The Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG Move) of the European Commission released the Statistical Pocketbook 2018 ‘EU Transport in figures‘. In this Statistical Pocketbook, key road safety Tables are contained, together with several other Tables on transport statistics, providing a complete picture of current trends in transport in Europe. Data on road fatalities for the EU member states and associate countries allow for time series comparisons and country rankings.  

According to the EU road fatalities infographic of the NTUA Road Safety Observatory, twelve countries have a better performance than the EU average, namely Sweden, UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Estonia, Germany, Finland, Spain, Malta, Austria, and Luxembourg. Greece has been ranked 23rd in 2017. Estonia demonstrated the highest road fatalities rate reduction (64%) in the last decade, followed by Lithuania (57%), whereas the EU average 10-year reduction is 38% and for Greece is 51%. 

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) published the 12th edition of PIN Annual Report, with the active contribution of NTUA, presented at the 2018 PIN Conference which took place with great success on 18 June, 2018 in Brussels. 25,250 people lost their lives on the EU roads in 2017, representing a 2% reduction on the 2016 figure. There has been progress since 2010 but time is running out and the 2020 target is now highly unlikely to be met. Strong political will and urgent measures are still needed in all EU Member States to narrow the gap between the desired and the actual EU progress. 

A new book titled ‘Homo automobilis ou l’humanité routière‘ authored by Dr. Jean-Pascal Assailly, Researcher at the French Institute of Sciences & Technology for Transport (IFSTTAR), is now available. “Homo automobilis”, who are you? That is the question this book answers. Jean-Pascal Assailly analyzes the behavior of the users of the road environment  – whether one is a motorist or a pedestrian – which is so different depending on age, sex and culture. 

Basic characteristics of road fatalities in Greece for the period 1991-2016 are summarised in a comprehensive Table prepared by the NTUA Road Safety Observatory (data source: ELSTAT). Since 2005, there are approximately 1.000 less road fatalities per year in Greece. According to these time series data a spectacular decrease in road fatalities for young people (70%) and in junctions outside built up areas (72%) is observed during the last decade. On the contrary, fatalities decrease during the last decade is quite limited for cyclists, older drivers, and women drivers. 

Road fatalities in Greece in 2017 presented a significant decrease (10%) compared to 2016 figures, according to recently published ELSTAT data. This significant decrease could be attributed not only to the fact that Greece is still under economic crisis but also and mainly due to the fact that in the first semester of 2017, more than 500 km on new or upgraded motorways have been opened, replacing national roads with high road fatalities rates. 

During the last decade, Greece presents one of the most significant road safety performances in the European Union, with a decrease of road fatalities of 54% and a decrease of serious injuries of 62%. The rate fatalities per million vehicles has decreased by 59% since 2007.

World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Europe released Facts Sheets with key facts and figures, ongoing commitments, guidance on action, and indicators to monitor progress of the Sustainable Development Goals health targets, regarding Road Safety  :

• SDG target 3.6: by 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents and
• SDG target 11.2: by 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, people with disabilities and older people.

European Commission’s Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG-MOVE) released the sixth and final Research Theme Analysis Report, covering the Transport Safety research theme, produced under the Transport Research & Innovation Portal (TRIP) continuation project, with the active contribution of NTUA. This Research Theme Analysis Report provides a robust and thorough assessment of the results from several European road safety projects and highlights the perspectives from scientific and policy points of view. 

According to the ELSTAT final road accidents data for 2015 in Greece, 40% of road fatalities are passenger car occupants, whereas almost 30% of road fatalities are power two wheelers (the highest percentage in the European Union). Most car occupant fatalities occur outside built-up areas while most motorcycle and pedestrian fatalities occur inside built-up areas. Accident severity is five times higher outside built-up areas for all transport modes. 

The European Union Road Federation (ERF) has released the Road Statistics Yearbook 2017” with the active contribution of NTUA. As for many years, this publication provides the road community with important updated information on road transport sector and road infrastructure in Europe and beyond as an essential key element of the global mobility with one section focusing on road safety.  

The International Transport Forum (ITF) released the updated version of the Transport Database including the Road Injury Accidents Database with the latest data (2016). The database includes data on road injury accidents and road casualties in 53 countries, covering years from 2000 to 2016. The interactive design of the database gives the opportunity to export data, draw charts, and make dynamic queries. 

Sustainable Mobility for All (SuM4All) released the Global Mobility Report: the first-ever study to assess the global performance of the transport sector and the progress made toward four main objectives: universal access, efficiency, road safety, and green mobility. The publication covers all modes of transport, including road, air, waterborne, and rail transport. According to the report, the world is not on track to achieving sustainable mobility. Apart from being inaccessible to many of the world’s most vulnerable, the transport sector today is plagued by high fossil fuel use, rising greenhouse gas emissions, air and noise pollution, an alarming number of road fatalities, and a reluctance to embrace digitalization.  

The Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety, launched its new publication “Walking the Talk“, which describes the response of the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety and its member NGOs to the call for action represented by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with focus on SDG 3.6 (“By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents.”) and 11.2 (“By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport systems for all.”).  

EuroNCAP launched its Road Map 2025, setting out for the first time the programme’s priorities for the mobility and technological revolution the auto industry is just beginning to experience. The objective is to offer clarity and confidence to motoring consumers, highlighting new automated driving technologies and raising awareness of their benefits whilst also helping to ensure their safety potential is fully realised.   

United Nations launched the Report on Improving Global Road Safety, prepared by the World Health Organization in consultation with the United Nations regional commissions and other partners of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration. This Report provides an account of activities undertaken and achievements attained by the global road safety community in pursuance of the objectives of the Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011 -2020) and of target 6 of Sustainable Development Goal 3 (halving road traffic deaths and injuries by 2020). A number of notable high-level events were held in the intervening period, including the activities of the EU Horizons 2020 Research project SaferAfrica – African-European Dialogue Platform on Road Safety with the active contribution of NTUA. The Report concludes with a number of recommendations to the Assembly for achieving the goals of the Decade of Action and Sustainable Development Goal target 3.6. 

According to ELSTAT data, the majority of road accidents and fatalities in Greece occur during clear sky, both inside and outside built-up area. However, both road accidents and fatalities share outside built-up areas is much higher during rainy conditions than normal conditions of clear sky. Furthermore, accident severity is increased by 50% during raining especially inside built-up areas.

According to the latest ELSTAT data for 2015, most road fatalities in Greece occur at daytime and at night with good street lighting inside built-up area, or with no street lighting outside built-up area. Accident severity is increased 3 to 7 times more at night with no street lighting or no street lighting, but also at night accidents outside built-up areas. 

The Road Safety Unit of DG Move of the European Commission published recently the 2016 Edition of the EU Annual Road Accidents Report  and the respective Infographics  with the active contribution of NTUA, KFV and ERF. The EU Annual Road Accidents Report is based on most recent disaggregate data for all EU countries from the CARE Database of the European Commission and consist of summary and cross-country comparative tables, figures and maps on key road safety topics for which data comparable across the EU counties are available.

According to the EU road fatalities infographic of the NTUA Road Safety Observatory, ten countries have a better performance than the EU average, namely Sweden, UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Finland, Austria, and Slovakia. Greece is ranked 24th in 2016. Lithuania demonstrated the highest road fatalities rate reduction (72%) in the last decade, followed by Estonia (63%) and Latvia (58%), whereas the EU average 10-year reduction is 42,5% and for Greece is 48%. 

WHO Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Collaborating Centre in India, released two reports on road safety prepared by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS):

1. “Advancing Road Safety in India: Implementation is the key”, which is a report providing a comprehensive review of road safety scenario in India from a public health perspective 

2. “Advancing Road Safety in India: Facts and Figures”, which is a report based on available information from different sources in India provides facts and figures aimed at equipping diverse stakeholders in taking appropriate actions 

According to ELSTAT final road accidents data for 2015, come off the road and at angle collisions are the two most common accident types outside built-up areas. Pedestrian accidents, at angle collisions, come off the road and collisions with stopped vehicle are the most common accident types inside built-up areas. Accident severity is more than 5 times higher outside built-up areas at pedestrian accidents. 

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published the PIN Annual Report at the eleventh edition of PIN Annual Conference on 20 June 2017, in Brussels. Since 2014, progress has virtually ground to a halt. 2016 was the third consecutive poor year for road safety: 25,670 people lost their lives on EU roads compared to 26,200 the previous year – a 2% decrease. But this followed a 1% increase in 2015 and stagnation in 2014. Out of the 32 countries monitored by the PIN Programme, 15 countries registered a drop in the number of road deaths last year. NTUA contributed actively to this ETSC PIN Annual Report.

According to the Hellenic Statistical Authority ELSTAT data, among the 793 persons killed in Greece in 2015: 405 were outside built-up areas and 388 were inside built-up areas. 57% of road fatalities outside built-up area occurred on national roads. More than 80% of road accidents and half of fatalities occurred inside built-up areas. However, accident severity is almost 5 times higher outside built-up areas in total. 

The World Road Association (PIARC) has recently published a report entitled: “Experience with Significant Incidents in Road Tunnels”. Approximately ten to fifteen years ago many countries introduced tunnel safety management systems and started paying attention to tunnel safety in a more structured way. Experience with tunnel incidents and methods for incident evaluation and risk analysis have led to developments in organisation and management and to improvements in the systems in use. In this report several contributing countries share information on lessons learned from incidents and developments in safety management and risk analysis and conclusions are drawn on topics of general interest. 

DEKRA has updated its online tool to track the status of “Vision Zero”, a multinational road traffic safety project demonstrating that hundreds of towns and cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants achieved the target of zero deaths caused by road accidents in at least a single year. 16 of these towns and cities did not see a single death caused by road accidents in the entire period. Overall, the figures show that, far from being an illusion, “vision zero” is attainable in urban habitats and already a reality in many towns and cities. This highlights the need to step up efforts to learn from successful towns and cities, to further improve road safety and get ever closer to achieving the vision – including with regard to serious injuries.   

The International Road Federation (IRF Geneva) supporting global action aiming at halving the number of road death and injuries from road crashes by 2020 released a new knowledge repository on road safety. The Global Transport Knowledge Practice (gTKP) hosts work produced by Project Group 1 and Project Group 2 of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration Group (UNRSC). The release is being made possible by work of many of the members of the UNRSC and support from the World Bank hosted Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) and from RoadSafe UK. 

Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR) has published its fourth biennial report in 2016 on the performance of the TEN-T (Roads) network within CEDR member countries. CEDR’s intention in collecting and publishing this information is to establish a stable set of data with which to monitor trends and identify changes in the performance of the TEN-T (Roads) network. As such, the report is a useful source of information for individual National Road Administrations (NRAs), regulatory bodies, and others for benchmarking purposes and for setting national performance targets.

The World Health Organization has released a Road Safety Manual for decision-makers and practitioners concerning Powered Two- and Three-Wheeler (PTW) Safety. This Manual describes the magnitude of PTW death and injury; key risk factors; ways of assessing the PTW safety situation in a given setting and preparing an action plan; and how to select, design, implement and evaluate effective interventions. The Manual also stresses the importance of a comprehensive, holistic approach that includes engineering, legislation and enforcement measures, as well as behavioural changes.  

In conjunction with World Day for Safety and Health at Work on April 28, Together for Safer Roads (TSR) released the “Guidelines for Using Technology to Address Road Safety Challenges” Report. This Report is the second in its Advancing Road Safety Best Practices for Companies and Their Fleets series, outlines how to effectively apply safety technologies, like connected vehicles and infrastructure, autonomous vehicles and features, sensors and telematics, and consumer electronics, to fleet operations in order to pave the way to a golden era of road safety.  

According to Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) data, 793 persons were killed in Greece in 2015: 545 drivers, 120 passengers and 128 pedestrians. Male drivers account for 65% of all road fatalities in Greece. Young male drivers aged 15-24 years old account for 15% of all male driver fatalities and older people account for more than 63% of all pedestrian fatalities. The higher accident severity was found in accidents involving older persons (7.6 fatalities per 100 accidents) and younger persons (4.4 fatalities per 100 accidents). 

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has recently published the PIN Flash Report 32 ‘Reducing deaths in Single Vehicle Collisions‘, with the contribution of NTUA. A third of road deaths in the EU are caused by collisions that involve a single motorised vehicle where the driver, rider and/or passengers are killed but no other road users are involved. Several significant key recommendations to Member States and key recommendations to EU Institutions are included in this PIN Flash Report.  

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) released some very interesting infographics including the latest data on road deaths across the European Union and other countries covered by ETSC’s Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) programme. Full analysis and background data tables can be found in the latest annual edition of the ETSC PIN report. 

The International Transport Forum (ITF) launched recently a new visualisation tool for transport indicators, including road fatalities data. The tool makes it possible to compare trends across countries, create rankings or show data on a map.

19 indicators for more than 50 countries cover topics including CO2 emissions, road safety, infrastructure investment, modal shares and the transport network. 

The European Commission has published the most recent road safety statistics, based on provisional data for 2016 road deaths in Europe indicating a drop of 2% in the number of fatalities recorded across the EU last year. 25,500 people lost their lives on EU roads in 2016, 600 fewer than in 2015 and 6,000 fewer than in 2010. A further 135,000 people were seriously injured on the road according to Commission’s estimates. Following two years of stagnation, 2016 marks the return of a positive downwards trend and over the last six years, road fatalities have been cut by 19%. While this pace is encouraging, it may nevertheless be insufficient if the EU is to meet its target of halving road fatalities between 2010 and 2020, as said by Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc. 

This World Health Organisation (WHO) published the new Country Profiles from the “Global status report on road safety 2015” for 52 of 53 Member States in the WHO European Region. It is a companion to the regional data presented in “European facts and the global status report on road safety 2015”; the global status report adds a country-level perspective to allow individual countries to assess their own status with regard to road traffic fatality and policy indicators, to examine the comprehensiveness of legislation on established behavioural risk factors of speeding, drink–driving, and not using motorcycle helmets, seat-belts and child car restraints, to assess road safety audits, policies on mobility and vehicle safety standards and to take stock of progress towards achieving road safety for all road users.  

Road fatalities in Greece in 2016 presented an increase (1%) for the first time since 2004, ending an impressive road fatalities drop during the economic crisis of almost 50%, as highlighted at the comprehensive statistics table based on recently published ELSTAT data.

During the last five years, road fatalities in Greece have decreased by 29% (since 2011), however injury road accidents decreased only by 17%. The rate fatalities per number of vehicles has decreased by 30% since 2011. 

Basic characteristics of road fatalities in Greece for the period 1991-2015 are summarised in a comprehensive Table prepared by the NTUA Road Safety Observatory (data source: ELSTAT). Since 2005, there are approximately 1.000 less road fatalities per year in Greece. According to these time series data a spectacular decrease in road fatalities for young people (68%) and children (86%) is observed during the last decade, as well in fatalities outside urban areas, especially when raining and in accidents with heavy goods vehicles. On the contrary, fatalities decrease during the last decade is quite limited for motorcyclists and cyclists, older drivers, men drivers, single vehicle accidents, as well as in junctions outside built-up areas. 

European Commission recently launched Traffic Safety Synthesis 2016, prepared by European Road Safety Observatory (ERSO), with the active contribution of NTUA. The European Road Safety Observatory (ERSO) gathers harmonised specialist information on road safety practices and policy in European countries. Evidenced-based approaches lie at the heart of the most successful road safety polices – backed up by accident and other road safety data. ERSO collects a range of information types including a series of data protocols and collection methodologies, national and in-depth accident data, exposure data and safety performance indicators. ERSO was developed by the SafetyNet project and was later updated and expanded by the DaCoTA project. Current updates are managed by the EU’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport. 

The Traffic Safety Synthesis 2016 includes 22 key traffic safety topics:

•  Advanced driver assistance systems
•  Alcohol
•  Cell phone use while driving
•  Children
•  Cost Benefit Analysis
•  Driver Distraction
•  Fatigue
•  Integration of Road Safety in Other Policy Areas: Synergies and Conflicts
•  Novice Drivers
•  Older Drivers
•  Pedestrians and Cyclists
•  Post-impact care
•  Power two wheelers
•  Quantitative Road Safety Targets
•  Roads
•  Road Safety Management
•  Safety Ratings
•  Serious Injuries
•  Speed and Speed Management
•  Speed Enforcement
•  Vehicle Safety
•  Work-related

The European Commission has published a leaflet demonstrating the road safety situation at the end of 2015 and the progress made since 2010 in the EU countries. The target of the EU was to halve the number of road fatalities on European roads by 2020. The purpose of this leaflet is to allow Member States and European citizens to compare their situation and to encourage them to continue their efforts regarding road safety. 

It is the first time that comparative figures on serious injuries and hospitalised casualties are published in Europe, exploiting the new harmonised definition based on MAIS3+.

Since 52 years, the  International Road Federation (IRF) World Road Statistics (WRS) continue to be the major comprehensive, universal source of statistical data on road networks, traffic and inland transport. Over the past years, the WRS have proved to be an invaluable and internationally accepted reference tool for governments, NGOs, investments banks, research institutes and anyone analyzing and reporting trends in key subject areas like traffic volumes and vehicle usage, road expenditure, road safety, energy consumption and emissions. 

This year, the WRS 2016 (data 2009-2014) features more than 200 countries, with data on over 45 road related topics, presented in nine substantive sections, with the active contribution of NTUA for the Greek data. This is a tremendous achievement that complements the work accomplished last years with the 2015, 2014 and 50th Anniversary Editions.

The European Commission recently set out a range of advanced safety measures that could be fitted to vehicles in the future and have the potential to save lives on the roads. These measures will be examined in detail to decide exactly how the vehicles of tomorrow will be made safer. The report presents workable and cost-effective car safety measures. The main objectives are to decrease the number of road victims and to help prevent accidents. As vulnerable road users, special attention was given to children and the elderly.  

The European Commission has published the 2016 edition of the EU Transport Scoreboard , a benchmark which compares how Member States perform in 30 categories covering all aspects of transport , including road safety . The objective of the Scoreboard is to assist EU Member States to identify areas requiring priority investment and action and demonstrates how the EU further deepens the internal market in transport.

“Road Statitics Yearbook 2016” has been released by the European Union Road Federation (ERF). As for many years, this publication provides the road community with essential information on the road transport sector and remains a reference for all policy makers and major stakeholders. The publication features a range of interesting figures concerning the road network in Europe from the length of motorways to funding, past and on-going, as well as key figures on road safety. According to ERF, under-investment in roads, especially the past years of the financial crisis, represents a threat in the social and economic development of the EU member states and ERF aims to assist stakeholders through this publication to better plan future solutions and actions.  

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published the PIN Annual Report at the tenth edition of PIN Annual Conference on 20 June 2016, in Brussels. 2015 was the second consecutive poor year for road safety, 26,300 people lost their lives on EU roads in 2015 compared to 25,970 in 2014, representing an increase of 1%. Out of the 32 countries monitored by the PIN Programme, as many as 22 saw an increase in the number of road deaths between 2014 and 2015. Across the EU28, road deaths were cut by 17% between 2010 and 2015, equivalent to a 3.6% average annual reduction. A 6.7% year-to-year reduction is needed over the 2010-2020 period to reach the target through constant progress in annual percentage terms. Yet the increase in 2015 means that the number of road deaths has to be reduced at a much faster average pace of about 9.7% each year between 2016 and 2020 for the EU to be on track for the target.

NTUA contributed actively to this ETSC PIN Annual Report.   

The European Commission has published the most recent statistics on road fatalities, based on provisional data for 2015 road deaths in Europe, confirming that European roads remain the safest in the world despite a recent slowdown in reducing road fatalities. 26.000 people lost their lives on EU roads last year, 5.500 fewer than in 2010. There is however no improvement at EU level compared to 2014.

In addition, the Commission estimates that 135.000 people were seriously injured on EU roads. The social cost (rehabilitation, healthcare, material damages, etc.) of road fatalities and injuries is estimated to be of at least €100 billion. The country-specific statistics reveal that the number of road fatalities still varies greatly across the EU, though this gap is becoming smaller every year. It is the first time ever that all EU countries present a rate of fatalities per million population of less than 100.

Basic characteristics of road fatalities in Greece for the period 1991 – 2014 are summarised in a comprehensive Table (data source: ELSTAT). Since 2001, there are more than 1.000 less road fatalities per year in Greece. According to these time series data a spectacular decrease (more than 60%) in road fatalities for young people and children is observed during the last decade, as well in fatalities outside urban areas, especially in junctions and in in accidents with heavy goods vehicles. On the contrary, fatalities decrease during the last decade is quite limited for motorcyclists and cyclists, older drivers, women drivers and non resident riders, as well as in junctions inside urban areas. 

According to provisional data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), the number of road fatalities in 2015 shows a slight annual increase of 1,3%, whereas injury accidents show a slight decrease of -1.1%. This road fatalities increase is observed for the first time since 2004, ending an impressive 49% road fatalities decrease in the economic crisis period 2008-2014 (-23% in injury accidents).

Greece has reached a point where there is great need for extra effort to further improve road safety in the Greek roads, with systematic actions from the Authorities and serious engagement from the society despite the continuous economic and social crisis in Greece. 

According to the ELSTAT final road accidents data for 2014 in Greece, 34% of road fatalities are passenger car occupants, whereas 38% of road fatalities are power two wheelers. Most car occupant fatalities occur outside built-up areas while most motorcycle and pedestrian fatalities occur inside built-up areas. Accident severity is higher outside built-up areas for all transport modes.