, drugs and traffic safety around the world.
The Intertraffic Exhibition 2022 was held in Amsterdam, on 29 March – 1 April 2022. The Exhibition offered mobility professionals the ability to experience the latest solutions for today’s challenges with all the experts in the field and to discover the latest trends in infrastructure, traffic management, smart mobility, road safety and parking. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:
The European Platform of Transport Sciences (EPTS) organized with great success the 20th European Transport Conference under the theme “After pandemic – before autonomous transport“, which was held in Gyor, Hungary, on 9-10 June 2022. This Conference was special, as it was a joint event with the European Transport Congress organized by the European Platform of Transport Sciences.
The EU-funded Horizon 2020 project Levitate (Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles) organised with great success a Webinar under the theme “Building a dialogue with the LEVITATE cities” which was held online, on 7 April 2022. The participants had the opportunity to learn about the principles of backcasting, how a dialogue with city authorities led to valuable qualitative inputs for the research, and how the final results of the impact assessment relate to the backcasting approach.
The International Road Federation (IRF) organized with great success the Innovation Driving the Future of Sustainable Mobility Workshop that was held in Amsterdam, on 30 March 2022. This Workshop marked the launch of a new IRF Committee on Innovation with the active participation of NTUA. An overarching Committee with subgroups provided a unique platform to share expertise and knowledge and to tailor solutions (policy and technical) to the pressing issues our sector is facing.
The Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR) organised with great success a Webinar under the theme: Network-wide Road Safety Assessment (Article 5) of RISM II, which was held on 3 March 2022. CEDR WG Road Safety aims to develop and share knowledge among NRAs on the improvement of safety of road infrastructure. 
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
The Austrian Road Safety Board (KFV) and the European Association for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (EuroSafe) co-organized with great success the EU-Safety 2022 which was held in Vienna, on 23-24 June 2022. The main topic of the Conference was the safety level in a digitalized and fast-changing world and how smart will injury prevention get.
The School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens organized with great success 5 Workshops in the field of Urban and Spatial Planning which were held in Athens, on 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 March 2022. In the Workshops, many interesting topics were covered such as Metropolitan Planning, Urban Endurance and Sustainable Mobility. NTUA Professor George Yannis contributed actively with the following presentation:
ITS America, ERTICO and ITS Asia-Pasific co-organised the 28th ITS World Congress which was held in Los Angeles, on 18-22 September 2022, under the theme: “Transformation by Transportation”. ITS World Congress is the forum to make meaningful connections, experience inventive conference program presented by industry experts, and see cutting-edge technology in the Exhibit Hall. ITS World Congress allows the smart mobility community to come together to explore the deployment of intelligent transportation technologies that saves lives, improves mobility, promotes sustainability, and increases efficiency and productivity.
ERTICO organised with great success the 14th ITS European Congress which took place in Toulouse, on 30 May – 1 June 2022. The ITS Congresses represent the ultimate showcase of mobility services deployment and are the means for the ITS Community to keep pace with the incredible evolution of the industry. Over the years, the European Congresses have offered a platform for thought leaders, developers, entrepreneurs and decision makers from the transport, logistics and IT industries to share ideas and progress smart and sustainable mobility.
The NTUA Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering organised with great success a Scientific Workshop titled “Telematics and Improvement of Driver Behavior” which took place in Athens on February 22nd, 2022. Key driver telematics research findings were demonstrated and discussed, highlighting spectacular safety benefits from monitoring, evaluation and improvement of driver behaviour through feedback tools, social gamification schemes and motivation for drivers.
Workshop Presentations:
Telematics and improvement of driving behavior Telematics and Internet of Things Naturalistic driving experiments as a driving behavior recording tool Assesment and Improvement of driving behavior and safety through the application of BeSmart Investigation of speeding and aggressive behavior of professional drivers on highways through an innovative smartphone application Driver-vehicle-environment interactions and the safety tolerance zone – i-Dreams Predicting unsafe driving events on motorway segments – i-safemodels Smart city mapping for safer and eco driver behaviour – SmartMaps
POLIS, the European Cities Network, organised with great success the 2022 Annual Polis Conference, which took place in Brussels, on 30 November and 1 December 2022. The POLIS Annual Conference provided an opportunity for cities and regions to showcase their transport achievements to a large audience of mobility experts, practitioners and decision-makers. Urban Road Safety is a key conference priority.
The International Traffic Safety Conference (ITSC2022) organised by The Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Center (QTTSC), the Qatar University and the National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) is postponed to 21-22 February 2023, in Doha. The Conference theme is: “Towards A World-Class Safe and Sustainable Transport and Traffic System for Developing Countries” and the main objectives are to recognize the transportation needs for the developing countries and to introduce, improve and strengthen arrangements for monitoring serious injuries from road traffic accidents to facilitate action to meet the new targets for the Decade of Action for Road Safety.
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) organised with great success the 101st Annual Meeting, which was held on 9-13 January 2022 in Washington DC. The meeting program covered 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 focused on the spotlight theme for the 2022 meeting: Innovating an Equitable, Resilient, Sustainable, and Safe Transportation System. NTUA actively contributed with the following papers and presentations :
A paper titled “Classification and Evaluation of Driving Behaviour Safety Levels: A Driving Simulation Study” authored by Kui Yang, Costantinos Antoniou and George Yannis has been published in IEEE. The proposed methodology focuses on determining the optimal aggregation time interval, finding the optimal number of safety levels for driving behavior, classifying the safety levels, and evaluating the driving safety levels in real time. Support vector machines, decision trees and naïve Bayes classifiers were then developed as classification models. The accuracy of the combination of k-means clustering and decision trees proved to be the best with three clusters.
The University of Thessaly, Department of Civil Engineering, Traffic, Transportation and Logistics Laboratory (TTLog), organized with great success the 6th Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility, which took palace in Skiathos Island, Greece, on 31 August – 2 September 2022. The theme of this year’s Conference was: “Smart Energy for Smart Transport” highlighting interesting topics as electric and clean energy in transportation, emerging and innovative technologies in transport and active and non-motorized travel.
The Public Health Association in Australia (PHAA) in co-operation with the World Health Organization (WHO) organised with great success the 14th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, which was held in Adelaide, on 27-30 November 2022. The Conference brought together people from across the globe to explore, discuss, and develop injury prevention strategies and it held workshops pre, post and during the conference, debates, meetings, site visits, conference declarations.
The Transportation Public Health Link (TPH Link) organized with great success the International Conference on Transport & Health (ICTH2022) which was held in Cardiff and online, on 13-30 June 2022. The theme for ICTH 2022 was “Looking upstream to identify downstream Social Determinants of Health” in order to analyse the impact of transport (and urban/rural) planning and design on quality of life, health and well-being in communities.
Boussias Communications organized the Connected Vehicle Conference 2022, that was held online, on 22 February 2022. The Conference, thought many interesting presentations, aimed to cover all innovative steps taken towards vehicles’ inteconnected services and to exlplain how telematics and connectivity add value the vehicle fleet management.
The International Transport Forum (ITF) organized the ITF 2022 Summit, that was held in Leipzig, Germany, on 18-20 May 2022. The theme of the 2022 Summit was Transport for Inclusive Societies and transport experts explored silo-breaking measures that boost inclusiveness and debate over all modes and diverse geographic levels and show the importance of inter-sectoral and multi-level governance.
The European Commission together with 2Zero, ERTRAC, and CCAM co-organised with great success the 5th European Conference H2020RTR21, which was held in Brussels, on 29-30 March 2022. 65 H2020 projects presented their new discoveries and achievements, how they tackled hurdles and resolved challenges, and what are the next research steps in different important areas for road transport: Green Vehicles, Urban Mobility, Logistics, Intelligent Transport Systems, Safety, Automated Road Transport.
The Forum of European Road Safety Research Organisations (FERSI) organisined with great success the 2022 Road Safety Conference which took place on 6-7 October 2022 in Hague, Netherlands. This highly interesting Conference focused on the exchange of national and regional experiences and implemented evidence-based road safety measures, both positive and negative ones. There was a specific focus on the road to successful implementation, including overcoming the barriers encountered along the way. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations :
Measuring the impact of driver behavior telematics in road safety Exploring the development of an open data platform for road safety KPIs
The Chambre de Commerce et d’ Institute France-Grece (CCIFG) organised with great success the Sustainable Transport Infrastucture Forum, which was held in Athens on 15 December 2021. Several topics where discussed such as Sustainable Cities with Smart Transportation and Sustainable Public Transport. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
The Editorial Board of the Accident Analysis & Prevention organised with great success the 2nd International Symposium on Accident Analysis & Prevention (ISAAP2021), which was held online, on 29 November 2021. The Symposium principally focused on the road safety under the environment of intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs) and approximately 300 attendees participated from twenty different countries. All videos, posters, and related publications are available.
The Network of regional Road Safety Observatories (RSO), namely the European (ERSO), Ibero American (OISEVI), African (ARSO), Asia and Pacific (APRSO), Western Balkans (WBRSO) and the about to be formalized Easter Parnership (EaPRSO) and Arab (AIRSO), organised with great success the 2nd Meeting of Western Balkans Road Safety Observatories, which was hed in Skopjie on 30 November – 1 December 2021. This meeting discussed the integration of the 2nd Decade for Action Plan into the observatories´ work plans and reached agreement from RSO members on proposed indicators, policy goals, and procedures. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
CIVINET organised with great success the 1st CIVINET Greece-Cyprus Forum under the theme “Greek Society Towards the Challenge of Sustainable Mobility on the horizon of 2030”, which was held in Athens, on 9-10 December 2021. The Conference was 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. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
The Hellenic Association for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS Hellas), organised with great success the 7th ITS Hellas Conference which was held in Athens, on 8-9 December 2021. This hybrid Conference was held under the theme “Transportation & Logistics 4.0: Exploring Innovation”, focusing on the challenges, the needs and the benefits that will be brought by the progression in the area of transportation in Greece. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
POLIS, the European Cities Network, organised with great success the 2021 Annual Polis Conference, which took place on 1-2 December 2021 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Conference provided an opportunity for cities and regions to showcase their transport achievements to a large audience of mobility experts, practitioners and decision makers. With a focus on innovation, sustainability and co-creation, Gothenburg hosted one of Europe’s most dynamic clusters within the field of mobility and safety. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
