The International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published a leaflet on Cycling Safety. This leaflet presents preliminary 2012 data for more than a dozen selected transport indicators as well as total import and export values for ITF member countries. It also presents graphs and a short analysis of the transport activity in the global economic context highlighting the main changes over the previous year. 
The International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published the Annual Report 2013, which comprises a synthesis of the main trends and road safety indicators for the year 2011 and preliminary data for the year 2012. It presents longer-term trends in order to better understand the developments taking place in the different countries. 2012 will mark a record year, with figures showing the lowest fatalities on record for most OECD-IRTAD countries, however, there is still a long way to go in order to achieve the 2020 UN Decade of Action target, which is to reduce by 50% the expected number of fatalities worldwide. Moreover, a report activity of the IRTAD Group summarising the activities of the Group and detailed reports from 32 countries are presented. NTUA has contributed to the detailed report for Greece.
A new special issue on road safety of the Journal of Transport and Shipping has recently been published, coordinated by Co-Editors John Karkazis & Amalia Polydoropoulou, Professors at the Department of Shipping, Trade and Transport of the University of the Aegean.
NTUA contributions to this special issue concerned: ‘Driver distraction and road safety in Greece and internationally‘ and ‘Macroscopic traffic safety data analysis and prediction‘.
A paper titled ‘Investigation of the Impact of Low Cost Engineering Measures on Road Safety in Urban Areas‘ co-authored by G.Yannis, A.Kondyli and X.Georgopoulou is now published in International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion. This paper investigates the impact of low cost traffic engineering measures (LCTEMs) on the improvement of road safety in urban areas. A number of such measures were considered, such as speed humps, woonerfs, raised intersections and other traffic calming measures, which have been implemented on one-way, one-lane roads in the Municipality of Neo Psychiko in the Greater Athens Area. The application of the methodology showed that the total number of crashes presented a statistically significant reduction, which can be possibly attributed to the introduction of LCTEMs.
Interesting findings on attitudes and self reported behaviour of the European drivers towards road traffic risk is now available at the DaCoTA Road Safety Knowledge System, developed by the EU co-financed projectDaCoTA. These Tables summarise basic results from the Pan-European SARTRE surveys on Social Attitudes to Road Traffic Risk in Europe (1991, 1996, 2003, 2010). Focus is given to the most risky traffic offences like Speeding, Alcohol, Seat belt wearing, Tailgating, Driving through amber and Overtaking.
The good practice manual, titled ‘Pedestrian Safety: A road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners’jointly prepared by GRSP, WHO, the FIA Foundation and the World Bank, is now available on the website of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration. Each year, more than 270.000 pedestrians lose their lives on the world’s roads. Globally, pedestrians constitute 22% of all road traffic fatalities, and in some countries this proportion is as high as two thirds of all road traffic deaths.The manual stresses the importance of a comprehensive, holistic approach that includes enforcement, engineering and education.
In April 2013, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning collisions involving an HGV, a bus or a coach. In the European Union 4,254 people lost their lives in collisions involving heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) in 2011, 3,999 in collisions involving light goods vehicles (LGVs) – goods vehicles with a maximum permitted weight below 3.5 tonnes – and 722 in collisions involving a bus, coach or trolleybus, totalling 29% of the overall number of road deaths recorded in 2011. The number of road deaths in collisions with HGVs has dropped in all the PIN countries, Latvia leading the EU countries with an average annual reduction of 14.7% per year, a steeper reduction than the one in the total number of road deaths.
A paper titled ‘Explaining the road accident risk: weather effects‘ co-authored by R.Bergel-Hayat, M.Debbarh, C.Antoniou and G.Yannis is now published in Accident Analysis and Prevention Journal. This research is based on some case studies carried out within the data analysis and synthesis activities of the EU-FP6 project “SafetyNet – Building the European Road Safety Observatory”, which illustrate the use of weather variables for analysing changes in the number of road injury accidents. Time series analysis models with explanatory variables that measure the weather quantitatively were used and applied to aggregate datasets of injury accidents for France, the Netherlands and the Athens region, over periods of more than twenty years. The main results reveal significant correlations on a monthly basis between weather variables and the aggregate number of injury accidents, but the magnitude and even the sign of these correlations vary according to the type of road (motorways, rural roads or urban roads).
A paper titled ‘Acceptability of rider assistive systems for powered two-wheelers‘ co-authored by V.Beanland, M.Lenné, E.Fuessl, M.Oberlader, S.Joshi, T.Bellet, A.Banet, L.Rößger, L.Leden, I.Spyropoulou, G.Yannis, H.Roebroeck, J.Carvalhais and G.Underwood is now published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. This study aims to understand general and system-specific factors that are likely to influence acceptability of PTW assistive systems, including barriers that may prevent uptake and proper use of systems, through a large-scale survey of European riders. The survey was available in seven languages and attracted 6297 respondents. Respondents were frequent riders, who rode primarily for leisure purposes and had high awareness of assistive systems. Overall acceptability was low, but riders who perceive greater risk in riding display higher acceptability. In general, riders believe that existing safety equipment (e.g., helmets, protective clothing) is more reliable, provides greater resistance, and is considerably cheaper than more sophisticated assistive technology.
A paper titled ‘State-space based analysis and forecasting of macroscopic road safety trends in Greece‘ co-authored by Constantinos Antoniou and George Yannis from NTUA, is now published in Accident Analysis and Prevention Journal. In this paper, macroscopic road safety trends in Greece are analyzed using state-space models and data for 52 years (1960–2011). Alternative considered models are presented and discussed, including diagnostics for the assessment of their model quality and recommendations for further enrichment of this model. Important interventions were incorporated in the models developed (1986 financial crisis, 1991 old-car exchange scheme, 1996 new road fatality definition) and found statistically significant. Furthermore, the forecasting results using data up to 2008 were compared with final actual data (2009–2011) indicating that the models perform properly, even in unusual situations, like the current strong financial crisis in Greece. Forecasting results up to 2020 are also presented and compared with the forecasts of a model that explicitly considers the currently on-going recession.
A paper titled ‘Investigating the self-reported behavior of drivers and their attitudes to traffic violations‘ co-authored by Sophia Vardaki and George Yannis is published in the Journal of Safety Research. A sample of 601 Greek drivers participating at the SARTRE 4 pan-European questionnaire-based survey is exploited. The findings indicate that differences in attitudes and behaviours may be attributed to factors such as age, gender, and area of residence. The research findings also provided some insight about the current level of drivers’ attitudes to traffic violations, especially those that negatively affect traffic safety. The pattern of their views on violations may form the basis of risk behavior-related interventions tailored to the identified groups, aiming at informing, educating, and raising the awareness of the public.
The Road Safety Webtexts are available at the DaCoTA Road Safety Knowledge System and were developed through a peer review process by the EU co-funded research projects DaCoTA and SafetyNet, within the framework of developing and enhancing the European Road Safety Observatory. These road safety webtexts consist of comprehensive and high quality syntheses on important road safety issues, scientifically founded, easy to read and ready to use. For each subject, the information consists of an overview of the magnitude of the problem, prevalence and countermeasures followed by key bibliography references.
They cover most contemporary road safety issues:
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Multilevel analysis of road accident characteristics in urban areas in Europe‘ was presented by Eleftheria Choustoulaki in March 2013. For this analysis a database was developed containing, road fatalities, characteristics of the driver, the road environment and the vehicle, GDP per capita, population in urban areas and vehicle fleet for 24 European countries for the year 2009. The results led to the conclusion that the use of hierarchical data structures and nested data structures, for data concerning accident in urban areas of Europe is necessary for the correct estimation of the parameters impact. From the second level analysis a differentiation in the number of fatalities in the various European urban areas was found, depending on the specific characteristics of these areas. Moreover the application of these models led to the identification of the impact of various parameters such as weather conditions, vehicle type, fatality age on the number of fatalities in the various urban areas of the European countries. 
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Investigation of factors affecting helmet use among European motorcyclists‘ was presented by Christos Katrakazas in March 2013. Αn analysis took place, based on data from the SARTRE 4 Pan-European survey, which was conducted on a representative sample of European motorcycle drivers. Binary Logistic regression models were developed to investigate factors affecting helmet use on four types of roads (motorways, main roads between towns, country roads and built-up areas). These models were used on the samples from Greece, Europe as a whole, three groups of countries (Northwest, South and East) and three representative countries. According to the results from the models application, the main characteristic of the motorcyclists who are more likely to wear helmet, is that they fasten it frequently. On the contrary, the main factor that decreases the probability of a motorcyclist to wear helmet is helmet usage only because it is mandatory by law.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Correlation of traffic characteristics with road accident severity and probability‘ was presented by Apostolos Ziakopoulos in March 2013. Data concerning the road accidents occurred on Kifisias Avenue in Athens, Greece, during the period 2006 – 2010 were collected from the ELSTAT database with disaggregate data. Subsequently, traffic data (volume, speed, occupation) were obtained from the Traffic Management Centre of Athens. For the analysis, logistic regression mathematical models were developed. The application of these models indicates that road accident severity is correlated with the logarithm of traffic density, the type of vehicle and the type of accident. When data are separated in two groups of peak and off-peak hour accidents, the parameter of traffic density is the only one appearing to be statistically significant. Furthermore, traffic volume is the only parameter found with a statistically significant impact on accident probability.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Multilevel investigation of road accident characteristics in Greek cities‘ was presented by Dimitris Spanakis in March 2013. For this analysis, a database was developed with road accident data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority in 30 Greek cities for the period 2006-2010, which has been complemented with cities demographic data: population, vehicle fleet, and per capita income. From the results, useful conclusions are deducted for the impact of some of the examined parameters in the number of fatalities, serious and slight injuries in Greek cities, such as existence of median, operation of technical night lighting, accident type, vehicle type, casualty age and vehicle fleet. From the second level analysis it was found that there is significant variation of the impact of the vehicle fleet of each city to the number of casualties in road accidents, which was quantified.
The European Commission published a Report on the first steps taken towards achieving reduction of serious road traffic injuries, which is one of the seven strategic objectives set by the Commission in 2010 in its road safety policy orientations for the period 2011-2020.
The document looks at what has been done so far and describes the problem of serious road traffic accidents and the challenges of the current framework. It considers the situation regarding a common definition of serious injuries, data collection methods and a possible future EU-level target. The use of an established medical classification standard is seen as preferable and the existing trauma scale ‘Maximum Abbreviated Injury Score’ (MAIS) was put forward, with serious injuries defined as those with an MAIS score of 3 or higher, as proposed by the EC research project SafetyNet and the ITF.
A paper titled ‘Effects of lighting on frequency and severity of road accidents‘ co-authored by George Yannis, A.Kondyli and N.Mitzalis is now published in the Proceedings of the ICE – Transport. A total of 358.485 police-recorded accidents were analysed and the proposed models were developed with the use of log-normal regression. The application of these models allowed the investigation of the influence of road lighting and other parameters such as weather conditions, accident type and vehicle type on the number of casualties and injuries. It appears that road lighting contributes to the reduction of the number of accidents and their severity and that this influence increases with the increase of the severity of the accidents. The absence of street lighting during nighttime has the highest impact on the number of fatalities and serious injuries. The results show that nighttime lighting has great potential in improving traffic safety and reducing the accident severity, especially for persons killed and seriously injured.
The World Health Organization (WHO) released the Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013, which highlights that road traffic injuries are a global health and development problem. This Status Report presents information on road safety from 182 countries, accounting for almost 99% of the world’s population. It indicates that worldwide the total number of road traffic deaths remains unacceptably high at 1.24 million per year.
This WHO Global Status Report is accompanied by detailed background road safety data and information for in the 182 WHO countries:
– World Road Safety Basic Data
– Global Road Safety Infographics
The World Health Organization (WHO) released the European Facts and Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013, prepared by Francesco Mitis and Dinesh Sethi. This European Facts Report provides a baseline assessment to what extent countries in the 51 countries of the WHO European Region are implementing effective road safety measures to address the five key risk factors: drinking and driving, speeding, helmets, seat-belts and child restraints.
Though death rates are down, the Report shows that 55% of the European population live in countries that do not provide the protection of comprehensive road safety laws. It also highlights the importance of issues such as vehicle safety standards, road infrastructure inspections and policies on walking and cycling. In charts, maps and tables, the brief report presents information from 51 countries, covering most of the population of the Region, and providing a baseline assessment to measure progress towards the goals of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020.
A paper titled ‘Why do drivers exceed speed limits‘ co-authored by G.Yannis, G.Louca, S.Vardaki and G.Kanellaidis is published in the European Transport Research Review. The purpose of this study is to explore relationships between drivers’ attitude towards exceeding speed limits in different types of road and the drivers’ characteristics and self-reported speed behaviour.Loglinear analysis was used and four models were developed: for motorways, main roads, country roads and built-up area roads. The model application revealed that the dependent variable (self-reported exceeding the speed limit) is strongly dependent on the belief that other drivers exceed speed limits for all four road types.
A paper titled ‘Patterns of pedestrian attitudes, perceptions and behaviour in Europe‘ co-authored by Eleonora Papadimitriou, Athanasios Theofilatos and George Yannis is just published in the Safety Science Journal. The paper aims to identify patterns of pedestrian attitudes, perceptions and behaviour in Europe, on the basis of the results of the SARTRE 4 (Social Attitudes to Road Traffic Risk in Europe) pan-European survey carried out in late 2010 and early 2011. The results revealed eight components, from which six are associated with pedestrian attitudes and two with pedestrian behaviour and were further analysed for different countries and different age and gender groups.
A paper titled ‘Critical power two wheeler driving patterns at the emergence of an incident’ co-authored by Eleni Vlahogianni, George Yannis and John Golias is now available in the Accident Analysis and Prevention Journal. The paper proposes a methodology based on Bayesian Networks for identifying the power two wheeler (PTW) driving patterns that arise at the emergence of a critical incident based on high resolution driving data (100 Hz) from a naturalistic PTW driving experiment. Results using data from one PTW driver reveal three prevailing driving actions for describing the onset of an incident and an equal number of actions that a PTW driver executes during the course of an incident to avoid a crash.
A paper titled ‘Reaction times of young alcohol-impaired drivers’ co-authored by Z.Christoforou, M.Karlaftis and G.Yannis is now available at the Accident Analysis and Prevention Journal. The paper focuses on young individuals who drive under the influence of alcohol and are having a higher relative risk of crash involvement; as such, the literature has extensively investigated the factors affecting such involvement through both post-accident surveys and simulator experiments. The results suggested that increased reaction times before consuming alcohol strongly affect post-consumption reaction times, while increased BrAC levels prolong reaction times, a 10% increase in BrAC levels results in a 2% increase in reaction time. Moreover, individuals with faster alcohol absorption times perform better regardless of absolute BrAC level, while recent meals lead to higher reaction times and regular exercising to lower reaction times.
A paper titled ‘Mobile phone use and traffic characteristics‘ co-authored by G.Yannis, E.Papadimitriou, P.Papantoniou and N.Petrellis is just published in the Traffic Engineering & Control Journal. The objective of this research is the analysis of the impact of mobile phone use on vehicle traffic speed and headways. It was found that vehicle speed is increased for young drivers (aged 18-25 years), male drivers and taxi drivers, and decreased for older drivers (>55 years) and for drivers using their mobile phone while driving. Vehicle’s time headways were not found to be affected by cell phone use. However, headspaces, estimated as the product of vehicle speed and time headways, were found to be decreased for drivers using their mobile phone, young drivers and older drivers.
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) 92nd Annual Meeting was held in Washington, D.C., in January 2013, with more than 4.000 presentations in a nearly 750 scientific sessions and workshops. Spotlight theme for 2013 was deploying transportation research – doing things smarter, better, faster. NTUA road safety presentations concerned:
Road safety forecasts in five european countries using structural time-series models
Assessment of exposure proxies for macroscopic road safety predictionDriving simulator experiment design for the assessment of driving performance and the effects of driver distractionExperiences and future challenges for reliable and transferable estimates of safety countermeasures in Europe
The Road Injuries Consultation Report of the European Commission is now available. The public consultation was launched as part of an initiative to reduce the number and the severity of road traffic injuries. This initiative is one of the strategic objectives outlined in the Policy Orientations on Road Safety 2011-2020, and a priority for EU action. Accordingly, the European Commission is developing a comprehensive strategy of action concerning road traffic injuries, with the assistance of relevant actors. The findings of the public consultation clearly indicate that road safety is regarded as a priority on the political agenda. Target setting and support of exchange of best practises are seen as the two areas with the highest EU added value, while research and project funding, legislation and data analysis are following slightly behind.
This report is the analysis of the responses to this online public consultation on “The provision of road safety related minimum universal traffic information free of charge to users under the ITS Directive” launched by the European Commission in March 2012 on Your Voice in Europe. In the public consultation, respondents indicate a strong belief that safety related traffic information contributes to road safety. They show broad support for action by the EC to ensure the provision of road safety related traffic information, free of charge, to users across Europe and they strongly support the harmonisation of the means of dissemination, and the definition of a uniform presentation of safety related traffic information to the end-user.
A paper titled ‘Road safety performance indicators for the interurban road network‘ co-authored by G.Yannis, W.Weijermars, V.Gitelman, M.Vis, A.Chaziris, E.Papadimitriou and Azevedo C. is published in the Accident Analysis and Prevention Journal. This paper presents a theoretical concept for the determination of this SPI as well as a translation of this theory into a practical method. Also, the method is applied in a number of pilot countries namely the Netherlands, Portugal, Greece and Israel. The results show that the SPI could be efficiently calculated in all countries, despite some differences in the data sources. In general, the calculated overall SPI scores were realistic and ranged from 81 to 94%, with the exception of Greece where the SPI was relatively lower (67%).
A report on road safety policies published by the World Road Association (PIARC) is now available. This report examines the road safety performance of several nations, reviews reported policies and strategies in jurisdictions and attempts to establish linkages between adopted and implemented road safety policies, overarching multi-year strategies and performance outcomes. The findings are built upon survey returns from 16 countries and 8 selected state/provincial jurisdictions which set out the road safety visions, strategies, policies and practices they have adopted to underpin their road safety performance.
A new book of Professor Anastasios K. Apostoleris , titled “Highway Engineering I – Design: Theory and Practice” has been just published by Papasotirou Editions, Greece.
A paper titled ‘On statistical inference in time series analysis of the evolution of road safety co-authored by J.Commandeur, F.Bijleveld, R.Bergel-Hayat, C.Antoniou, G.Yannis and E.Papadimitriou is published in the Accident Analysis and Prevention Journal. Some commonly used statistical techniques imply assumptions that are often violated by the special properties of time series data, namely serial dependency among disturbances associated with the observations. The objective if this paper is to demonstrate the impact of such violations to the applicability of standard methods of statistical inference, which leads to an under or overestimation of the standard error and consequently may produce erroneous inferences. Moreover, having established the adverse consequences of ignoring serial dependency issues, the paper aims to describe rigorous statistical techniques used to overcome them.
Road Safety Country Forecasts are available at the DaCoTA Road Safety Knowledge System, developed by the EU co-financed project DaCoTA. For 30 European countries (all 27 EU members States, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), a specially developed common forecasting methodology was adopted, using risk exposure as the most important explaining variable. These country forecasts can be proved useful for road safety policy, as it is important to know in what direction the annual casualties are developing, and how fast this development is expected to go. At the road safety forecasts for Greece prepared by NTUA, the 50 year trend is analysed and road fatalities forecasts scenaria up to 2020 are proposed.
Road Safety Country Overviews are available at the DaCoTA Road Safety Knowledge System, developed by the EU co-financed project DaCoTA. For 30 European countries (all 27 EU members States, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) a comprehensive picture on road safety is provided, using a common analysis methodology: the SunFlower footprint. Information is provided on road safety structure and culture, programs and measures, road safety performance indicators and outcomes and the social cost, followed by an overall synthesis and the related literature.
At the country overview for Greece prepared by NTUA, the current road safety strengths and weaknesses are highlighted, based on a thorough analysis of all available data and information.
A paper titled ‘Modelling the spatial variation of road accidents and fatalities in Greece’ co-authored by E.Papadimitriou, V.Ekshler , G.Yannis, S.Lassarre is just published in the Proceedings of ICE – Transport. The paper focuses on the modelling of the spatial variation of road accidents and fatalities in Greece. For that purpose, NUTS-3 road accident and fatalities risk rates are used for the development of CAR and CAR-convolution spatial models. Moreover, two types of neighbourhood structures of the regional road safety data are tested: a basic structure defined according to the road connections between counties and an extended structure defined on the basis of both road and ferry connections between counties. The results suggest that the basic spatial structure accounts for an important part of the variation in road accident rates in the Greek counties, revealing a pattern of risk increase from northern to southern Greece. Spatial effects are also identifiable when considering the extended spatial structure, however without explaining a larger part of the overall variation compared to the basic structure.
A paper titled ‘A statistical analysis of motorcycle helmet wearing in Greece’ co-authored by G.Yannis, A.Laiou, S.Vardaki, E.Papadimitriou, A.Dragomanovits, G.Kanellaidis is just published in the Advances in Transportation Studies scientific journal. Helmet wearing in Greece was recorded through an on-site observational survey and data collected were used for the development of a binary logistic regression model. The independent variables used were time of the day, motorcycle type, road type and riders’ characteristics (gender, age and position on the motorcycle). Pseudo-elasticity values for all variables were calculated in order to quantify the impact of each one on helmet wearing. The survey revealed low helmet wearing rates. The rates are much higher in rural than in urban areas and for drivers of large motorcycles. Based on pseudo-elasticity values the variable with the greatest impact on wearing a helmet is being the driver.
The Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the School of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers and the Road Safety Observatory of the Technical Chamber of Greece organised a Lecture by M. Mohamed Abdel-Aty, Professor of Transportation Engineering at the University of Central Florida on ‘Changing the way we think about Traffic Safety: Current Traffic Safety Research Initiatives’. The Lecture took place on Monday, November 12th, 2012 at the Amphitheater of Railways and Transport at the NTUA Campus.
The Road Accidents Annual Statistical Report 2012 is now available at the DaCoTA Road Safety Knowledge System. This Annual Report was developed by the EU co-financed project DaCoTA, within the framework of developing and enhancing the European Road Safety Observatory. This Annual Statistical Report provides the basic characteristics of road accidents in 25 member states of the European Union (no data for Bulgaria and Lithuania yet) and Switzerland for the period 2001-2010, on the basis of data collected and processed within the CARE database, the Community Road Accident Database with disaggregate data.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Effect of GDP change on road accidents‘ was presented by Katerina Folla in October 2012. For this analysis a database containing GDP per capita, road fatalities and population data for the EU member states for the period 1975-2011 was developed. Linear Mixed Models were developed and applied for all European countries tested and also for the different groups of countries that were selected (Northwestern, Northern, Eastern countries). It was demonstrated that an annual increase of GDP per capita leads to an annual increase in fatality rates, whereas an annual decrease of GDP per capita leads to an annual decrease in fatality rates.
A paper titled ‘Effects of alcohol on speeding and road positioning among young drivers: a driving simulator study’ co-authored by Z.Christoforou, M.Karlaftis, G.Yannis is recently published in the Transportation Research Record Science Journal. The paper focuses on the behavior of young drivers under the influence of alcohol, in a driving simulator experiment in which participants were subjected to a common predefined dose of alcohol consumption. Comparing behavior before and after consumption as well as across individuals and different BrAC levels allows for useful insights into driver behavior, as well as for suggestions on policy interventions. Results indicate strong differences in individuals, mainly because of differentiated driving experience and baseline driving skills. The results also designate reaction time and speeding as the most robust alcohol impairment indicators that affect driver choices directly. Most important, results suggest that the BrAC-speed curve across individuals is not monotonic over all BrAC intervals.
A presentation titled “Effects of GDP changes on road traffic fatalities” was given by NTUA Associate Professor George Yannis at the 15th Meeting of the International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) of theInternational Transport Forum (ITF/OECD), which took place on 18-19 October 2012, in Amsterdam. A statistically significant relationship between annual GDP increase and fatality rate increase was demonstrated, as well as a statistically significant relationship between annual GDP decrease and fatality rate decrease. Behind these correlations, the causal explanations of the impact of economic recession to the recent impressive reductions in fatalities might include: a. less vehicle-kilometers (increased fuel prices, decrease of recreation mobility, less heavy goods vehicle traffic), b. less speeding (increased fuel prices, more economical and environment friendly driving, low drivers’ morale) and c. less risky driving (fewer young, inexperienced or elderly drivers who may afford vehicle ownership and travel).
The new international standard ISO 39001:2012specifies requirements for a road traffic safety (RTS) management system to enable an organization that interacts with the road traffic system to reduce death and serious injuries related to road traffic crashes which it can influence. The requirements in ISO 39001:2012 include development and implementation of an appropriate RTS policy, development of RTS objectives and action plans, which take into account legal and other requirements to which the organization subscribes, and information about elements and criteria related to RTS that the organization identifies as those which it can control and those which it can influence.
Around 2,100 cyclists were recorded as killed in traffic collisions in 2010 in the 24 EU countries where the data is available, representing 7.2% of the total number of road deaths recorded in those countries. Over the 2001-2010 decade the number of cyclist deaths was reduced by just 39%, compared to the 43% reduction in the overall number of road deaths observed in the same countries. BIKE PAL is a pan European project that aims to offer cyclists a package of information, resources, and awareness raising experiences to help them significantly improve their safety on the roads. In this report the safety ranking of EU countries is illustrated.
The International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published the Research Report on Sharing Road Safety. This Report is the result of a three-year co-operative effort by an international group of experts representing 17 countries, with contribution from NTUA Associate Professor George Yannis. The purpose of this report is to emphasize the importance of sharing knowledge on the effectiveness of interventions and transferring of results internationally. Road safety policy is increasingly dependent on sound indicators of the effectiveness of interventions. Policy makers need not only to justify expenditure on safety in terms of effectiveness but to argue convincingly for measures in the face of sceptical and sometimes hostile lobbies. Monitoring and analysis of effectiveness is not without cost, and indicators that relate safety improvements to interventions, “Crash Modification Functions”, that are transferable from one situation to another are a valuable tool in spreading effective safety policies.
A review of “Road safety research in Greece through 31 NTUA Diploma Theses” has been published at the honorary Edition for Professor G.Giannopoulos of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. These Diploma Theses were carried out at the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the School of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens during the period 2000 – 2011 under the supervision of Associate Professor George Yannis and concern seven road safety disciplines:infrastructure, driver behaviour, driver distraction, pedestrians, weather conditions, economic valuation of road accidents and international comparisons. The important potential for road safety research at the Greek Technical Universities has been demonstrated.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Impact of texting on young drivers’ traffic and safety on motorways by the use of a driving simulator‘ was presented by Christos Gartzonikas in July 2012. An experimental process on a driving simulator was carried out, in which all the participants drove in different driving scenarios. Lognormal regression methods were used to investigate the influence of text messaging as well as various other parameters on the mean speed and the mean distance from the front vehicle. Binary logistic methods were used to investigate the influence of text messaging as well as various other parameters in the probability of an accident. It appears thattext messaging leads to statistically significant decrease of the mean speed and to increase of the headway in normal and in specific conditions in motorways and simultaneously leads to an increase of accident’s probability, probably due to increased reaction time of the driver in case of an incident.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Simulation of texting impact on young drivers’ behaviour and safety in urban and rural road‘ was presented by Charalambos Christoforou in July 2012. An experimental process on a driving simulator was carried out, in which all the participants drove in different driving scenarios. Lognormal regression methods were used to investigate the influence of texting as well as various other parameters on the mean speed and mean reaction time. Binary logistic methods were used to investigate the influence of text messaging use as well as various other parameters in the probability of an accident. It appears that text messaging leads to statistically significant decrease of the mean speed and increase the mean reaction time in urban and interurban road environment and simultaneously leads to an increase of accident’s probability, perhaps due to distraction of driver attention and as a result of the delayed reaction time at the moment of the incident.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Attitudes of Greek drivers towards mobile phone use while driving‘ was presented by Paraskevi Marinou in July 2012. The research is based on the data of the pan-European SARTRE 4 survey, which was conducted on a representative sample of Greek drivers in 2011. The analysis of the drivers’ behavior was carried out by the statistical methods of factor and cluster analysis. According to the results of factor analysis, Greek drivers’ responses in the selected questions were summarized into seven factors, describing road behavior, accident involvement probability, but also their views on issues concerning other drivers’ road behavior, enforcement for road safety and mobile phone use while driving. The results of cluster analysis indicated four different groups of Greek drivers: the cautious, the moderate, the conservative and the thoughtless drivers and the characteristics of each group where identified.
Vehicle checks are fundamental to road safety. Technical defects contribute heavily to accidents, they are responsible for 6% of all car accidents, translating into 2,000 fatalities and many more injuries yearly. 8 % of all motorcycle accidents are linked to technical defects. More than five people die on Europe’s roads every day in accidents linked to technical failure. For this reason, the European Commission has adopted new rules to toughen up the testing regime and widen its scope.
The European Commission published a report on the application legislation which requires professional drivers to undergo dedicated training. Data show that trainings have been effective and continue to enhance road safety. The report advises on specific issues to further improve the application of the legislation. The report suggests a few specific issues which can improve the application of the Directive, such as raising the involvement of social partners, and enhance the cooperation between Member States.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Alliance of NGO’s for Road Safety have recently published a Guide for Nongovernmental Organizations. This guide is an attempt to define more clearly the role of nongovernmental organizations in the advocacy arena. It is especially targeted towards organizations which operate with limited resources. Moreover, it offers ideas for the types of initiatives nongovernmental organizations might conduct, with a series of related checklists, and case studies from around the world, as well as guiding principles and strategic approaches for more targeted advocacy.
A paper titled ‘Analysis of Pedestrian Exposure to Risk in Relation to Crossing Behaviour‘ co-authored by E.Papadimitriou, G.Yannis and J.Golias is published in the Transportation Research Board. The objective of this research was to analyze pedestrian exposure to risk along urban trips in relation to pedestrian crossing behavior. The results showed that exposure to risk for pedestrians along a trip was significantly affected by the pedestrians’ crossing choices, as well as by road and traffic characteristics. Results also revealed that pedestrians with increased walking speed might have partly compensated for their exposure to risk so that the risk was not significantly affected by traffic volume.
A paper titled ‘Overview of critical risk factors in Power-Two-Wheeler safety’ co-authored by E.Vlahogianni, G.Yannis and J.Golias is just published in the Accident Analysis and Prevention scientific journal. The paper focuses on the PTW accident risk factors and reviews existing literature with regard to the PTW drivers’ interactions with the automobile drivers, as well as interactions with infrastructure elements and weather conditions. Several critical risk factors are revealed with different levels of influence to PTW accident likelihood and severity. A broad classification based on the magnitude and the need for further research for each risk factor is proposed. The paper concludes by discussing the importance of dealing with accident configurations, the data quality and availability, methods implemented to model risk and exposure and risk identification which are critical for a thorough understanding of the determinants of PTW safety.
A paper titled “A statistical analysis of the impact of advertising signs on road safety” co-authored by G.Yannis, E.Papadimitriou, P.Papantoniou and C.Voulgari is just published in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion. An exhaustive review of international literature was carried out on the effect of advertising signs on driver behaviour and safety and a before-and-after statistical analysis with control groups was applied on several road sites with different characteristics in the Athens metropolitan area. The statistical analysis shows no statistical correlation between road accidents and advertising signs in none of the nine sites examined, as the confidence intervals of the estimated safety effects are non-significant at 95% confidence level. This can be explained by the fact that, in the examined road sites, drivers are overloaded with information, so that the additional information load from advertising signs may not further distract them.
The Transport Division of the United Nations has recently published a report summarising road safety activities. This document presents the UNECE’s Action Plan for the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011–2020). This Plan is directly aligned with the UN Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety. It aims to achieve the UNECE’s overall road safety goals by addressing priority areas of work as well as by implementing the ongoing and future initiatives in the UNECE region and beyond.
A paper titled “Factors Affecting Accident Severity Inside and Outside Urban Areas in Greece” co-authored by A.Theofilatos, D.Graham and G.Yannis is just published in the Journal of Traffic Injury Prevention. From the application of the models, it appears that the factors affecting road accident severity only inside urban areas are young drivers, bicycles, intersections and collision with fixed objects, whereas the factors affecting severity only outside urban areas are weather conditions, head-on and side collisions, demonstrating the particular road users and traffic situations which should be focused for road safety interventions for the two different types of network (inside and outside urban areas).
A research titled ‘Investigation of the acceptance of a handbook for safe driving at an older age’ co-authored by Sophia Vardaki and George Yannis from NTUA, was recently published in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion. The handbook was developed with the purpose of increasing elderly drivers’ awareness of their driving abilities and providing information about the effects of ageing on driving and about safe driving practices and compensation strategies. Binary logistic analysis was conducted to identify individual driver characteristics that might predict acceptance of the handbook by active older drivers in terms of reported increased awareness and intended repeated use. The findings of the research indicate a quite positive attitude of elderly active drivers towards the handbook, as more than half of them reported that they had become more aware of changes in their driving after reading it.
The Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers published recently its position towards road safety in Greece. This position paper contains an analysis of current road accident causes and problems in Greece and proposes a set of six priority actions: 1. operation of a central road safety authority, 2. enforcement intensification, 3. systematic monitoring, 4. road infrastructure management, 5. redesign of urban infrastructure and traffic, 6. promotion of safer driver behaviour.
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) 91th Annual Meeting was held in Washington, D.C., in January 2012.
NTUA road safety presentations concerned:
Effects of alcohol on speeding and road positioning among young drivers: a driving simulator studyAnalysis of pedestrian risk exposure in relation to crossing behaviour
Modelling the effects of weather and traffic on the risk of secondary incidentsIdentifying Outlying Power Two Wheeler Riding Behaviors at the Emergence of an IncidentPromoting safe driving at an older ageTowards a global set of injury crash data
The National Road Safety Strategic Plan for Greece 2011-2020 has been prepared by the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of NTUA under the scientific supervision of Prof. G.Kanellaidis and has been recently adopted by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Networks and Communication. In this strategic plan, the European quantitative target is adopted: to reduce the number of road fatalities by 50% between 2010 and 2020 and a long term vision is set: to develop road safety culture in the Greek society. On that purpose, a comprehensive list of specific actions within targeted programmes is proposed, in order to be carried out within a new structure of central, regional and local authorities, as well as of all road safety stakeholders in Greece.
The International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published a Special Report on Serious Road Traffic Casualties aiming to identify and assess methodologies for linking different sources of accident data in order to develop better estimates of the real number of road traffic casualties. The report provides a number of recommendations on the use of police and hospital data, and makes suggestions for an internationally agreed definition of serious injury.
The User Forum on Power Two Wheeler Safety Research took place in Paris on December 14th, 2011. It was organised by the EC co-funded research project 2BESAFE (2-Wheeler Behaviour and Safety), which designed and implemented a broad-ranging research programme (including naturalistic riding experiments) that produced fundamental knowledge on PTW rider behaviour and on interaction between PTW riders and other road users. The produced knowledge was used to propose relevant countermeasures to mitigate PTW accidents’ related fatalities and injuries.
NTUA presented ‘Powered Two Wheeler critical risk factors: Behaviour – Infrastructure – Weather’.
In November 2011, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning young people. Young men are four times more likely to die on EU roads than young women. The annual average reduction in road deaths among young people is higher than the corresponding reduction for the rest of the population, but in Hungary, Greece, Poland, Ireland, Finland and Romania the opposite is true and road safety of other age groups has improved more. NTUA Associate Professor, George Yannis stated that: “when adjusted for exposure, accident risk for the 18-24-year-old motorcycle riders (202 deaths per million vehicle-km driven) is 8 times higher than the risk for young car drivers (25 deaths per million vehicle-km travelled) and 25 times higher than the risk for older car drivers (8 deaths per million vehicle-km travelled)”.
A paper titled “A GIS-based methodology for identifying pedestrians’ crossing patterns” co-authored by S.Lassare, E.Bonnet, F.Bodin, E.Papadimitriou, G.Yannis and J.Golias is just published in the scientific journal: Computers, Environment and Urban Systems. The objective of this research is the development and testing of appropriate indicators of pedestrian crossing behavior along urban trips, and a methodology for collecting and processing the data required for the analysis of this behavior. The results suggest specific patterns of pedestrian crossing behavior, such as the tendency to cross at the beginning of the trip and the tendency to cross at mid-block locations when signalized junctions are not available. The results are further discussed in terms of urban planning and management implications. It is concluded that the proposed approach is very efficient for the analysis of pedestrian crossing behavior in urban areas.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Macroscopic analysis of road accidents at junctions’ was presented by Konstantinos Kapetanakis in November 2011. Processed data were used, extracted from the database of the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (N.T.U.A.) for the time period 1996 – 2007 in Greece. Analysis has led to a series of conclusions such as that the more usual accident type in junction is the collision at angle and that regardless of the area type, the accidents which occur out of junctions are at least double than those which occur at junctions.
The European Transport Safety Council together with the Road Safety Institute Panos Mylonas organised the 13thEuropean Transport Safety Lecture, on “Distracted Driving“, which took place in Athens, in November 7th, 2011. The lecture was delivered by Associate Professor George Yannis, NTUA, with a response by Prof. Oliver Carsten of the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds. Driver distraction is an important factor driving up the risk of road collisions worldwide. Researchers claim that some source of driver distraction is reported in up to 30% of road accidents.
On November 7th, 2011, a Presidential Decree was issued concerning the transposition of the Greek legislation to the provisions of the Directive 2008/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of the 19th of November 2008 about road safety infrastructure management. The main purpose of the Decree is the establishment and the implementation of road safety audits and inpections, as well as the road safety management of the trans-European road network.
ETSC’s PRAISE project, “Preventing Road Accidents and Injuries for the Safety of Employees” aims at mobilising knowledge needed to create work-related road safety leadership. This report aims to offer employers insight into tackling fatigue amongst HGV drivers. Fatigue is one of main risks for this group of professional drivers. Part one looks at the involvement in HGVs in collisions and collision causation factors including fatigue.
The United Nations Secretary-General issued a 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. The report describes efforts undertaken around the world to address the major risk factors for road traffic crashes with the goal of reducing resultant deaths and injuries.
The European Council adopted a directive on cross-border exchange of information on road traffic offences. The objective of this directive is to combat road traffic offences that considerably jeopardise road safety, by facilitating cross-border exchange of information. The directive covers the four traffic offences which cause the most road casualties in Europe, namely speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, non-use of a seat belt and failing to stop at a red light.
The European Parliament passed a resolution proposing up to one hundred measures to improve road safety in the European Union with key aim to better protect vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists, children and the elderly). The resolution sets out recommendations on infrastructure, road signs, driver training, checks and vehicle equipment. It also calls for the rapid introduction of “intelligent” electronic safety equipment. Finally, it calls on the European Commission to draw up a 4th road safety action plan.
A research titled ‘Autoregressive nonlinear time-series modeling of traffic fatalities in Europe’ co-authored by G.Yannis, C.Antoniou and E.Papadimitriou from NTUA, was published in the Journal European Transport Research Review in August 2011. A macroscopic analysis of road-safety in Europe at the country level is proposed through the application of non-linear models correlating fatalities and vehicles for the period between 1970 and 2002. The proposed models can prove useful for assessing the road safety performance of the examined countries, as well as for obtaining some insight on the current and future trends of less developed countries.
A research titled ‘About pedestrian safety in Europe’ co-authored by E.Papadimitriou, G.Yannis and P.Evgenikos from NTUA, was published in the Journal Advances in Transportation Studies in July 2011. Data on pedestrians’ fatalities for the period 1997-2006 from 19 EU countries, extracted from the EU CARE database, were associated with basic road safety factors like pedestrian’s age and gender (with particular focus on children and the elderly), lighting conditions, area type (inside / outside urban area) as well as seasonality. The results suggest that, although pedestrian fatalities in Europe present a decreasing trend, pedestrian fatality rates are still increased in Southern European countries, as well as in the new Member States.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Severity of single vehicle accidents’ was presented by Georgios Pispirigkos in July 2011. Lognormal regression models were developed, which allowed the identification of the effect of various parameters (accident type, weather conditions, lighting conditions, etc.) on the number of killed, seriously and slightly injured for each vehicle type separately. Accidents in which two or more vehicles are involved were found more severe and severity was found higher at accidents involving pedestrians and passenger cars.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Correlation of road accidents and weather conditions’ was presented by Dimitris Bilionis in July 2011. The purpose of this diploma thesis is to investigate the correlation between accident counts and basic meteorological conditions, such as rainfall and temperature. For this reason, analytical daily data were used for the number of accidents, fatalities and injuries, as well as for the temperature and the precipitation. The results show that the drop of temperature causes a decrease in the number of accidents, while an increase in precipitation causes a decrease in the number of accidents and fatalities as well.
The International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published the Research Report on Pedestrian Safety, Urban Space and Health. This Report is the result of a three-year co-operative effort by an international group of experts representing 19 countries, chaired by NTUA Professor Thanos Vlastos and with contribution from NTUA Research Associate Eleonora Papadimitriou. The purpose of this report is to emphasize the importance of walking as an integral part of the transport system and the vital need for policies to promote walking at all levels of planning. National governments and transport and health ministers can do much to support and encourage walking, even when it is considered to be mainly a local policy issue. A clear vision and political support at national level, backed by a systematic approach to understanding and defining infrastructure quality for pedestrians, is an important complement to and support for initiatives taken by local authorities. On that purpose a comprehensive set of twelve recommendations is proposed.
In May 2011, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning unprotected road users. At least 15,300 pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycle riders were killed in the EU in 2009, and 169,000 since 2001. Deaths among pedestrians and cyclists decreased by 34% between 2001 and 2009 and those among PTW riders by only 18%, compared with 39 % for car drivers.
The 12th meeting of the International Traffic Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) organised by the International Transport Forum (ITF) took place in Paris. The duration of the meeting was 31 March – 1 April.
NTUA presented:
Data Collection, Transfer and Analysis
The National Road Safety Strategic Plan for Greece, 2011 – 2020
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Development of macroscopic models for the severity of road accidents with one or more vehicles’ was presented by Smaragda Kritikou in March 2011. The application of the four of log-rate models revealed the impact of various factors on the accident severity (type of region, intersection, weather and lighting condition, vehicle type, age and collision type). Single-vehicle accidents were found 2.4 times more serious than accidents with two or more vehicles and the severity of accidents for the pedestrians was found 1.2 times higher than that for the drivers and 1.4 than that for the passengers.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘The impact of mobile phone use and music on the driver behaviour and safety by the use of a driving simulator’ was presented by Elena Papathanasiou and Evridiki Postantzi in March 2011. The analysis of the experiment results revealed that the lower speed and the increase of the distance from the middle of the road of the drivers who have a difficult conversation at the mobile phone while driving, cannot compensate for the much greater risk of an accident, in case of an unexpected event, due to increased reaction time.
A research titled ‘Parameters affecting seat belt use in Greece’ co-authored by G.Yannis, A.Laiou, S.Vardaki, A.Dragomanovits, E.Papadimitriou and G.Kanellaidis from NTUA, was published in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion in March 2011. A national field survey was conducted for the analytical recording of seat belt use. A binary logistic regression model was developed, and the impact of each parameter on seat belt use in Greece was quantified. Parameters included in the model concern characteristics of car occupants (gender, age and position in the car), the type of the car and the type of the road network. The variable with the highest impact on not wearing the seat belt is being a passenger on the back seats.
ASECAP in cooperation with the Greek national road association TEO, organised a Road Safety Event in Athens. Road safety is the top priority in relation to the high-quality service delivered by the tolled motorways to their users. The high safety levels of motorways are commonly recognised and this fact was underlined by representatives from the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Greek authorities present at the event.
NTUA Prof. D.Tsamboulas presented ‘Deploying Road Safety In Europe A New Approach for managing Road Safety’.
The Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers organised in the 9th of February a seminar for the traffic issues of the Attica Municipalities. NTUA presented “Measures and policies for the reduction of accidents at the urban road network – successful interventions”.
A research titled ‘When may road fatalities start to decrease?’ co-authored by G.Yannis, C.Antoniou, E.Papadimitriou and D.Katsohis from NTUA, was published in the Journal of Safety Research in February 2011. This research, carried out within the framework of SafetyNet project proposed a simple and, at the same time, reliable multiple regime model framework for international road safety comparisons, allowing for the identification of slope changes of personal risk curves and respective breakpoints. All countries examined, present a breakpoint after which road fatalities are decreasing, ranging from 220 to 360 vehicles per 1.000 inhabitants.
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) 90th Annual Meeting was held in Washington, D.C., in January 2011. NTUA presented ‘Modeling traffic fatalities in Europe’. The objective of this paper is to provide a parsimonious model for linking motorization level with the decreasing fatality rates observed across EU countries during the last three decades.
In January 2011, the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers made suggestions for the improvement of road safety inside urban areas. 73% of road accidents in Greece occur inside urban areas, as well as 48% of the total number of people killed in road accidents.
The Handbook for Safe Driving at an Older Age has been prepared by the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of NTUA under the scientific supervision of Prof. G.Kanellaidis, in the framework of a project granted by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks. The Handbook aims to assist older drivers increase their self-awareness of the effects of age-related changes on their driving safety and of the need to adapt their driving behavior, to assist older drivers improve their knowledge and develop appropriate concern for their own safety, and finally to guide older drivers to make informed driving decisions.
The Handbook was based on self-screening and educational material for older drivers as well as on the results of a study on the driving behavior of active older drivers, aged 65-74, on a freeway in Greece. Issues covered in the Handbook concern safety within the car, safety in traffic, safe practices on freeway, driving and emotion, driving in good condition, driving problems and age-related changes, indications of serious concern about driving ability and general information such as on procedures for driving license renewal, use of public transport and ways of getting around. The Handbook is available both in Greek and English languages.
In line with the implementation of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) co-organised under the Greek Chairmanship-in-office of BSEC and the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport & Networks, the Conference on Improving Road Safety in the BSEC Region in Ioannina, Greece on 18-19 November 2010. NTUA presented a Road Safety Strategy for Greece.
The 11th International Walk21 Conference was held in The Hague, The Netherlands, November 16-19 2010. NTUA presented ‘Evolution of pedestrian safety in urban areas in the OECD countries‘.
The Directorate General for Enlargement of the European Commission TAIEX and the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) organised the international conference on Charting Commitments to Road Safety in Europe. The conference took place in Brussels (12 – 13 October 2010). NTUA presented ‘An Observatory for Road Safety – a framework for the efficiency assessment of road safety measures’.
In October 2010, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning road safety in rural roads. At least 21,500 people lost their lives on rural roads other than motorways in the EU im 2009. Luxembourg, Portugal and France achieved the highest annual reductions of more than 9% on average since 2001. Greece’s annual percentage reduction is almost the same with EU average reductions (-5%).
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Investigation of the impact of the conversation with passenger, eating and smoking on the driver behavior and the probability of being involved in an accident by the use of a driving simulator’ was presented by Charalampos Bairamis and Vasileios Sklias in October 2010. From the lognormal regression models developed it appeared that conversation, eating and smoking lead to a statistically significant decrease in speed, while the difficult conversation leads also to an increase in reaction time and decrease in the distance of the vehicle from the right borderline. From the binary logistic model developed it appeared that the difficult conversation leads to an increased likelihood of an incident. In summary, it appears that the lower speed and the deviation to the right of the drivers who have a difficult conversation while driving cannot offset the much greater risk of an accident due to increased reaction time.
In October 2010, the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers reported some suggestions about traffic education. Traffic education at scools can contribute in developing a more responsible traffic behaviour from an early age.
In September 2010, UNECE published the report “Consolidated Resolution on Road Signs and Signals”. The concept of ‘self-explanatory’ roads encompasses many different elements of the design, layout and operation of the road network. However, this term serves well to illustrate the need to create an environment that can be easily understood and safely operated by all its users. The Road Safety Forum has been mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to review this fundamental area and to make provisions for road signs and signals that are in line with the requirements of ever growing motorization.
The Aegean University organised the international symposium for Road Safety – European Reality and Perspectives: A New Interdisciplinary Approach. The conference took place in Chios and its duration was 24-25 September. NTUA presented ‘Driver distraction and Road Safety in Greece and internationally’.
A research titled ‘Estimation of fatality and injury risk by means of in-depth fatal accident investigation data’, co-authored by G.Yannis, E.Papadimitriou, E.Dupont and H.Martensen was published in the Journal Traffic Injury Prevention in September 2010. A fatal accident investigation (FAI) database is used, which includes intermediate-level in-depth data for a harmonized representative sample of 1300 fatal accidents in 7 European countries. The results of this research show that the baseline fatality risk of road users involved in fatal accidents decreases with accident size and increases with the vulnerability of the road user. On the contrary, accident size increases non-fatal injury risk of road users involved in fatal accidents.
In August 2010, UNECE published the report “Consolidated Resolution on Road Traffic”. Since 1947, road safety has been one of UNECE’s major concerns and for its Working Party on Road Trafic Safety, in particular. The Resolution contributes to road safety by encouraging safer operation and use of the road traffic system across borders. In this context, this document is considered to be a contribution by UNECE to improve road safety worldwide which also complements the activities of its global partners.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Investigation of the impact of road lighting on the frequency and the severity of road accidents’ was presented by Nikolaos Mitzalis in July 2010.This diploma thesis has been awarded with the Ecocity award 2012. Suitably processed data were used from the database of the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and lognormal regression models were developed. The application of these models led to the investigation of the influence of road lighting and other parameters such as weather conditions, accident type, vehicle type etc. on the number of casualties and injuries. It appears that road lighting contributes to the reduction of the number of accidents and their severity and that this influence increases with the increase of the severity of the accidents.
In July 2010, EU published the policy orientation on road safety 2011-2020. Road safety is a major societal issue. In 2009, more than 35,000 people died on the roads of the European Union. The cost for society is huge, representing approximately 130 billion Euro in 2009. Therefore, a corehent holistic and integrated approach is needed, taking into account synergies with other policy goals. Road safety policies at local, national, European or international level should integrate relevant objectives of other public policies and vice versa.
