The European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL) together with the European Commission DG Move Road Safety Unit have launched the project EDWARD – the European Day Without A Road Death 2018. This year the European Day without a Road Death took place on Wednesday 19 September 2018. Several events, initiatives and promotional activity right across Europe will take place. Moreover, in the EDWARD website lots of new resources can be found, artwork can be downloaded (including images and Infographics), a countdown timer to the day itself, an interactive map and a brand new pledge to sign.  

In Greece the event for the European Day without a Road Death took place with great success in 18 September in Athens. 

SafetyCube is a research project funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, in the domain of Road Safety. The latest SafetyCube newsletter is now available, highlighting the innovative road safety Decision Support System (DSS) which is online already one year, enabling policy-makers and stakeholders to select and implement the most appropriate strategies, measures and cost-effective approaches to reduce casualties of all road user types and all severities in Europe and worldwide. 

The 3rd Newsletter of the African-European Dialogue Platform on Road Safety (SaferAfrica) Horizons 2020 project has been recently issued with the active contribution of NTUA. This edition highlights the newly born African Road Safety Observatory, the African RSO and includes also the SaferAfrica recommendations on the implementation of the African Road Safety Action Plan and an attempt to answer how can the African Road Safety Observatory help to improve road safety in Africa. 

The Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) was ranked 15th in Europe and at 65th place worldwide among all Transportation Science & Technology Schools,  according to the ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2018.  NTUA road safety activities have contributed to this excellent performance. Accordingly, the NTUA Civil Engineering School was ranked 7th worldwide (3rd European) among all Civil Engineering Schools. 

Dr. Panagiotis Papantoniou obtained the NTUA Thomaidion Αward 2017 for the publication of the journal paper titled “Simulation of Texting Impact on Young Drivers’ Behaviour and Safety on Motorways”, in the Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. 

Dr. Dimosthenis Pavlou obtained the NTUA Thomaidion Αward 2017 for the publication of the journal paper titled “Which are the effects of driver distraction and brain pathologies on reaction time and accident risk?”, in the Advances in Transportation Studies. 

Dimitris Tselentis obtained the NTUA Thomaidion Αward 2017 for the publication of the journal paper titled “Road, Tragic and Human Factors of Pedestrian Crossing Behavior: Integrated Choice and Latent Variables Models”, in the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. 

The International Road Federation (IRF) launched the global Transport Knowledge Resource Centre (gTKP). This comprehensive resource centre features the latest, state-of-the-art information on road infrastructure and transport (case studies, research papers, publications, reports, presentations). The knowledge centre functions like an on-line library. Registration is simple and free of charge and registered users are actively encouraged to enhance both the dynamism and interactivity of the service by contributing their own knowledge and experience in the form of new reports, articles, case studies, research papers and publications. 

A new fines scheme for traffic infringements has been recently introduced in the Greek Road Code (Law 4530/2018). More precisely, three categories of fines are set, based on the safety importance of the respective infringements: low (0-300€), medium (301€ – 600€) and high (>600€) risk. Furthermore, fines income criteria are introduced, according which offenders with an annual income between 50.001€ – 100.000€ are subject to double fines, while offenders with an annual income above 100.000€ are subject to triple fines. Finally, offenders that commit three times in the last 5 years a high-risk infringement lose their license in life. 

The Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked this year 11th in Europe and 42nd worldwide among all Civil Engineering Schools. This ranking is produced by the QS Organisation (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018) based on the following criteria: Research, Teaching, Employability, Facilities, Internationalization, Innovation, Engagement and Access. NTUA road safety activities have contributed to this ranking. 

Professor Demetris Koutsoyiannis, Dean of the Civil Engineering School highlighted that the Civil Engineering School advanced one position in the European rankings compared to 2017, with best performance in criterion on citations per paper (23rd worldwide).

The 2nd Newsletter of the African-European Dialogue Platform on Road Safety (SaferAfrica) has been recently issued with the active contribution of NTUA. This Newsletter is the official, semi-annual newsletter of the SaferAfrica Project funded within the EC Horizon 2020 Programme, aiming to create favourable conditions and opportunities for the effective implementation of actions for road safety and traffic management in African countries. This second issue includes: a) Road Safety Data Capturing and Management Challenges in Africa, b) Stories from Cameroon and South Africa, c) Safety Cube Decision Support System, d) Road Safety in new H2020 Work Programme and more. 

NTUA Prof. George Yannis highlighted that for capturing accurate and complete road safety data in Africa there is need to follow international data collection practices and recommendations as well as the systematic re-organisation of the competent national Authorities, within the safe system approach.

The infographic of the 2017 NTUA Road Safety Observatory (www.nrso.ntua.gr) highlights one more very intensive year, striving with highly scientific expertise to improve road safety in Greece, in Europe and worldwide. The nrso people with excellent dedication, efficiency and expertise were active in 16 innovative research projects, succeeded to publish 51 scientific papers (20 in peer reviewed journals), had more than 16.500 nrso users, handled more than 100.000 emails and run more than 4.700 km! 

VESAFE, the one stop shop for vehicle safety is an e-guide commissioned by the European Commission (DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion) and it has been developed by a consortium made up of TNO, TOI, Kooperationstelle, Fesvial, vhp, and Learnways. Work-related vehicle risks account for 29% of all fatal occupational accidents. However, good practices to avoid and reduce these risks have already been implemented within the member states in the EU. Sharing them can help employers and workers to improve vehicle-related safety. With this interactive e-guide many good practices are provided as well as an overview of relevant regulations and information about safe driving for work, workplace transport safety, and working on or near a road. 

Global Designing Cities Initiative together with the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) launched “The Global Street Design Guide“, as a very timely resource that will set a global baseline for designing streets and public spaces while redefining the role of streets in a rapidly urbanizing world. The Guide broadens how to measure the success of urban streets to include access, safety and mobility for all users, environmental quality, economic benefit, public health and overall quality of life.  

Michael R. Bloomberg, Founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Former Mayor of the City of New York highlighted that this guide helps city leaders meet those challenges in ways that also connect people to jobs and services and bring new life to neighborhoods and it is full of creative ways cities are reshaping streets to better serve the public.

At the end of another year full of surprises, non-stopping efforts, few disappointments and some great achievements like the new breakthrough Road Safety Decision Support Systems: SafetyCube and SafeFITS, we persist with creative hope and scientific rigor for even more safe road traffic everywhere and for all.

We are sending you all our very best wishes for very joyful Christmas holidays and a very happy and fruitful new year 2018, plenty of personal and professional achievements. 

Universita di Pavia is implementing for 2018 a post bachelor programme in Management of road safety and reconstruction and analysis of road accident. The innovative course has the aim of training highly qualified professionals with a solid background in road safety and capable of operating in all the phases of investigations and analysis of road accidents. The programme is a full time international one-year program and designed for students from all over the world. The master’s course language is English and Italian.  

Global NCAP and AA South Africa launched #SaferCarsforAfrica on 22 November 2017 in Cape Town, with the first independent crash test assessment of some of South Africa’s most popular compact and small cars. The crashworthiness results of the five cars tested showed a wide range of safety performance, from four to zero stars for adult protection, with the lowest ratings resulting in a high probability of life threatening injury in a road crash. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with other United Nations Agencies and Regional Commissions is developing the global performance targets on key risk factors and service delivery mechanisms to reduce road traffic fatalities and injuries, aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.  The second revision of the related WHO Discussion Paper was published in August 2017  and in November 2017 a comprehensive set of 12 Global Road Safety Performance Targets was put forward aiming to guide global road safety policy and related activities up to 2030.   The Member States have also invited WHO and other UN Agencies to continue the work by developing a set of related indicators. 

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is observed on the third Sunday of November each year (this year on 19 November 2017) by an increasing number of countries on every continent around the world. From 1995, the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims (FEVR) observed this day, as European Day of Remembrance, that was adopted by the United Nations in 2005, and is dedicated to remembering the many millions killed or injured in road crashes and their families and communities, as well as to pay tribute to the dedicated emergency crews, police and medical professionals who daily deal with the traumatic aftermath of road death and injury.   

Several activities took place worldwide, including those of:

• the World Health Organization (WHO) supported this World Day of remembrance  and produced Save LIVES: a road safety technical package, last May 

Several activities took also place in Greece:

• Road Safety Institute “Panos Mylonas” organised several prevention and educational road safety actions 
• EFTHITA Rhodes is organizing several activities starting on 13 November until the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims  19 November 2017 

A recent United Nations‘ Press Release highlighted the fact that 650 people are killed each day in road accidents throughout Africa. “There is projected increase in urbanization, motorization, infrastructure development projects and vehicle ownership in the region over the coming decades. Road traffic fatalities and injuries will continue to take a rising toll on countries if no significant changes are made” warned the Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, addressing the 2017 Africa Road Safety Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. To change this trend, Mr. Todt urged participating governments to implement the Global Plan for the Decade of Action and the African Road Safety Action Plan, which focuses on safer roads, vehicles and road users. It also details improved post-crash care and stronger road safety governance, including the enforcement of strong legislation. He also called for implementing basic laws not obeyed in some countries, such as using seat belts and helmets, child safety seats, and prohibiting drunk drivers. 

The Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE), has released its position towards the improvement of road safety in Greece with an elaborate problem analysis and a comprehensive set of prioritised measures.  In addition, HITE has released its position on the changes of the Road Traffic Code proposed by the Government. Even though some proposed provisions are considered very useful (cycle and HGV traffic rules, fines rationalisation, etc.) the intention to decrease speeding fines and to increase motorways speed limits are blatant failures highlighted by the HITE.   

A special issue of Safety Science on Naturalistic Driving Research is now calling for papers with NTUA Professor George Yannis as Guest Editor. Manuscripts submitted to this Special Issue will enable information dissemination on the latest methodologies and findings from naturalistic driving research worldwide. Topic Areas may include, but are not limited to: Crash risk and crash causation, Distraction and inattention, Interaction with cyclists and pedestrians, Vehicle automation and connectivity, Eco-driving, Typical everyday driving behaviour, Novice drivers, Elderly Drivers, Naturalistic Cycling, Naturalistic Riding (Powered two-wheelers), Methodology and definitions. 

Deadline for Submission of full paper online: December 31, 2017

VIAS Institute is the organisation that is taking over the role of Belgian Road Safety Institute (BRSI) after 30 years. The change of name is the final part of a process that was put in motion six years ago. Over the years, BRSI has built up a strong reputation in the area of road and traffic safety. BRSI have done so – based on research – by targeting the way in which they work on the changes to people’s behaviour out on the road. Improving road safety, along with mobility and safety in general: that is the aim of VIAS Institute, as a major Belgian Knowledge center.  

The Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre at Chalmers (SAFER) has recently launched its new website, aiming to further communicate worldwide SAFER research findings and presenting all projects, publications, news, seminars and other activities. SAFER is the open innovation arena with the contribution of Volvo, VTI, Chalmers University and other partners, where researchers and expertise work together to create safe mobility. Its traffic safety approach covers people, vehicles and the infrastructure – and together they contribute to safer road transports and smarter, more sustainable cities. 

The Newsletter of the African-European Dialogue Platform on Road Safety (SaferAfrica) has been recently issued with the active contribution of NTUA. This Newsletter is the official, semi-annual newsletter of the SaferAfrica Project funded within Horizon 2020 programme of the European Commission, aiming to create favourable conditions and opportunities for the effective implementation of actions for road safety and traffic management in African countries by setting up a Dialogue Platform between Africa and Europe. The first issue includes a) New Network of Regional Road Safety Observatories by World Bank, OECD and FIA, b) Towards the Pan-African Road Safety Knowledge and Data Centre, c) Data-driven road safety under construction in Cameroon. 

http://www.saferafrica.eu/media/1699/01_newsletter-saferafrica_july-2017.pdf

The renown international scientific journal Advances in Transportation Studies (ATS) has launched its new website. The new ATS website has been redesigned for a user friendly and appealing web navigation offering to the Scientific Community a quick access to all scientific results published. 

The Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked 9th in Europe and 39th worldwide among all Transportation Science & Technology Schools  and the Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked 7th worldwide (3rd European) among all Civil Engineering Schools  according to ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2017 . The methodology of the ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking include specific thresholds, indicators and weights. 

A coalition of Industry, NGOs, Consumer Groups and Cities are calling on the European Commission to urgently bring forward new minimum safety standards for new cars, vans and trucks, waited since long. The European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA), the European Cyclists Federation (ECF), POLIS, the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) and Transport & Environment (T&E) released a letter suggesting that new minimum vehicle safety standards are ‘absolutely critical’ to reducing deaths and serious injuries on European roads. 

The Road Safety Institute ‘Panos Mylonas’ with the support of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) produced and implemented a video campaign titled “a while ago…” within the Fourth UN Global Road Safety Week, focusing on speed, identified worldwide as a major risk factor of death and disability. 

SafetyCube is a research project funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, in the domain of Road Safety. The project started on May 1st, 2015 and runs for a period of three years with primary objective to develop an innovative road safety Decision Support System (DSS) that will enable policy-makers and stakeholders to select and implement the most appropriate strategies, measures and cost-effective approaches to reduce casualties of all road user types and all severities in Europe and worldwide. NTUA is actively contributing to all phases of the SafetyCube project. 

The latest SafetyCube newsletter is now available, including very useful Practical Guidelines for determining the number of serious road injuries.  

On March 23rd, during its 74th session, UN World Road Safety Forum discussed an Informal Document on automated driving. This document, submitted by the Chair of WP.1 Informal Working Group of Experts on Automated Driving (IWG-AD), provides a draft common understanding of the Vienna and Geneva conventions with regard to the use of automated driving functions. 

NTUA is inviting experienced researchers from EU countries established outside Greece, who would like to pursue a PostDoc research programme at the NTUA Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering, to apply for European or Global Fellowships of the Marie Curie Individual Fellowships Programme of the European Commission (deadline: September 14^th, 2017).

The NTUA Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering is a world class centre on transport research excellence, offering high level research opportunities in state-of-the-art transport science disciplines, within a highly skilled and warm research team. Detailed requirements for application are available at the Marie Curie Programme website   and for further information you can contact us.

The International Road Transport Union (IRU) has recently launched the Guidelines on Safer Goods Reception, with aim to promote and ensure a safe and efficient working environment and use of the loading/unloading site for all stakeholders at the reception of goods. These IRU Guidelines provide information, rules and recommendations for different goods reception areas, taking into consideration safety, environment and cost effectiveness measures, enabling users to select the best solution based on its specific requirements. The Guidelines include general information on goods reception areas intended to facilitate the safe loading and unloading of goods and aim to contribute to an efficient and safe working environment for all new and existing reception areas.  

The UN Road Safety Collaboration is organising the global campaign for the Fourth UN Global Road Safety Week, 8-14 May 2017. The Week will focus on speed and what can be done to address this key risk factor for road traffic deaths and injuries. Speed contributes to around one-third of all fatal road traffic crashes in high-income countries, and up to half in low- and middle-income countries. The Global Road Safety Week seeks to increase understanding of the dangers of speed and generate action on measures to address speed, thereby saving lives on the roads.   Several events are also organised in Greece:

• NTUA – The Future of Road Safety Research Workshop, Athens
• IOAS – Road Safety Educational & Awareness Activities, Athens
• EFTHITA – Several Road Safety Events, Rhodes
• SOSTE – Slow Down, Several Greek Cities
• Making streets liveable, Road Safety Information Activities, Megara

The European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL) together with the European Commission DG Move Road Safety Unit have launched the project EDWARD – the European Day Without A Road Death 2017. After just one year, Project Edward has earned its place on Europe’s road safety calendar. The 2017 European Day without a Road Death will take place on Thursday 21 September. Several events, initiatives and promotional activity right across Europe will take place. Moreover, there will be a brand new dedicated Project EDWARD website with lots of new resources, artwork you can download – including images and infographics, a social media schedule so you will know what we’re going to be doing and can align yourself with various messages in the build-up to the day and on the day itself, a countdown timer to the day itself (starting 11 June, 100 days before 21 September), an interactive map and a brand new pledge to sign.  

Several EU countries have uploaded their videos about project EDWARD 2017: 

The Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) has launched a new series of Positioning Papers, designed to create an understanding of the scale of road traffic deaths and injuries and their linkages to other humanitarian and development issues. The Positioning Papers seek to highlight that road safety is a multidimensional issue that requires an urgent and sustained contribution across many sectors, and that evidence based road safety interventions can address broader development issues such as children’s rights, public health, consumer rights and more. The Positioning Papers further enhance the GRSP’s suite of tools to support road safety advocacy campaign planning, including a general advocacy campaign toolkit and media advocacy toolkit, all of which are available on its Advocacy Tools web page. 

The Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked this year 12th in Europe and 42rd worldwide among all Civil Engineering Schools. This ranking is produced by the QS Organisation (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2017) based on the following criteria: Research, Teaching, Employability, Facilities, Internationalization, Innovation, Engagement and Access. NTUA road safety activities have contributed to this ranking.

Professor Demetris Koutsoyiannis, Dean of the Civil Engineering School highlighted that the Civil Engineering School improved its ratings, compared to 2016, in all individual criteria of the ranking, except for one: the reputation of its graduates, in which there was a slight decline (from 80 to 74.9). The Civil Engineering School scored its best individual ranking in the “citations per paper” criterion (91.1), in which it was ranked 19th worldwide. In this specific criterion it overpasses a lot of competitive schools which have a better overall ranking. 

The Independent Council for Road Safety International (ICoRSI) is a recently launched new not-for profit organization, which provides independent authoritative advice on global road safety policies by road safety scientists that have no financial conflicts of interest. ICoRSI aims to provide rapid, independent and evidence-based information on road safety policy and practice to policy makers and the public, strengthen the capacity of safety professionals and policy makers to understand existing evidence and undertake new research and facilitate in capacity building for safety professionals and policy makers in the field of transportation safety. 

ICoRSI has recently launched comments on WHO’s draft global targets for road safety risk factors. 

The infographic of the 2016 NTUA Road Safety Observatory (www.nrso.ntua.gr) highlights one more very intensive year, striving with highly scientific expertise to improve road safety in Greece, in Europe and worldwide.

The nrso people with excellent dedication, efficiency and expertise were active in 13 innovative research projects, succeeded to publish more than 55 scientific papers (21 in peer reviewed journals), achieved more than 38.500 visits of the nrso website, handled more than 75.000 emails and run more than 4.500 km! 

At the end of another year full of surprises and non-stopping efforts, we heartily wish you very joyful Christmas holidays and a very happy and fruitful new year 2017, plenty of personal and professional achievements. Let’s face the new challenges ahead with creative hope and scientific persistence for even safer roads in Europe and worldwide.

The recently established Road Infrastructure Safety Directorate (P.D.109/2014)  of the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks has further adapted Greek legislation to the provisions of Directive 2008/96/EC  on Road Infrastructure Safety Management by introducing the certification procedures for Road Safety Auditors in Greece (OG 1694/13.6.2016) .

This new legislation concerns the establishment and implementation of procedures for road safety audits and inspections, the assessment of road safety impacts and the management and improvement of the Greek national road network safety level, at the design, construction and operational stages. According to these new procedures, Road Safety Audits will be performed by Certified Auditors who should have completed a Certified Road Safety Training Program and obtained the certificate of competence.  NTUA has actively contributed to the development of these procedures and the related scientific supporting material.

Dr. Panagiotis Papantoniou obtained the NTUA Thomaidion Αward 2016 for the publication of the journal paper titled “Assessment of driving simulator studies on driver distraction”, co-authored by Prof. George Yannis and Dr. Eleonora Papadimitriou in the Advances in Transportation Studies. 

Dr. Dimosthenis Pavlou obtained the NTUA Thomaidion Αward 2016 for the publication of the conference paper titled “Driving behaviour of drivers with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease: a driving simulator study”, co-authored by Dr. Eleonora Papadimitriou, Dr. Costas Antoniou, Dr. Panagiotis Papantoniou, Prof. George Yannis, Prof. John Golias, and Dr. Sokratis Papageorgiou, in the Proceedings of the 94th Annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, January 2015. 

According to a recent University Ranking, based on the number of references in scientific journals over the last decade (2007-2016) in the field of transportation, NTUA ranks 3rd in Europe and 19th worldwide (h-index: 26). The Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the School of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens has contributed largely to this excellent performance and road safety was one of the main components. 

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is observed on the third Sunday of November each year (this year on 20 November 2016) by an increasing number of countries on every continent around the world. From 1995, the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims (FEVR) observed this day, as European Day of Remembrance, that was adopted by the United Nations in 2005, and is dedicated to remembering the many millions killed or injured in road crashes and their families and communities, as well as to pay tribute to the dedicated emergency crews, police and medical professionals who daily deal with the traumatic aftermath of road death and injury.  

Several activities took place worldwide, including those of:

• the European Commission support  and special statements by Commissioners Bulc and Andriukaitis 
• the World Health Organization (WHO) supported this World Day of remembrance  and produced a booklet on Post-crash response: supporting those affected by road crashes 
• the  European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) on the occasion of this World Day of Remembrance launched the new REVIVE initiative focusing on post-collision care 

Several activities took also place in Greece:

• EFTHITA Rhodes organised a seminar on parents driver behaviour and was also received by the President of the Republic who expressed all his support 
• SOS Traffic Crimes organised traffic safety promotion events in central places in Athens, Kalamata, Katerini and Alexandroupolis 
• Road Safety Institute “Panos Mylonas” organised prevention and educational road safety actions in cooperation with Technological Educational Institution (TEI) of Athens and other Greek Institutions 

The New Urban Agenda is a twenty year global policy framework for cities. It has been adopted at the United Nations Habitat III conference, held in Quito, Ecuador. The #SaveKidsLives campaign, contributed towards ensuring road safety goals were included in the Global Goals. Now, with over 1 million supporters, the #SaveKidsLives campaign marks a significant achievement; the New Urban Agenda includes the core objective of a ‘safe and healthy journey to school for every child’ as a priority. 

Safer City Streets, the new global traffic safety network for liveable cities, was launched on 18 October during the UN Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador. Safer City Streets is managed by the International Transport Forum and it is built for cities to share their experience and learn from each other. Cities address many challenges by working together and learning from each other – but so far not in road safety. Safer City Streets fills this gap by linking cities that are working to make their citizens safer in traffic. It provides city officials high-value information for better decision making, global networking and learning opportunities for city officials and the possibility to carry out research on topics of common interest. Member cities have access to policy-relevant data, a network of experts and targeted analysis.  

NTUA has actively contributed to the Methodology for Developing the Database and Network.  

EuroNCAP announced it’s latest safety ratings, sorted by the date of publication, by star rating and by make in alphabetical order. In 2016, the star rating is based on a vehicle fitted only with safety equipment which is standard across the entire model range, throughout EU28. All cars assessed now have a rating with standard safety equipment only. A second rating might also be available for the same vehicle model which represents the additional safety available from a ‘safety pack’, containing all of the safety technologies needed to achieve the additional star rating and must be available on all variants in all countries where the additional equipment is not standard. The EuroNCAP’s latest safety ratings are now available: 

The European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL) together with the European Commission DG Move Road Safety Unit have launched the project EDWARD – the European Day Without A Road Death 2016, which took place with great success on 21 September 2016. This day there were 43 road deaths across 31 countries, compared to 70 fatalities on the same day in 2015 (reduction of almost 39%) with 19 countries recording zero fatalities on 21 September, compared with 11 countries in 2015. A full country-by-country result report is now available: 

Project EDWARD also featured a road safety pledge asking road users to promise to: drive at speeds that are both legal and safe, pay particular attention when driving near schools, never drive after drinking alcohol or taking drugs/medicines, always wear seat belt and not using mobile phone while driving. 

An invited lecture titled: “Decision, Knowledge and Science in road safety” was given by Dr. Sylvain Lassarre, Emeritus Research Director of the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks (IFSTTAR) on June 24th 2016 at theDepartment of Transportation Planning and Engineering of NTUA.  

A new Road Safety overlay feature to the Travel Risk Map has been recently launched by the International SOS Foundation, working in collaboration with GRSP and utilizing data from the WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety 2015. The interactive Travel Risk Map has been a widely used resource for business travellers in understanding the risks posed when visiting or relocating to foreign countries in terms of travel security and medical risk. The addition of the Road Safety Risk overlay will serve to educate the mobile workforce to be more aware of the vast differences in road traffic environments from country to country. 

The new website of the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the School of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens is now up and running at: www.transport.ntua.gr

The education and research activities of the Department since its establishment in 1982 are highlighted, together with all the latest news. Road safety was and still constitutes a major scientific discipline within the activities of the Department. 

The PhD Dissertation of Dr. Panagiotis Papantoniou at the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, titled: ‘Risk factors, driver behaviour and accident probability. The case of distracted driving‘ has been awarded winning dissertation of the European Friedrich-List-Award 2016 and the European Platform of Transport Sciences (EPTS).  

A special issue of Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, on Fitness to Drive is now calling for papers. The Special Issue of Fitness to Drive considers all aspects associated with determining if a person is fit to drive and subsequent implications of this decision.

Its basis includes: 1) naturalistic and/or observational studies of drivers post personal decision or medical requirement to cease driving, 2) evaluation of methodologies for objectively determining fitness to drive 3) issues of enforcement, legal and societal implications, and 4) consideration of how decisions of fitness to drive fit within the licensing system in terms of private and commercial license holders. The submissions should be empirical papers based on rigorous quantitative and qualitative methods/techniques and should be submited before October 1st, 2016. 

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution which represents the strongest ever commitment on road safety made by UN Member States. It invites Member States that have not already done so to consider adopting policies and measures to implement United Nations vehicle safety regulations or equivalent national standards to ensure that all new motor vehicles, meet applicable minimum regulations for occupant and other road users protection, with seat belts, air bags and active safety systems fitted as standard.

The resolution builds upon the ‘Brasilia Declaration’ passed by the 2nd Global High Level Conference on Road Safety held on 18th -19th November 2015 in Brasilia and endorses the standard fitment of active safety systems which are the primary focus of the Stop the Crash Partnership.  

SafetyCube is a research project funded by the European Commissionunder the Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, in the domain of Road Safety. The project started on May 1st, 2015 and will run for a period of three years with primary objective todevelop an innovative road safety Decision Support System (DSS) that will enable policy-makers and stakeholders to select and implement the most appropriate strategies, measures and cost-effective approaches to reduce casualties of all road user types and all severities in Europe and worldwide. NTUA is actively contributing to all phases of the SafetyCube project. 

The latest SafetyCube newsletter with the latest project developments is now available.  

The MSc programme ‘Traffic Psychology and Sustained Mobility‘will start running on 1 September 2016, by the University of Groningen. The programme is based on differenct disciplines covering the broad theme of mobility and offer courses that examine social perspectives that consider how a decline in the ability to process information affects mobility and that focus on the clinical effects of ageing (e.g. dementia). Road Safety in the modern mobility framework is a key issue addressed by this MSc Programme.  

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution seeking to establish a road safety trust fund, Aimed at Halving Global Number of Traffic Deaths and Injuries. Acting without a vote, the Assembly adopted a draft resolution titled “Improving global road safety” (document A/70/L.44), expressing concern that road traffic crashes killed more than 1.25 million people and injured as many as 50 million people a year.  It invited Member States and the international community to step up collaboration to meet target 3.6, and encouraged the upcoming United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development to consider road safety and safe, affordable public transport.

Jean Todt, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Road Safety, stated that the Road Safety Trust Fund is a priority, taking into account that the cost of road accidents and their consequences is estimated to around $500 billion a year.  

The European Commission has adopted a series of rules applicable to road hauliers and road passenger transport operators. They include a common classification of serious road safety infringements undertransport legislation, as well as new specifications for smart tachographs (the device that records driving times of lorry, bus and coach drivers), making the best use of new digital technologies such as Galileo. The objective is to enhance road safety, contribute to a fairer competition between road transport operators and to facilitate a consistent enforcement of EU rules across borders. 

The Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked this year 8th in Europe and 33rd worldwide among all Civil Engineering Schools. This ranking is produced by the QS Organisation based on the following criteria: Research, Teaching, Employability, Facilities, Internationalization, Innovation, Engagement and Access. NTUA road safety activities have contributed to this ranking.

Professor Demetris Koutsoyiannis, Dean of the Civil Engineering School said that this great improvement is the result of the systematic and collective efforts of all Faculty members, researchers and students for academic and research excellence.   

Personal Injury Claim has launched its Ultimate Guide to Road Safety Apps, an online guide that looks at the main areas of road safety where smartphone apps are available to promote safer driving through the use of apps. While smartphones often act as distractions and can actually cause collisions, they can also reduce the level of risk through specific applications. 

The NTUA Road Safety Observatory is now posting and sharing on Twitter (@nrso_ntua_gr) all new Greek, European and international road safety knowledge, information and data published at the nrso website (www.nrso.ntua.gr).

Simply follow us on Twitter: @nrso_ntua_gr  

The Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) has recently launched a key new web resource centre to support advocacy efforts specifically for road safety policies and implementation. The new Advocacy Resource Centre is a one-stop resource for organizations campaigning for road safety policies or policy implementation. It features over 800 pieces of content, which have been specifically collated and created to be useful for both road safety organizations and other organizations that may be interested in addressing road safety.

The Advocacy Resource Centre also holds a comprehensive Advocacy Toolkit, which is a a nine-part comprehensive guide detailing all aspects of constructing a successful advocacy campaign, focusing specifically on road safety.

SafetyCube is a research project funded by the European Commissionunder the Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, in the domain of Road Safety. The project started on May 1st, 2015 and will run for a period of three years with primary objective todevelop an innovative road safety Decision Support System (DSS) that will enable policy-makers and stakeholders to select and implement the most appropriate strategies, measures and cost-effective approaches to reduce casualties of all road user types and all severities in Europe and worldwide. NTUA is actively contributing to all phases of the SafetyCube project. 

The first SafetyCube newsletter with the latest project developments is now available. 

A Special Issue of the Journal of Transportation Safety & Security focusing on Driving Simulation Experiments and Behavior Analysis is now calling for papers.  Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following:

– simulator sickness (e.g. simulation fidelity)  

A Special Issue of Accident Analysis & Prevention focusing on Road Safety Data Considerations is now calling for papers that address issues related to road safety data and methods that can be applied at all stages of data handling (collection, processing and analysis). Moreover, the presentation of applications utilizing innovative road safety data analysis is encouraged, particularly in emerging regions (that typically lack detailed and updated crash and casualty information), focusing on methodological adaptations for tackling information scarcity, or other limitations of technology transfer. 

2015 was a very intensive year for the NTUA Road Safety Observatory as presented at the respective 2015-in-figures infographic highlighting nrso activities on research and web presence but also on work and sports.

The intensive 2015 nrso activity is demonstrated by the active contributions to 12 research projects, together with the 54 papers in scientific journals and conferences and the more than 38.500 visits of the nrso website, whereas the 65.368 emails handled and the 3.088km run are proving the high nrso efficiency and fitness to perform!  

The Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) has launched a newinteractive mapping tool on its website. This interactive map draws on a database of over 11,000 cells and allows the user to quickly and easily find information and data of interest. The interactive map features three primary tabs, enabling searching by GRSP Activity, IFRC Engagement or by Global Crash Data from the WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety 2015.

This tool comes as a result of multiple surveys into stakeholder needs and will be constantly updated with the latest data so that it becomes a ‘go to’ entry point for a wealth of road safety information, data, tools and resources that are being built into the GRSP website.  

We heartily wish you very joyful Christmas holidays and a very happy and fruitful new year 2016, plenty of personal and professional achievements. Let’s face the new challenges ahead with creative hope and scientific persistence for even safer roads in Europe and worldwide.

At a recent interview at CNN Greece, NTUA Professor George Yannis attempts to decode the effect of economic crisis on the impressive reduction of road fatalities in Greece and in Europe. He presented NTUA related work but also the main findings from the recent OECD/ITF Report on the relation between growth and road safety.

According to recent research, the economic crisis has played a major role to the recent impressive road fatalities reduction in Greece and in Europe (claimed to be responsible for the 2/3 of this reduction).  Professor George Yannis estimates that after the crisis, traffic increase will result to some road accidents increase (already happening in the EU), however this increase will be limited as the improved driver behaviour (less agressive and less speedy) will also remain after the crisis.  The full article  and the related video are now available.

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is observed on the third Sunday of November each year (this year on 15 November 2015) by an increasing number of countries on every continent around the world. This day adopted by the UN in 2005, was dedicated to remembering the many millions killed or injured in road crashesand their families and communities, as well as to pay tribute to the dedicated emergency crews, police and medical professionals who daily deal with the traumatic aftermath of road death and injury.

In Greece this year, Efthita Rhodes, member of FEVR (European Federation of Road Traffic Victims) and the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety organised a series of events to commemorate this day, including the promotion of the special video translated in several languages.  Furthermore, on the occasion of this day, the Road Safety Institute Panos Mylonas (IOAS) has released the results of the UN Millennium Development Campaign MY World.