E-Survey of Road Users’ Attitudes (ESRA2) organised with great success the International Conference on Measuring Traffic Safety Culture which took place on 1-3  April 2020, in Paris, France. The Conference focused 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. 

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 were organised by various international road safety organisations, mainly the days before the 3rd Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety which took 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 was held online on 10 November. The General Assembly and Congress was hosted by the  Associação Nacional de Escolas de Condução Automóvel (ANIECA). With the Congress, entitled “Different drivers & vehicles. Safety for all”, CIECA 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 College of Applied Technical Sciences “Tempulli” in cooperation with the Faculty of Public Safety, Kosovo Academy of Public Safety organised with great success the 7th International Conference “Mobility Challenges in Transport and Public Safety” which took place in Kosovo, on January 23-25, 2020. The objective of the Conference was to create a new platform for eliciting issues related to public safety, traffic, transport, road safety, logistics, mobility, environment and alternative energy.  

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

The American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)  organized Safer Roads 2020 International Conference. The May 12-14 conference has been rescheduled for November 2020 and will be held in Richmond, Virginia, USA.  The Safer Roads 2020 International Conference is a triennial event for roadway safety professionals and transportation officials from around the world. The conference brings together industry leaders, government officials, corporate roadway department personnel, and others in the roadway safety industry, with a focus on working better together. 

The International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) organised a Workshop on Micromobility Safety, as part of the ITF Corporate Partnership Board, which took place with great success in Lisbon, Portugal, on 18 October 2019. The workshop focussed on the safety questions arising with the rapid development of electrically powered personal mobility devices and framed policy recommendations (including safety regulation and road space allocation) to best manage the safety of all micromobility vehicles and services, from e-scooters to e-bikes, whether privately owned or hired.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  The effect of experience on injury risk across various modes of transport

The NTUA Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering contributed actively at the 9th International Congress on Transport Research (ICTR) themed: “Transportation 4.0: The Smart Evolution” and organised with great success on 24-25 October 2019, in Athens, Greece, by the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE) and the Hellenic Institute of Transport (H.I.T.). Special focus was given to innovative research and technological developments and solutions for the improvement of traffic safety in Greece and worldwide.  NTUA contributed actively with several traffic safety papers and presentations:

•        Safe Road Design
•   Methodology for the economic assessment of road safety interventions
•   Tourism and Road Accidents in Greece
•   Road Safety Culture Among Car Drivers and Motorcycle Riders in Greece: Examining Influencing Factors
•   Impaired cycling and crash involvement in OECD countries
•   Thematic Fact Sheets on Road Safety Risk Factors in Africa – A Knowledge and Management Tool
•   A Review of the Impact of Driver Distraction on Driving Behavior and Road Safety
•   Identification of Critical Driving Parameters Affecting Speeding Using Data from Smartphones
•   Greek driver attitudes towards aggressive driving
•   Self-assessment and Road Behavior
•   What is your driving identity? Some empirical findings using large-scale smartphone sensors’ data
•   Mapping Risky Driving Behavior in Urban Road Networks
•   Techno-Economical Evaluation of Accidents’ Preventing Measures and Remedial Measures in Intersections on Existing Rural Two-Lane Highways
•   Aspects of Safe Road Design for the Aging Road Users

The National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) of the University of Iowa organized the Road Safety & Simulation International Conference 2019 (RSS2019) which was held with great success on 14-17 October 2019 in Iowa City, Iowa, USA. The conference theme focused on Transformations in Transportation, and conference topics included, but were not limited to: Automated Vehicles Technology, Connected Vehicles Technology, Vulnerable Road Users, Roadway Infrastructure Design, and Distributed Simulation Technology.   NTUA actively contributed with the following papers and presentations:

•   A review of the interactions between Autonomous Vehicles and Vulnerable Road Users
•   Can structural equation models assess overall driving performance in driving simulator experiments?
•   Association of Expressed Driving Anger with Driving Performance Combining Simulator and Survey Data
•  To which extent the driving behavior of older drivers with neurological diseases affecting cognition is different after an unexpected incident?
•  Does driving at night affect the driving performance of young drivers? A driving simulator study
•  Interaction between autonomous vehicles and vulnerable road user
•  Driving Simulator of the NTUA Road Safety Observatory
•  Driving anger: Emerging issues and opportunities to advance the safety science

The Final Conference of Interreg MED REMEDIO project took place with great success in Treviso, Italy, on 01-02 October, 2019. Two different events were organised to promote the dissemination of the project’s results, along with discussion about strategies to improve sustainable and safe  mobility in MED cities. The first day was dedicated to the International Conference “Horizontal Condominium as a Living Lab for Urban Renewals” and on second day the Workshop/Capacity Building event “Paving the way to new ideas: the Horizontal Condominium of West Road” was held.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Sustainable Urban Mobility and Safety

ERTICO – ITS Europe is organizing the ITS European Congress, the largest event entirely dedicated to smart mobility and digitalisation of transport. The 2020 ITS European Congress planned for 18-20 May 2020 in Lisbon, Portugal, will be postponed to a later date which will likely be 22-24 May 2023.  The Congress Programme offers delegates an unparalleled opportunity to learn about the latest ITS technologies and new mobility concepts. Experts from the mobility sector are invited to submit contributions for various types of sessions to share innovative ideas, discuss mobility challenges that cities are facing today and how they can be addressed through ITS solutions. 

The Horizon 2020 research project LEVITATE organised an Experts and Stakeholders Workshop on Impact Assessment of Connected and Automated Transport Systems which took place with great success on 26 November, in Brussels.  Public authorities, road users, researchers and industry players discussed how the Levitate Policy Support Tool (PST) could assist Cities identifying the potential societal level impacts of connected and automated transport systems. Emphasis was given to the prediction of the impact of transport systems automation (forecasting tool) and the identification of (policy) interventions to help achieve certain long-term mobility goals and/or to mitigate the potential negative effects of transport systems automation (backcasting tool).   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Policy Support Tool

On September 25, 2019, in Prague, Czech Republic, the RADAR project together with the General Automotoclub of the Czech Republic (UAMK) organised a Road Safety Expert Group (RSEG) Workshop on the safety provisions for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists). This Workshop focussed on optimised provisions for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists) and the assessment of the potential for dedicated infrastructure provisions and policy attitudes towards VRU safety in the Danube region.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  RSEG Expert contribution to TA 2 Draft report – Key points for Greece

ECTRI organized the first BE OPEN event, during the 47th European Transport Conference (ETC 2019) on October 11, 2019, in Dublin, Ireland. BE-OPEN is a 30-months Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action that started on 01 January 2019 aiming to promote Open Science in transport research and assist in regulating and standardizing it. Open science on road safety is a key issue examined within the BeOpen project and the related implementation of TOPOS, the Transport Observatory / fOrum for Promoting Open Science.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Analysis of the State of the Art, Barriers, Needs and Opportunities for Setting up a Transport Research Cloud study’s findings

Austrian Workers’ Compensation Board (AUVA) organized the 10th International Conference on the Prevention of Accidents at Work which took place with great success in Vienna from 23rd to 26th September 2019. The congress, focusing on the prevention of workplace accidents – WOS: Working on Safety – managed to bring together experts from all over the world in order to facilitate a high-level exchange of experience, new findings and good practice solutions. The principal topics of the congress were the Digitalization, Risk Assessment, Safety Management Systems, Vision Zero, Knowledge Transfer and Exchange and Education and Training. 

NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Fatigue among private and professional drivers in Norway and Greece: examining the influence of national road safety culture

The 20th International Walk21 Conference on Walking and Liveable Communities took place in Rotterdam, on 7-10 October 2019, under the theme: “Smart, Healthy and For everyone”. The future city needs to be able to adapt to transitions with smart urban design and new mobility solutions. Measuring walking and walkability and integrating walking into traffic/transport management tools (e.g. modelling) and decision making, can assure a smart city will always be designed on a human level. At the conference were highlighted examples of evidence, tools, measures and systems that have delivered more walking or better walkability.  The presentations per day of Walk21Rotterdam are available in the following link.   

The Hellenic Association of Toll Road Network (HELLASTRON) organised a Road Safety Workshop on the occasion of the EDWARD project – European Day without a Road Death 2019, which took place on October 10, 2019, in Athens, Greece. The theme of the Workshop this year was “The Greek motorways are changing the behaviour of the driver”  and the very interesting results of a pilot study for the estimation of several Road Safety Key Performance Indicators on motorway drivers behaviour were presented. 

ERTRAC in the framework of the FUTURE-RADAR project organized a workshop titled: Road Safety R&I Workshop: from Challenges to Solutions – the Way forward, which took place in Brussels on 15 November 2019. What is the European Commission’s perception of the safety situation on European roads? What is European R&I contributing to make our roads safer? Which safety research is needed in the coming years to overcome the challenges ahead of us and cover remaining “white spots”? How can a good coverage of road safety R&I needs be ensured in Horizon Europe? These were some of the questions that were discussed at this Road Safety Workshop.  

The AIIT 2nd international congress on  Transport Infrastructure and Systems in a changing world “Towards a more sustainable, reliable and smarter mobility” took place with great success on 23rd – 24th September 2019, in Rome. The objective of the Congress was to promote the knowledge of the new trends of development of mobility systems and transport infrastructures. The Congress aimed at providing a forum for discussion, interactions and exchange among researchers, scientists and engineers whose fields of interest concern transport and infrastructure engineering including traffic safety.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:

•   Improving road safety knowledge in Africa through crowdsourcing: the African Road Safety Observatory
•   Crest Vertical Curvature Safety Assessment through Variable Grade Stopping Sight Distance Control

The European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL) together with the European Commission DG Move Road Safety Unit have launched the project EDWARD – the European Day Without A Road Death 2019. This year the European Day without a Road Death took place on 26 September 2019. Several events, initiatives and promotional activity right across Europe had taken place. Moreover, in the EDWARD website lots of new resources were found, artwork was downloaded (including images and Infographics), a countdown timer to the day itself, an interactive map and a brand new pledge to sign.  

SaferAfrica Final Conference “Results and future perspectives for road safety in Africa” took place with great success in Tunis (Tunisia) on 18^th of September. Prominent international institutions, African regional and national bodies’ representatives, policymakers, researchers and civil society organizations joined the dialogue for a better road safety management throughout the Continent. The most innovative results of SaferAfrica Project are the African Road Safety Observatory and the African-European Dialogue Platform on Road Safety which has linked policymakers, donors and professionals engaged in road safety to plan and design road safety actions.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:   Road Safety Knowledge and Data

AISICO s.r.l. and ERF  jointly organized the International Conference on Road Safety for Motorcyclists that took place with great success at Pereto, Italy, on September 20, 2019. This successful event gathered more than 200 participants, with representatives from the industry, European Associations and Academics. The great variety of point of views generated a constructive dialogue and allowed to get different insights on the topic, not only technical and regulatory (like for example updates on the European Norm EN-1317), but also addressed health and biomechanical issues, thus covering a broad range of topics related to the safety of motorcyclist. 

Boussias Communications organized the 2019 Connected Cars Conference which took place with great success in Athens on 18th September 2019. The conference covered issues related to the major future changes coming in the field of vehicles, fleet management and transport in general, including safety.  Connected Cars Conference 2019 is set to serve as the platform for transferring the necessary know-how and information on the cutting-edge technologies that characterize the new vehicle era.  

NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:   Telematics, Big Data and Road Safety

The Focus Area Mobility & Transportation Systems of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) organised the International Scientific Conference on Mobility and Transport (mobil.TUM 2019) which took place with great success on 11-12 September 2019, in Munich, Germany. The theme of the conference was Transportation Systems of the Future. Road safety was one of the key discussion areas enabling inspiration from the latest innovations and exploring new directions for shaping the future of urban mobility and safety.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:

•   Shaping the mobility in university campuses throughout ICT solutions
•   How an unexpected event affects overall driving performance?

Reducing the road safety performance gap between EU Member States and offering high levels of safety on all European roads is one of the most important objectives of the European Commission in the area of transport. The EU Road Safety Exchange project wants to help reduce this gap through the exchange of knowledge and experience on effective road safety measures. The project will develop partnerships between road safety professionals in different European countries and help address their specific road safety challenges through twinning activities. On 9 October 2019, a high level event in Brussels marked the official launch of the project. 

The Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE) in collaboration with the Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT/CERTH), organized a workshop entitled “Transport and Tourism” which took place with great success on Wednesday, September 4^th 2019, in Rhodes Island, under the auspices of the South Aegean Region. Through a dialogue between stakeholders of transport and tourism, the workshop explored how the transport sector can be promoted in relation to tourism (and vice-versa), so that the Greek touristic destinations can provide safe and high standard transport services and infrastructures, also taking advantage of the technological developments in the field.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Tourism and Road Accidents in Greece

The City of Edmonton’s Traffic Safety section organized the 22nd International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (ICADTS) Conference, which was held with great success in Edmonton, Canada, on 18-21 August 2019. This multi-disciplinary conference brought together experts from public health and road safety, traffic and transport psychology, public health, law, medicine, economics, law enforcement, public policy, education, pharmacology, toxicology, forensic science, human factors, and alcohol intervention and rehabilitation.  

NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  BAC Per Se Laws: Are they Related to Drivers’ Perceived Attitude, Acceptability, and Behaviors regarding DUI?

The UK Department for Transport organized an International Road Safety Conference which took place in London on 3-4 September 2019. The International Road Safety Conference brought together Ministers, road safety experts and private sector representatives from across the globe. The two day event focused on collaborative learning, with key topics to be discussed including Vision Zero, the Safe Systems Approach, and a focus on technology and innovation. 

A FEHRL Infrastructure Research Workshop took place with great success on 18 July 2019 in the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport in Athens, Greece. The key-note speech concerned: “On-Ramp to innovation: Let’s co-create together our future transport infrastructure“ and it coincides with the celebration of the 30^th anniversary of FEHRL. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering

Tongji University organized the “7th International Symposium on Transportation Safety” which took place with great success on 09-10 July 2019, in Shanghai. The Symposium focused on innovations promoting the development of traffic management methods and technologies, and brought together some of the world-leading experts in road safety and traffic modeling, who presented their work on the utilization of big data, cloud computing, statistical modeling, safety surrogate measures, and artificial intelligence. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Advanced Safety Modeling and Management Platform

The 5th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN2019) took place with great success in Oslo, on 29 June – 02 July. More than 6.000 participants from more than 100 countries attended with an overwhelmingly positive feedback in several Symposia, Teaching Courses, Focused Workshops, Hands-on Courses, and Interactive Sessions. Some sessions concerned cognitive impairment and road safety  in which NTUA contributed actively with the following presentations:

•  The neurological assessment of driving fitness of patients with Alzheimer’s Dementia (AD) or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI): A systematic review of the existing guidelines
•  The slowest to respond: reaction time, accidents and driving errors in neurology patients in urban simulated driving
•  The slowest to respond: Reaction time, accidents and driving errors in neurology patients in rural simulated driving

The ESRA Consortium with the support of the Forum of European Road Safety Institutes (FERSI) organised the 2nd ESRA Symposium on Road Users Attitudes Worldwide, which took place with great success in Brussels, on 18 June 2019. New highly interesting results from the ESRA2 Global Survey on Road Users Attitudes, collected at the end of 2018, were showcased, namely thematic reports on speeding, mobile phone use and fatigue together with 32 country fact sheets . NTUA contributed actively with the following presentations:

•   Thematic report: Driver Fatigue
•   Country Fact Sheets

The European Commission – DG Move and the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport organised the kick-off meeting of the project ‘EU Road Safety Exchange’ which took place with great success in Athens, on 10 June 2019. ‘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. The objective of this project is to reduce the overall number of road deaths and serious injuries on EU roads and help close the road safety gap between EU Member States by providing support to those with the highest potential to make significant improvements.  NTUA actively contributed at the kick-off meeting with the following presentation:  Motorcycle Safety in Greece

The 2020 Lifesavers National Conference on Highway Safety Priorities was held on March 15-17 in Tampa, Florida. The Lifesavers Conference brought together a unique combination of traffic safety and public health professionals, researchers, advocates, practitioners and students committed to sharing best practices, research and policy initiatives that are proven to work. 

Tallinn University of Technology (TTU) organised with great success the 2nd Conference “Vision Zero for Sustainable Road Safety in the Baltic Sea Region 2019” which took place in Tallinn, Estonia, on 4 – 5 December 2019. This Conference was a fantastic opportunity for academicians and practitioners to meet and exchange experiences and to learn from the best within road safety including policy, road infrastructure, behavioural aspects and human factors, innovations of vehicles and transportation modes, individual, organizational and political aspects of road safety.

Vlaamse Stichting Verkeerskunde (VSV) in cooperation with Flanders, Road Safety GB, UHasselt, ETSC and Polis organized a European Road Safety Summer School which took place with great success in Mechelen, Belgium, on 26-30 August 2019, targeting road safety professionals. The schedule of the Summer School for these 5 days included key topics on: a) road safety vision and strategy, b) education, awareness raising and infrastructure, c) technologies, enforcement and integrated policy, d) technical site visits. 

The 15th World Conference on Transport Research (WCTR) which was organized by the WCTRS and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) took place with great success on 26-31 May, 2019 at Mumbai, India. 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 provided a unique opportunity for experts to exchange ideas in all areas of transport research including Traffic Safety Analysis and Policy (C4 Special Interest Group).   NTUA contributed with nine presentations:

•   Investigating the Correlation between Driver’s Characteristics and Safety Performance
•   Investigation of the correlation between stated and revealed driving behaviour using data collected from on-board diagnostics (OBD) devices
•   Driving speed model development using driving data obtained from smartphone sensors
•   Hybrid Data Envelopment Analysis for Large-Scale Smartphone Data Modeling
•   How unexpected events affect lateral position variability?
•   Impacts of large urban regeneration projects: The case of the new Athens Intercity Bus Terminal
•   Development a Sustainable Mobility Action Plan for University Campuses
•   Future trends in transport workforce based on demographic, behavioural, cultural and socioeconomic factors
•   Identifying infrastructure risk factors in Africa

NTUA within the framework of the Fifth UN Global Road Safety Week organized a Scientific Workshop titled “Digitalisation and Road Safety Research” which took place with great success on 17 May 2019 in Athens. This Workshop attempted to shed light into the role and the challenges of digitalisation on road safety, through an intensive flow of state-of-the-art presentations of key NTUA road safety research projects and a vivid Expert Panel discussion on new perspectives and horizons of road safety in the digital era in Europe and worldwide.   Workshop presentations concerned:

1.   The NTUA Road Safety Observatory – Nrso
2.   Driver needs and behaviour in automated traffic – Drive2theFuture
3.  Societal impacts of connected and automated vehicles – Levitate
4.   Smartphone exploitation for event spatial analysis & mapping-Sesame
5.   Data science techniques for driving behaviour evaluation – OSeven
6.   Smartphone applications for driver safety behaviour support – BeSmart
7.   Driver-vehicle-environment interactions and safety tolerance – i-Dreams
8.   The African Road Safety Observatory – SaferAfrica
9.   The road safety center of Saudi Arabia– RscKsa
10.   Measuring risk exposure in Ireland – IrlExpo
11.   Open science in road safety – BeOpen
12.   Big data for road safety – ForSafety
13.   Monitoring road safety culture – SafeCulture
14.   Monitoring road safety attitudes globally – Esra
15.   Cycling under the influence of alcohol and drugs – Velivr
16.   Safety skills of future transportation professionals – Skillful
17.   Actions to improve drivers’ safety behavior – SafeBehave
18.   Economic analysis of road infrastructure safety projects – EibCba
19.   Modelling crash modification factors globally – i-safemodels
20.   Safety implications from electromobility – e-mopoli

 Panel Discussion

The International Motor Vehicle Inspection Committee (CITA), under the patronage of Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, organized an event under the theme: “The future of transport: The challenge of new technologies for road safety“. The event took place with great success in Brussels, Belgium, on 16 May 2019, at Autoworld: Parc du Cinquantenaire. Without doubt vehicle safety is one of the key pillars of an integrated EU road safety strategy. A discussion was made on how to improve road safety and the challenges for the testing and certification of new technologies and components, in order to make them safe and secure during the complete life cycle.

The 5th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems (VEHITS) took place with great success in Heraklion, Crete, on 3-5 May 2019. The purpose of VEHITS 2019 was 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 focused on innovative applications, tools and platforms in all technology areas such as signal processing, wireless communications, informatics and electronics, related to different kinds of vehicles, including cars, off-road vehicles, trains, ships, underwater vehicles, or flying machines, and the intelligent transportation systems that connect and manage large numbers of vehicles, not only in the context of smart cities but in many other application domains. 

The International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF) organised a Meeting in Paris, France, on 2 April 2019, in which the latest international road safety developments were discussed. NTUA contributed actively with the following  presentation:

•  Outcome of the ITF-CPB Workshop on “New Directions for Data Driven Transport Safety

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organized the REVIVE Conference which took place with great success in Brussels, on 18 June 2019. This conference brought together road safety practitioners and legislators, and those working in the fire and rescue and emergency medical systems. It provided an opportunity to learn more about the work of the REVIVE project and to discuss good practice in the emergency response across Europe. The aim of the REVIVE project was to map Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and Rescue and Fire Service (RFS) practices in the EU28 and raise the profile of both EMS and RFS on the national and European political agendas.  

The 4th SaferAfrica Dialogue Platform Workshop took place with great success in Brussels, Belgium, on 4th of April 2019. After the previous workshops in Marrakech, (Morocco, November 2017), Athens, (Greece, April 2018) and Abidjan, (Ivory Coast, November 2018), this workshop focused on SaferAfrica Overview and current activities, the Road Safety Observatories and Capacity Building in Africa. The SaferAfrica partners, the members of the Management Board and African Stakeholders coming from Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia have contributed actively to the discussion n the future of road safety in Africa.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  The SaferAfrica African Road Safety Observatory

The Sixth Global Meeting of Non-Governmental Organizations Advocating for Road Safety and Road Victims took place with great success in Chania, Crete, Greece, from 8–13 April 2019, attended by 270 participants including NGOs and road safety stakeholders from 76 countries around the world. Highlights included workshops, training, the poster exhibition opened by Jean Todt, the High-Level Symposium, the FedEx Road Safety Award, photo exhibition, the preparations for UN Global Road Safety Week and the Third Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Sweden 2020.  The NGOs Road Safety Declaration is available here: 

NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  International Tourism and Road Safety in Greece

ERTRAC organised the Annual Conference 2019: Road Transport Research towards “Horizon Europe” which took place with great success in Brussels, on 4 April 2019. The conference was dedicated to the preparation of the 9th Research Framework Programme “Horizon Europe”: which place for Road Transport Research and which key research challenges? Three new Roadmaps were presented and distributed: on “Connected Automated Driving“, on “Road Safety“, and on “Long Distance Freight Transport“. The event included an exhibition showcasing some examples of innovation in the automotive and mobility sector. 

The FEHRL Infrastructure Research Meeting 2019 (FIRM19) took place with great success on 26-28 March 2019 in Brussels, Belgium. The theme was “On-Ramp to innovation: Let’s co-create together our future transport infrastructure“ and it coincides with the celebration of the 30^th anniversary of FEHRL. The main stakeholders (EC, CEDR, PIARC, ERTRAC, ECTP) outlined the vision for the future cross-modal transport infrastructure and its implementation plan. 

FEHRL 30th anniversary video: 

The European Platform of Transport Sciences (EPTS) oganised with great success the 17th International Conference – ETC 2019 which was held in Bratislava, Slovakia, on 13-14 June 2019. Since its first meeting in 2001 in Vienna the purpose of EPTS is the enhancement of the dialogue between politics, science and economy in the field of European transport. This is to be accomplished by organising scientific events, encouraging the exchange of opinions and experiences, joint PR efforts, the enhancement of scientific research and continuing education, cooperation with other scientific institutions and support of young scientists, especially through the Young Forum of European Transport Sciences (YFE). 

On March 27, 2019 in Ljubljana, the Interreg funded RADAR project organised the first Road Safety Expert Group meeting focusing on Safer Roads Investment Plans. Special emphasis was given into optimisation of using limited road investment and road safety investment funds, by supporting most cost-benefit effective engineering solutions at the most appropriate locations / road sections.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Key points for Road Sections Safety in Greece

The 2019 International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury Europe Conference will take place in Florence, Italy, on 11-13 September 2019. 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. 

The Romanian EU Presidency, the Ministry of Transport of Romania and the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organised the International Road Safety Conference with great success in Bucharest on 20-21 March, 2019. Special focus was given on promoting and accelerating the implementation of effective road safety solutions, including digitalisation and innovation, reduction of serious injuries, speed management and infrastructure safety.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Progress in MAIS3+ Serious Injuries Data Collection

The 32nd ICTCT conference was held in Warsaw, Poland on 24-25th October 2019, under the theme “Vision zero for traffic fatalities and serious injuries – research questions and challenges”.  ICTCT approaches safety as an integral part of the wider road traffic system, envisaging all transport modes with a specific emphasis on vulnerable road users.  

The Road Safety Authority of Ireland (RSA) organised with great success the Annual Conference under the theme “International Best Practice in Road Safety Strategy Development” which took place in Dublin on 13 June 2019. This year’s conference looked at international developments and the benefits of a strategic approach to road safety. The speakers shared their expertise and experiences in the development of best practice in road safety strategy formulation and performance measures. The speakers were from a variety of backgrounds including operational, academic and policy development. The Conference was a precursor to the development of the next Government Road Safety Strategy.

The International Neuropsychological Society organised the 47th Annual Meeting which took place with great success in New York from February 20-23, 2019. The topics of the Meeting included clinical neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychiatry and internationally renowned, innovative, and pioneering scientists and clinicians from multiple disciplines gave very interesting presentations. NTUA actively contributed with the following interdisciplinary presentation merging two scientific domains – neuroscience and road safety:

•  Intraindividual variability within and across conditions in driving simulator measures of healthy drivers of different ages
•  Intraindividual variability within and across conditions in driving simulator measures of neurology patients and healthy drivers

The Saudi Arabia General Directorate of Traffic organized the Traffic Safety Conference (TSC 2019) which took place with great success in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 11-13 March 2019. The theme of the conference was “Enhancement of Traffic Safety” which is one of the main objectives of Saudi National Transformation Program 2020 and in line with Saudi Vision 2030: an ambitious Nation by reaching high standards in safe driving.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Traffic Safety in the European Union

Every year Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina), loses many valuable human lives and incurs enormous economic costs caused by road accidents. The Traffic Safety Agency of Republic of Srpska in cooperation with the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organised with great success the 8th International Conference Road Safety in Local Community, which took place in Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska on 24-25 October 2019 aiming to constantly strengthen and develop capacities at the local level and create groups of road safety experts who will have enough enthusiasm, courage and will to fight with this problem facing the country.  

HUMANIST organised with great success the “HUMANIST Summer School 2019“, which was held in Lyon, France on 9-11 July 2019. The Humanist Summer School 2019 provided good insight into research in the area of Human Factors issues linked to the autonomous car challenge. The Summer School was a meeting place for Young and Senior Researchers, PhD or Professionals and offered plenty of opportunities to interact. 

The Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering Doboj, University of East Sarajevo, organised with great success the 7th international conference New Horizons of Transport and Communications, which was held on November 29-30, 2019 in Doboj, Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, University of East Sarajevo. Conference attendees had the chance to present their work on current traffic policy, sustainability and development strategy in the field of transport and traffic engineering, examples of good practice worldwide, solutions of respective problems in transport, scientific results, new models of technology and other achievements. 

The Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) organised with great success the 8th International Symposium on Naturalistic Driving Research (NDRS 2019) which was held in Melbourne, Australia on August 13-14, 2019. The 8th International Naturalistic Driving Research Symposium provided with an overview of international naturalistic driving and riding studies and insight into the next generation of this type of studies, in addition to the opportunity to interact with panelists to discuss naturalistic driving in their respective countries. 

The United States Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in cooperation with participating ESV member countries organised with great successthe 26th International Technical Conference on The Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV) which took place in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on June 10-13, 2019. ESV provided opportunities to share innovative advances in motor vehicle safety and encouraged international cooperation. 

The 10^th International Conference on the Prevention of Accidents at Work (WOS 2019) tool place in Vienna on 23-26 September 2019. The Congress, focusing on the prevention of workplace accidents – WOS: Working on Safety – aimed at bringing together experts from all over the world in order to facilitate a high-level exchange of experience, new findings and good practice solutions. The Congress was an excellent occasion for representatives of H&S organizations, labour inspectors, safety professionals, researchers, policy makers, labour administrators and other experts to broaden the personal prevention horizon and to get in touch with experts from other countries and other safety-cultures. 

The European Association of Operators of Toll Road Infrastructures (ASECAP), supported by the Hellenic Association of Toll Road Network (HELLASTRON), organised a Press Conference on Road Safety on the occasion of the EDWARD – European Day without a Road Death 2018, which took place with great success on September 19, 2018. The theme was “Modern motorways: Prevention and Road Safety in Europe and Greece” and Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc said: “I am glad to see such an engaging and dedicated contribution of Greece to the third European Day Without A Road Death (EDWARD) taking place this year on 19 September during the European Mobility Week. Thank you GREECE and all involved!”. 

The Association for European Transport organised the 47th European Transport Conference, which took place in Dublin, Ireland, on 9-11 October 2019. 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 makes ETC unique among transport conferences, making it the established premier event of its type.  

The Living and Walking in Cities Conference, organised by the Department of Civil, Environmental, Architectural Engineering and Mathematics of Universita Degli Studi di Brescia, was held in Brescia, on 12-13 September 2019. This Conference traditionally looks at different themes concerning the quality of life in urban areas and the goal of this event is to gather researchers, road users, administrators, technicians, city representatives and experts aiming to discuss problems that affect the safety of pedestrians in the city, especially of children and persons with reduced mobility. The conference covers international issues, national and local policies and the implementation of projects at the local level. 

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) 98th Annual Meeting was held with great success in Washington, D.C., on 13-17 January 2019. 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 focused on the spotlight theme for the 2019 meeting: Transportation for a Smart, Sustainable, and Equitable Future.   NTUA road safety presentations concerned:

•   How much driving data do we need to assess driver behavior?
•   Investigating the Temporal Evolution of Driving Safety Efficiency Using Data Collected from Smartphone Sensors
•   Time series classification using imbalanced learning for real-time safety assessment
•  Road Safety Data, Knowledge and Decision Support Systems Global Challenges in the Digital Era
•  The African Road Safety Observatory
•  Impaired Cycling and Crash Involvement: A Survey Across OECD Countries on Data Availability and Legislation

The 47th Annual ASECAP Conference (known as 47th ASECAP Information Days) took place on 29-31 May, 2019 in Costa Navarino, Messinia, in Greece. Given the disruptive nature of the technological developments of the last 10 years and the trends foreseen which will dramatically impact mobility, ASECAP’s Technical Program Committee issued an Open Invitation for Presentations in order to attract presenters in the very wide field of Development, Financing, Construction, Operation and Maintenance of Motorways and all related mobility fields and activities. 

The 4th Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems and related developments in Greece, which was organised by ITS Hellas, took place with great success in Athens, on 18-19 December 2018. The aim of the conference was to discuss 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.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:   Telematics for Safe, Green and Smart Driving: The BeSmart Project

The International Neuropsychological Society organised the 46th Annual Meeting which took place with great success in Washington, DC from February 14-17, 2018. The topics of the Meeting include clinical neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychiatry and internationally renowned, innovative, and pioneering scientists and clinicians from multiple disciplines gave very interesting presentations. NTUA actively contributed with the following interdisciplinary presentation merging two scientific domains – neuroscience and road safety:   Predictors of Accidents in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment, Mild Alzheimer’s Disease and Healthy Controls in Simulated Driving

The online program of the meeting is available: 

UNECE and the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia organised a Workshop titled: “National Road Safety Policy development – trends and challenges| which was held with great success in Tbilisi, Georgia on 13-14 November 2018. The aim of the workshop was to strengthen the knowledge of Central Asia, Caucasus and East-Europe countries on how to define national road safety policy and improve road safety situation. As such, the workshop helped participants to better understand international and regional best practices on road safety management, collection and utilization of robust and reliable road safety statistics and tools (SafeFITS, and RSPR) and methodologies for setting up road safety strategic goals.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:

•  SafetyCube – the European Road Safety Decision Support System
•  The SafeFITS Model
•  The European Union Road Safety Action Plan

The 13th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (Safety 2018) took place with great success on 5-7 November 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand. The Conference was hosted by Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health, and co-hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Institute for Emergency Medicine (NIEM) and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation. The 13th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion brought together over 1000 of the world’s leading researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and activists to share information and experiences and to discuss solutions. Conference major theme was “Advancing injury and violence prevention towards SDGs”. 

The Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, the Austrian Road Safety Board (KFV) and the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organised a high level road safety conference which took place with great success in Vienna on 13 November 2018.  The conference featured a high level panel debate “Road safety 2020+: Challenges in Human Factors, Vehicles and Infrastructure”. Conference participants discussed priority measures and actions of the upcoming EU and national road safety strategies with politicians, experts, researchers, NGOs and representatives of the EU institutions. 

The American College of Greece – Institute of Public Health organized with great success a workshop on “Road Accidents and Safe Traffic Behaviour: Are they prevented or are they just cured?” on 14 November 2018 in Athens, Greece, with key note speakers NTUA Professor George Yannis and NKUA Em.Professor George Baltopoulos. 

NTUA’s presentation concerned:    Road Accidents, Traffic Behaviour and Safety

Ethos Events in collaboration with the financial and business portal banks.com.gr and the magazine CHRIMA organized with great success the 2nd Auto Forum titled: “Change your car!” on 7 November 2018 in Athens. The focus was on the latest technological advances in the field of passive safety in the automotive sector and the need for consumers to understand the potential of the new technology in order to “escape” untouchable or at least slightly injured after a violent collision caused by a traffic accident. 

NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  The Road to Traffic Automation

Under the theme “Smart Mobility, Empowering Cities“, 26^th Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress, the world’s leading transport technology congress, took place in Singapore on 21 – 25 October 2019, organized by Land Transport Authority (LTA), Intelligent Transportation Society (ITS) and co-hosted by ERTICO – ITS Europe together with ITS America,  ITS Asia. With a comprehensive format of plenary and interactive sessions, as well as a dynamic exhibition with technical demonstrations and tours, the World Congress 2019 was an opportunity for our sponsors and partners to network, discuss and share ground-breaking transport technology, and forge mutually beneficial partnerships to further unleash the power of ITS.  

ERTICO – ITS Europe , in co-operation with the European Commission organised the 13th ITS European Congress, which was held in Eindhoven, on 3-6 June 2019, was hosted by the Municipality of Eindhoven and Municipality of Helmond. The ITS Congress in Europe, is the largest event entirely dedicated to smart mobility and digitalisation of transport. 

The Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety-Queensland (CARRS-Q) organised with great success 8^th International Cycling Safety Conference (ICSC2019) which was held in Brisbane, Australia, on 18-20 November 2019. 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 facilitated interaction between participants and offered a premium forum to share scientific results and ideas, and favours networking in the cycling safety community. 

The Emirati Traffic Safety Society (ETSS) along with the Arab Road Safety Organization (AROSO), La Prevention Routière Internationale (PRI) and the International Road Federation (Geneva, Switzerland) co-organized an International Conference on: “Safer Roads & Mobility” which was held with great success in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on 24 – 25th, October, 2018. The conference program focused specifically on Pillar II “Safer Roads and Mobility” of the Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020) due to its sensitive impact on reducing road traffic fatalities.  

NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Critical Safety Choices in Urban Mobility Policies

The 31st ICTCT conference was held with great success in Porto, Portugal on 25-26th October 2018, under the main topic “On the track of future urban mobility: safety, human factors and technology”. The conference was organised in close co-operation with the Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal. The objective of the conference was to support the understanding of future trends in urban mobility and their implications for the safety of all road users. 

NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Road Safety and Automation

The European Union Road Federation (ERF) together with IRF Global and the support of NTUA, organised the European Road Conference “Corridors for Shared Prosperity”, which took place with great success in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on 22-24 October 2018. This conference offered an essential platform to deepen the understanding of these challenges, widen the engagement framework with regional road stakeholders, and achieve consensus on key policy, investment and planning measures. 

The Association for European Transport organised the 46th European Transport Conference, which took place with great success in Dublin, Ireland, on 10-12 October, 2018.  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 makes ETC unique among transport conferences, making it the established premier event of its type. 

Every year Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, loses many valuable human lives and incurs enormous economic costs caused by road accidents. The Traffic Safety Agency of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in cooperation with the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organized the 7th International Conference Road Safety in Local Community, which took place with great success in Banja Luca, Bosnia and Herzegovina on 25-26 October 2018 aiming to constantly strengthen and develop capacities at the local level and create groups of road safety experts who will have enough enthusiasm, courage and will to fight with this problem facing the country.  

The 6th International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention (DDI2018) was held with great success in Gothenburg, Sweden, during October 15-17, 2018. Nearly 190 delegates from 26 countries attended DDI2018  which is a record number of delegates. The conference was hosted and co-organised by the SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre at Chalmers in Sweden, the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks (IFSTTAR), and the Australian Road Research Group (ARRB). The conference’s theme was “Driver engagement during assisted driving” and a majority of the research results gave new valuable knowledge about how self-propelled vehicles should be designed to enable drivers to handle them. 

DDI2018 proceedings are available: 

The 8th conference of European Association for Research in Transportation (hEART) took place in Budapest on 4-6 September 2019. The conference was organized by the Faculty of Transportation Engineering and Vehicle Engineering at Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), and covered relevant areas of transportation research with specific focus on methods, models and planning of transport systems. The aim of the conference was to connect researchers in transport modeling, transport economics and transport policy with advanced practice. Bringing together leading experts and promising young researchers, the symposium offered an opportunity for scientific discussion and interaction in relatively small groups. The conference was accompanied by social events, and a summer school intended for PhD students the day before the symposium. 

The 7th Annual International Cycling Safety Conference, organised by Chalmers, TNO, SWOV, and TU Delft took place with great success in Barcelona, Spain, on 10-11 October 2018. 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. 

2018 NETS’ Strength in numbers Annual Conference took place in Frisco, Texas on October 10 & 11, 2018. The conference convenes each year to review the results of NETS’ annual Strength in numbers Fleet Safety Benchmark Report, as well as to hear about featured road safety case studies, new research, emerging issues, and projects that are underway. This year the conference include: keynote presentations by industry leaders, road safety case studies, new research & technology solutions, emerging issues, ongoing projects, 2017 STRENGTH IN NUMBERS® Fleet Safety Benchmark Report, opportunity to network with other road safety professionals. 

The Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE) and the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Thessaly co-organized the 7th pan-Hellenic Road Safety Conference, which was held with great success in Larissa, Greece on October 11-12, 2018. The main objectives of the Conference were to investigate and evaluate the level of road safety in Greece, as well as the efforts and innovations that are designed and implemented to improve road safety of drivers, vehicles and pedestrians in the Greek road network.     NTUA contributed actively with the following 12 presentations (full papers with review and presentation):

•   Overview of the SafetyCube project: Towards a European Road Safety Decision Support System
•   SafeFITS: A Global Road Safety Model
•   The African Road Safety Observatory – African RSO
•   Safety culture among private and professional drivers: Norway and Greece
•   How is Older Drivers Safety enhanced by In-Vehicle Assistance Systems?
•   Exploration of real-time crash likelihood of Powered-Two Wheelers in Greece
•   Quantifying the Need for Driving Data Collection in Driving Behaviour Assessment Using Smartphone Data
•   Investigating average speed after an unexpected event through a driving simulator experiment
•   Analysis of the impact of autonomous vehicles to travel behaviour
•   Comparative analysis of young drivers behaviour in normal and simulated conditions in urban environment
•   The effect of socioeconomics and transportation conditions on road safety in the European Union
•   Critical driver behaviour and risk factors in Europe

The 2018 TISPOL Conference “Expanding our Horizons” organised by the European Traffic Police Network was held with great success on 9-10 October 2018, in Manchester. The 2018 theme was ‘Expanding our Horizons’ – giving the opportunity to discuss who are the right partners for long-term success in reducing death and serious injury on the roads of Europe. The participants had the opportunity to showcase a selection of innovative work in road safety enforcement, as well as presenting a special discussion and debate on the future direction for Project EDWARD, our ‘European Day Without A Road Death’. 

The final event of the three Horizon 2020 projects InDeV, PROSPECT and XCYCLE took place on October 12^th 2018 at Applus+ IDIADA, 70 km south of the city of Barcelona. At this one-day event, results of these three projects on traffic safety analysis and integrated approach towards better protection of vulnerable road users were presented. Participants also had the opportunity to see live demonstrations that were performed.

Comité National de Prévention des Accidents de la Circulation and SSATP organised the 1st African Road Safety Forum which took place on 13-15 November 2018 in Marrakech, Morocco. The main objective was to bring road safety to the political attention of the African continent to achieve the goals of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020 and the UN Sustainable Development Agenda and to promote international cooperation in the field of road safety and sustainable mobility.