EC – ETSC Road Safety Exchange: Twelve EU Member States team up to improve road safety, 2019

Twelve EU Member States are joining forces to share smart ideas for improving road safety, as part of a new EU-funded project: “Road Safety Exchange”, coordinated by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) and launched in Brussels on October 9th, 2019. The three-year EU Road Safety Exchange project aims to tackle the current important disparities between the various EU countries and will link up experts on one hand from Bulgaria, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and on the other hand from Austria, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. Transport experts from the twelve participating countries will work together to share best practice on reducing speed, building safe infrastructure and improve enforcement, data collection, as well as the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in urban areas

October 18th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

A systematic cost-benefit analysis of 29 road safety measures, 2019

A paper titled “A systematic cost-benefit analysis of 29 road safety measures” authored by Stijn Daniels, Heike Martensen, Annelies Schoeters, Wouter Van den Berghe, Eleonora Papadimitriou, Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Susanne Kaiser, Eva Aigner-Breuss, Aggelos Soteropoulos, Wim Wijnen, Wendy Weijermars, Laurent Carnis, Rune Elvik, Oscar Martin Perez is now published in Accident Analysis and Prevention. For the purposes of this study the authors collected and (re-)analyzed evidence in order to conduct cost-benefit analyses (CBAs) for 29 road safety measures. The information on crash costs was based on data from a survey in European countries.  A systematic procedure was applied including corrections for inflation and Purchasing Power Parity in order to express all the monetary information in the same units (EUR, 2015). Cost-benefit analyses were carried out for measures with favourable estimated effects on road safety and for which relevant information on costs could be found. Results were assessed in terms of benefit-to-cost ratios and net present value and are included also at the SafetyCube DSSdoi

October 7th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

NACTO – Guidelines for Regulating Shared Micromobility, 2019

NACTO’s Guidelines for Regulating Shared Micromobility outline best practices for cities and public entities regulating and managing shared micromobility services on their streets. Its recommendations were developed to reflect the wide variety of experiences that North American cities have had in regulating and managing shared micromobility. Shared micromobility is still in its infancy and there are outstanding questions and option for which there is not yet a defined best practice, as highlighted within these Guidelines. link pdf5

October 7th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety – Survey on the impact of road traffic crashes, 2019

Road traffic crashes are not just statistics, they affect real lives and real people. Many people have been affected by road traffic crashes, or know people whose lives and relationships have been torn apart by these needless tragedies. The Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety launched a survey aiming to bring forth the voices of people to highlight the problem and call for governments to act urgently. The results will be released at the Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety and disseminated through press releases, publications, mass and social media. They will provide evidence to show government leaders what needs to be done at local, regional, and global levels to save lives

September 26th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

European Commission – Road Safety Commitment to Global NGOs, 2019

During the European Mobility Week 2019, the European Commission and the EU Member States handed over to Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety the commitment of halving the number of fatalities and serious injuries on European roads between 2020 and 2030, within the way forward to the Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Stockholm in February 2020.  On the occasion, Commissioner Violeta Bulc also announced an “Urban Road Safety Award” for cities, to be handed out next spring. 

September 20th, 2019|Categories: Conferences, News|

POLIS – The New Paradigm for Safe City Streets, 2019

Within the European Mobility Week 2019, the European Commission and the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety co-organised a Road Safety Roundtable in Brussels on 16 September. During this event, a commitment from European cities, coordinated by POLIS and Eurocities, entitled “The New Paradigm for Safe City Streets” was handed over including 10 principles to be recognized by the cities, as necessary for sound and effective action for traffic safety.  pdf5

September 20th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

Towards Zero Foundation – 50 by 30 Campaign 2020-2030

Road deaths and serious injuries are not just unfortunate accidents. They are predictable, preventable, and unacceptable. Evidence shows that setting a road safety target is an effective way to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured in traffic crashes. That is why the Towards Zero Foundation’s #50by30 campaign calls for a new target to halve road deaths and serious injuries in a new decade of SDG action for road safety to 2030. A new target and a new decade of action will help to save 675,000 lives a year, accelerate progress in global road injury prevention, and work towards a world eventually free from road fatalities and serious injuries.  pdf5

September 20th, 2019|Categories: News|

United Nations – Improving Global Road Safety, 2019

The UN General Assembly published recently 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 highlights that while the number of road traffic deaths has stabilized, as indicated in the Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018, significant reductions have not been observed, and road traffic injuries are now the leading cause of death for children and young adults between the ages of 5 and 29 years. pdf5

September 20th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

i-DREAMS Driver Telematics – Join the Survey, 2019

Participate now at the driver telematics survey of the Horizons 2020 research project i-Dreams. The i-Dreams project develops a highly innovative driver monitoring system that will provide interventions to keep drivers within a safe driving zone, applicable in several transport modes: passenger cars, trucks, buses, trains, trams. You can submit your valuable contribution by filling-in the 15-minute online survey available at the following link. 

You can also sign up to the i-DREAMS newsletter here

September 14th, 2019|Categories: News|

Digital Road Safety Lecture, Loughborough, 2019

NTUA Professor George Yannis gave a Lecture titled: Digital Road Safety at the Research and Innovation in Safe and Smart Mobility Seminar, a new initiative of Loughborough University to discuss new multidisciplinary mobility challenges. The Lecture took place with great success on Wednesday 11th September 2019 at Loughborough University.  pdf5

The Lecture on Digital Road Safety focused on the new great potential of data from several digital sources to efficiently support both safe driver behaviour and road safety decision making at all levels. ppt5

September 14th, 2019|Categories: News|

Driving difficulties as reported by older drivers with mild cognitive impairment and without neurological impairment, 2019

A paper titled “Driving difficulties as reported by older drivers with mild cognitive impairment and without neurological impairment” authored by Sophia Vardaki, Anne E. Dickerson, Ion BeratisGeorge Yannis and Sokratis G. Papageorgiou is now published in Traffic Injury Prevention. The purpose of this study was to explore the factors determining driving difficulties as seen from the viewpoint of 30 older drivers with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 30 age-matched controls without cognitive impairment. The analysis revealed that 2 factors underlie MCI perceptions of driving difficulties, representing (1) difficulties associated with late detection combined with slowed response to relevant targets in the peripheral field of view and (2) difficulties associated with divided attention between tasks requiring switching from automatic to conscious processing particularly of long duration. doi

September 4th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

ETSC – Road Safety Priorities for the EU 2020-2030 Briefing for the new European Parliament

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published a Report titled “Road Safety Priorities for the EU 2020-2030: Briefing for the new European Parliament”. In June 2019, the Commission published a new Strategic Action Plan on Road Safety that includes a new long-term target to halve road deaths by 2030 as well as, for the first time, a target to reduce serious injuries by the same amount. The EU must implement this new policy framework so that it ensures both the highest practicable level of safety and a fair distribution of safety across the European Union. New legislative proposals on improving both infrastructure and vehicle safety are currently being finalised. Their further implementation and the development of new legislation in other areas will be in the hands of newly elected MEPs over the period 2019-2024.  pdf5

August 26th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

ETSC – Independence in Investigation of Transport Accidents, 2019

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published a Report titled “Independence in Investigation of Transport Accidents”. The aim of this Report is to promote a set of principles for independence of transport accident investigation in Europe, under which the requirements for independent investigation could be met by the EU itself, by each Member State and by any other European country.   pdf5

August 14th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

Road Safety in Greece highlighted, Brussels, 2019

NTUA Professor George Yannis made a synthesis presentation of road safety performance and respective measures in Greece, at the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) PIN Panel Meeting, on 20 June, 2019 in Brussels.  Greece has made the most impressive road safety improvement in the EU during the last decade (51% road fatalities decrease), with 690 fatalities in 2018: the best ever performance since 1965 and only 61 lives to be saved to reach the EU 2020 target. This is the combined result of the economic crisis and a series of important and systematic measures on road infrastructure, traffic safety legislation and safe road user behaviour campaigns.  ppt5 Road Safety in Greece

July 10th, 2019|Categories: News|

Analysis of driver behaviour through smartphone data: The case of mobile phone use while driving, 2019

A paper titled “Analysis of driver behaviour through smartphone data: The case of mobile phone use while driving” authored by Eleonora Papadimitriou, Anastasia Argyropoulou, Dimitris Tselentis, and George Yannis is now published in Safety Science. The aim of this paper is to explore driving behaviour during mobile phone use on the basis of detailed driving analytics collected by smartphone sensors from OSeven Telematics. The data came from a sample of one hundred drivers (18,850 trips) during a naturalistic driving experiment over four months. The results suggest that mobile phone use while driving may be accurately predicted by the model in more than 70% of casesdoi

July 3rd, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

EuroMed – Recommendations for Harmonized Definitions of Road Crash Data, 2019

Road Safety is acknowledged as a priority issue in the EuroMed partner countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia). However, the collection of credible road safety data is a major challenge. In this context, the recent EuroMed Report, which was launched with the active contribution of NTUA, consists of provision of technical assistance on setting up road safety reliable, harmonized and comparable data collection systems at the EuroMed Partner Countries and sharing at regional level. The Final Report concludes that the adoption of common definitions for road crash variables and values strongly depends on the successful implementation of basic definitions (accident, road, casualty severity) and the systematic and complete reporting of crashes and casualties. pdf5

July 3rd, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

LEVITATE – Stakeholder Workshop on Connected and Automated Transport Impacts, Gothenburg, May 2019

On 28 May, 45 experts from Europe and Australia were gathered in Gothenburg, Sweden, within the framework of the Horizon 2020 project Levitate, in order to discuss which societal impacts Connected and Automated Vehicles will have. Levitate is building tools to help European cities, regions and national governments prepare for a future with increasing levels of Automated Vehicles in passenger cars, urban transport services and urban logistics. The Workshop marked the first meeting of the LEVITATE Stakeholder Group, which aims to facilitate a continuous dialogue between experts, users and the consortium about the impacts of Connected and Automated Transport (CAT)

NTUA contributed actively to the 1st Stakeholder Workshop with the following presentation: ppt5 CATS-PST Connected and Automated Transport Systems Policy Support Tool

July 3rd, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

NTUA Thomaidion Award to NTUA Road Safety Researchers, 2019

Akis TheofilatosDimosthenis PavlouDimitris Tselentis, and Apostolis Ziakopoulos, Research Associates of the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of NTUA were awarded with the NTUA Thomaidion Award for outstanding road safety publications in scientific journalspdf5 The awards for publications in Scientific Journals concerned:

  • Theofilatos A., Yannis G., Investigation of powered 2-wheeler accident involvement in urban arterials by considering real-time traffic and weather data, Traffic Injury Prevention, Volume 18(3), April 2017, Pages 293-298 doi
  • Pavlou D. – Beratis I.N., Papadimitriou E., Andronas N., Kontaxopoulou D., Fragkiadaki S.,  Yannis G., Papageorgiou S.G. Mild Cognitive Impairment and driving: Does in-vehicle distraction affect driving performance?, Accident Analysis & Prevention, Volume 103, June 2017, Pages 148-155 doi
  • Tselentis D., Yannis G., Vlahogianni E., Innovative motor insurance schemes: A review of current practices and emerging challenges, Accident Analysis & Prevention, Volume 98, January 2017, Pages 139-148 doi
  • Theofilatos A.Ziakopoulos Α.Papadimitriou Ε.Yannis G., Diamandouros K., Meta-analysis of the effect of road work zones on crash occurrence, Accident Analysis & Prevention, Volume 108, November 2017, Pages 1-8 doi
June 27th, 2019|Categories: News|

NTUA Dpt of Transportation Planning and Engineering ranked 16th in Europe 2019

The Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) was ranked 16th in Europe and at 80th place worldwide among all Transportation Science & Technology Schools,  according to the ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2019.  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. 

June 27th, 2019|Categories: News|

ETSC – How to improve urban road safety in the EU (PIN Flash 37), 2019

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published the 37th PIN Flash Report “How to improve urban road safety in the EU“, with the active contribution of NTUA. This Report analyses the latest data urban road safety across the EU and other countries that form part of the ETSC Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) programme, and it conclude with more than twenty main recommendations for action at EU. It is highlighted that the problems can be addressed with the right political leadership, resources and energy. But while the EU, national governments and other actors can help provide the knowledge, finance and guidelines to implement the necessary changes, it will often be up to local authorities to implement them effectively. pdf5 A comprehensive infographic depicts current urban road safety in Europe, with Pedestrians, Motorcyclists and Cyclists accounting for 70% of all urban road fatalitiespdf5

June 12th, 2019|Categories: Data, News|

ITF – New Directions for Data-Driven Transport Safety Report, 2019

The International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published recently a new Report: “New Directions for Data-Driven Transport Safety”, with the active contribution of NTUA. This Report explores how seamless data collection, analysis and sharing can unlock innovations in transport safety. Very often most interventions to improve transport safety are reactions to incidents. However lately, connected vehicles, smartphone apps, ubiquitous sensors, data sharing and machine learning make proactive transport safety interventions possible and prevent crashes before they happen. Drawing on the Safe System approach, this Report examines how transport stakeholders can make better decisions by using more relevant and timely new safety data pdf5

May 29th, 2019|Categories: Data, News|

George Yannis was awarded the prestigious Francqui Chair in Belgium, 2019

NTUA Professor George Yannis was recently awarded the prestigious Francqui Chair 2019, as proposed by Hasselt University.  The Francqui Chair is awarded every year by the Francqui Foundation to eminent academics which are promoting the development of higher education and scientific research in Belgium.   

May 24th, 2019|Categories: News|

Make Roads Safe Hellas – International Tourism and Road Safety in Greece, 2019

Make Roads Safe Hellas in collaboration with the National Technical University of Athens, the University of Macedonia, the University of the Aegean, the Hellenic Open University and EASST, released a report titled: “International Tourism and Road Safety in Greece, Country Report 2019”. Make Roads Safe Hellas is a Non-Profit Organisation promoting road safety in Greece which hopes to gain momentum from their study and build support for the establishment of a Safe Tourism Network to ensure that road safety for tourists and travellers is given adequate attention, not just in Greece but across the globe. The Report is based on a survey of almost 1,500 international tourists visiting Athens, Chania, and Thessaloniki in 2018, as well on recent accident statistics from ELSTATpdf5

May 21st, 2019|Categories: Data, News|

ETSC – Road Safety Priorities for the EU 2020-2030, 2019

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published a Report titled “Road Safety Priorities for the EU 2020-2030: Briefing for the European Parliamentary Elections”. This ETSC Report suggests additional legislation priorities over the period 2019-2024, concerning: a) the improvement of cyclists, pedestrians and powered two wheelers safety, b) automated and connected mobility, c) the reduction of serious injuries on EU roads, d) the efficient enforcement, e) the drug driving and f) the education and training (revision of the European Driving License Directive).  pdf5

May 4th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

New FERSI (Forum of European Road Safety Institutes) website, 2019

The Forum of European Road Safety Institutes (FERSI) has restyled and updated its website. The website not only provides information about FERSI, its members and activities, it also provides relevant links to road safety information, road safety organisations, major policy documents and European projects. 

April 11th, 2019|Categories: News|

The European road safety decision support system on risks and measures, 2019

A paper titled “The European road safety decision support system on risks and measures” authored by the Horizons 2020 SafetyCube project team is now published in Accident Analysis and Prevention. The European Road Safety Decision Support System is an innovative system providing the available evidence on a broad range of road risks and possible countermeasures. This paper describes the scientific basis of the DSS. The structure underlying the DSS consists of (1) a taxonomy identifying risk factors and measures and linking them to each other, (2) a repository of studies, and (3) synopses summarizing the effects estimated in the literature for each risk factor and measure, and (4) an economic efficiency evaluation instrument (E3-calculator). doi

April 1st, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

EC/EIB – Safer Transport Platform, March 2019

European Investment Bank and European Commission join forces to support investments in transport safety with special focus on roads. At the TEN-T and CEF Conference in Bucharest, the EU Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc together with Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Vazil Hudák launched the “Safer Transport Platform” to promote safety as a key element for transport investment and to provide easy access to technical and financial advice, in particular for road safety. The “Safer Transport Platform – Road Safety Advisory” is available via a dedicated website 

March 29th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

European Commission – Breakthrough Revised General Safety Regulation, 2019

The EU institutions have reached a provisional political agreement on the revised General Safety Regulation. As of 2022 new safety technologies will become mandatory in European vehicles to protect passengers, pedestrians and cyclists. Key new technologies include intelligent speed assistance, lane-keeping assistance, advanced emergency braking, warning driver drowsiness and distraction, reversing safety with camera or sensors and data recorder in case of an accident (black box). Advanced safety features will reduce the number of accidents (90% of which are due to human error), pave the way towards increasingly connected and automated mobility, and boost the global innovation and competitiveness edge of the European car industry. 

The full list of the new mandatory safety features

March 27th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

European Commission – New rules for clean, connected and automated mobility, 2019

The European Commission adopted recently new rules stepping up the deployment of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) on Europe’s roads. The new technology will allow vehicles to ‘talk’ to each other, to the road infrastructure and to other road users – for instance about dangerous situations, road works and the timing of traffic lights, making road transport safer, cleaner and more efficient. The new rules are in line with the proposals on clean mobility introduced by the Juncker Commission, are a further step for modernising the European mobility sector, preparing it for climate neutrality in the second half of the century and contributing to the EU’s long-term goal of moving close to zero fatalities and serious injuries by 2050 (“Vision Zero”). 

March 19th, 2019|Categories: News|

Open Science in Transport presentation at BeOpen, Brussels, 2019

Prof. George Yannis made a presentation about “Open Science in Transport” at the kick-off meeting of the BeOpen, Horizon 2020 project, which took place in Brussels in 14 February 2019. ppt5  BeOpen aims to create a common understanding on the practical impact of Open Science and to identify and put in place the mechanisms to make it a reality in transport research. Road Safety constitutes a major component of this Open Science in Transport initiative.

March 12th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

EU Reforms on Road Infrastructure Safety Management, 2019

The European Council reached a provisional agreement with the European Parliament on a proposal to strengthen road infrastructure management to reduce road fatalities and serious injuries. The reform will extend the scope of the current rules to motorways and other primary roads beyond the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). Furthermore, it introduces a network-wide road safety assessment, which is a snapshot of the entire road network covered by the Directive used to evaluate accident risk and the Authorities will use the findings to carry out more targeted road safety inspections or take direct remedial action. It will become mandatory to take systematic account of pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users in road safety management procedures.   The draft directive amending directive on road infrastructure safety management is available: pdf5

March 6th, 2019|Categories: News|

Transport Research Arena – Research Awards TRAVisions 2020

TRAVisions concerns two competitions for transport research awards to be announced in a prestigious award ceremony at the Transport Research Arena Conference on 27-30th April 2020 in Helsinki (abstract submission deadline: 1/10/2019):  pdf5 twitter

  • TRAVisions 2020 Young Researcher Competition, an academic student competition with the goal of stimulating the interest among young researchers and students in the field of sustainable surface transport
  • TRAVisions 2020 Senior Researcher Competition, a competition for senior researchers in the field of innovative surface transport concepts based on results only from EU-funded projects

February 27th, 2019|Categories: News|

Global Road Safety Facility – Annual Report, 2018

The Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF), launched the GRSF 2018 Annual Report, highlighting its excellent record of delivery and long term funding for road safety. GRSF is a global partnership program administered by the World Bank, which was established in 2006 with a mission to help address the growing crisis of road traffic deaths and injuries in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).  pdf5

February 27th, 2019|Categories: Data, News|

ETSC – Reducing Speeding in Europe, 2019

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published the 36th PIN Flash Report “Reducing Speeding in Europe“, with the active contribution of NTUA. The EU has the exclusive authority to set minimum safety standards for all new vehicles sold on the EU market. One of the main goals of this PIN Flash Report is to highlight the proposed standards which include mandatory fitment of overridable Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) on all cars, vans, buses and heavy goods vehicles. Research shows that this single technology could help to achieve a high level of compliance with speed limits and eventually cut road deaths by 20%.  pdf5

February 20th, 2019|Categories: Data, News|

NTUA Road Safety Observatory in figures 2018

The infographic of the 2018 NTUA Road Safety Observatory (www.nrso.ntua.gr) activities, 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 22 innovative research projects, succeeded to publish 67 scientific papers (21 in peer reviewed journals), reached almost 100.000 nrso website page-views, handled more than 115.000 emails and run more than 4.800 km! pdf5

February 5th, 2019|Categories: News|

Five NTUA PhD Researchers awarded with the NTUA Thomaidion Award, May 2018

Emmanouil BarmpounakisPanagiotis PapantoniouDimosthenis PavlouDimitris Tselentis and Panos Georgiou PostDoc Researchers of the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of NTUA were awarded with the NTUA Thomaidion Award for outstanding publications in scientific journals for the year 2016. The awards for publications in Scientific Journals concerned:

February 4th, 2019|Categories: News|

ETSC – 7 SMART Ways of tackling Drink-Driving in Europe, 2019

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published a report titled “7 SMART Ways of tackling Drink-Driving in Europe”. The report aims to present the wide-ranging approaches used to tackle drink driving in Europe, including legislation (BAC limits, rehabilitation programmes for drink driving offenders), enforcement, technology (alcohol interlocks) campaigns and education.  pdf5

January 31st, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

RSI Panos Mylonas – Road safety video campaigns, 2019

The Road Safety Institute ‘Panos Mylonas’ with the support of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) produced and implemented two video campaigns focusing on driver distraction due to mobile phone use: video video and one video campaign focusing on the importance of seat-belt especially at the back-seat, titled: “Seat-belt – The belt which “ties” us with life“: video. The objective is to highlight these very crucial road safety risk factors and promote these campaigns through social media. 

January 31st, 2019|Categories: News|

ETSC – The Status of Traffic Safety and Mobility Education in Europe, 2019

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published a Report titled “The Status of Traffic Safety and Mobility Education in Europe” with the active contribution of NTUA. Even though the overwhelming majority of European countries consider education as an essential part of the integrated approach to traffic safety, this first overview of traffic safety and mobility education in Europe demonstrates that in practice road safety education in schools at all levels is not sufficient. Only in the Czech Republic, Ireland and Germany is road safety education provided at all levels.  pdf5

January 26th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

HIT/HITE/Hellastron – Road Safety Awards in Greece, 2019

The Road Safety Awards in Greece were established in 2018 by the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE), HELLASTRON and the Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT): the first award concerns the “Best Road Safety Young Researcher Publication” addressed to students, graduates, postgraduate, doctoral or postdoctoral researchers and the second award concerns the “Best Road Safety Action” addressed to Organisations and Institutes. Submissions deadline is set for March 31st, 2019. 

 

January 20th, 2019|Categories: News|

NTUA Road Safety Research ranked 2nd in Europe and 6th worldwide, 2019

NTUA Road Safety Research is ranked 2nd in Europe and 6th worldwide according to a recent study titled: “Visualization and analysis of mapping knowledge domain of road safety studies“, published at the leading safety Scientific Journal Accident Analysis and Prevention. Moreover, NTUA Prof. George Yannis appears to be among the most productive scientific authors worldwide in the field of road safety. This ranking is based on a systematic analysis of all road safety studies published on Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) between 2000 and 2018, containing several interesting performance indicators on road safety research worldwide (topics, trends, papers, journals, universities).  doi pdf5

January 5th, 2019|Categories: Knowledge, News|

Road safety behavior of drivers with neurological diseases affecting cognitive functions: an interdisciplinary Structural Equation Model analysis approach, 2018

A paper titled “Road safety behavior of drivers with neurological diseases affecting cognitive functions: an interdisciplinary Structural Equation Model analysis approach” authored by Dimosthenis Pavlou and George Yannis is now published in Advances in Transportation Studies. This research suggests the evaluation of driving behavior by using multiple driving indexes in a combined integrated manner, through a large-scale driving simulator experiment, comprising medical/neurological and neuropsychological assessments of 225 active drivers, and a set of driving tasks for different traffic volumes, different driving environments, including in-vehicle distraction conditions. The statistical analysis methodology developed and implemented was based on Principal Component Analysis and Structural Equation Models (SEMs). SEM results indicated that the impact of neurological diseases affecting cognitive functions is significantly detrimental on the latent variables “driving performance” and on the observed variables “reaction time” and “accident probability”. The AD group had the worse driving behavior profile among the examined groups with neurological diseases affecting cognitive functions. doi

December 26th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

ETSC – EU Strategy for Automated Mobility, 2018

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published a briefing synthesis titled “EU Strategy for Automated Mobility”. ETSC warmly welcomes and fully agree with the Commission’s acknowledgement that when it comes to automated mobility, “only the highest safety and security standards will suffice”. This must remain the guiding principle in the years to come. Automated driving has the potential to significantly improve road safety. However, recent collisions involving vehicles with automated technology on board demonstrate that automated driving may also pose new risks to road safety, and that the technology is not yet mature.  pdf5

December 20th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

NTUA Best Wishes for a Lucky and Fruitful 2019

At the end of another year full of scientific excellence and innovation and great achievements, like the new breakthrough Road Safety Decision Support Systems: SafetyCube, SafeFITS, AfricaRSO, we persist with creativity and passion for a brighter, more automated and safer traffic future everywhere and for all.

We thank you all for the excellent cooperation and we are sending you our very best wishes for joyful Christmas holidays and a lucky and fruitful new year 2019, plenty of personal and professional achievements. pdf5

December 18th, 2018|Categories: News|

SaferAfrica Webinar – Road Safety Data in Africa, 2018

Within the framework of the Horizons 2020 project SaferAfrica (African-European Dialogue Platform on Road Safety) a webinar titled “Road Safety Data in Africa” was successfully organised with the active contribution of NTUA, on December 20th, 2018. This webinar addressed key findings from a review on road safety data collection systems and definitions in African countries, together with the respective recommendations and guidelines for a minimum set of harmonised data collection procedures and standard definitions. In addition, the results of the analysis of key road safety data and risk factors in Africa were highlighted. link pdf5

December 18th, 2018|Categories: News|

Journal of Safety Research – Special issue: Safety, human factors and technology, 2018

The Journal of Safety Research announced a call for papers: Special issue – Safety, human factors and technology The objective of this Special Issue is to support the discussion on the future trends of mobility and the implications for the protection of all road users. An important aspect is that technological developments must go hand in hand with users’ acceptance and behavior. Therefore, we are particularly interested in contributions addressing the following topics: The role of human factors and technology on road safety; Interactions between vulnerable road users and automated systems; How can road users influence the technology advancement in transportation.  

Paper submission deadline: 18 February 2019

December 10th, 2018|Categories: News|

African Road Safety Observatory is on line, 2018

The African Road Safety Observatory is now on line constituting a space for interaction to highlight the road safety needs in African countries, developed with the active contribution of NTUA. It is one of the main results of the SaferAfrica project funded by the European Commission Horizons 2020 Programme and includes various knowledge and tools, such as statistics, reports, fact sheets, knowledge resources and links and it is integrated with crowd-sourcing functions to facilitate the participation of experts and end-users, through an interactive Dialogue Platform. link

A video presenting the African Road Safety Observatory is now “on air”:  

December 9th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

European Commission – Final Road Safety Figures, 2017

On the occasion of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, the European Commission presented the final Road Safety Figures for 2017, which show for the second year in a row a decrease by 2% of road fatalities in the EU compared to the previous year. European Coordinator for Road Safety Matthew Baldwin said: “Whilst European roads are the safest in the world, the downward curve has flattened out in past years. We still have many challenges ahead of us: I especially think of vulnerable road users, who– as the figures show- are making up a larger share of the casualties, especially in urban areas. We need an active, cooperative, holistic approach amongst all stakeholders to implement what we know needs to be done – the Safe System“.  pdf5

November 27th, 2018|Categories: Data, News|

ITF – Safer City Streets: Global Benchmarking for Urban Road Safety, 2018

The International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published recently a new Report: “Safer City Streets: Global Benchmarking for Urban Road Safety”, with the active contribution of NTUA. This document aims to support cities in setting road safety targets and to monitor progress in improving urban road safety. Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists account for nearly 80% of urban traffic fatalities. Cities should thus intensify efforts to improve the safety of vulnerable road users. This document presents traffic safety indicators for different road user groups collected in 31 cities worldwide to facilitate the evaluation, monitoring and benchmarking of road safety outcomes. It places a particular attention on measuring the risk of fatality per unit distance traveled.   pdf5

November 27th, 2018|Categories: Data, News|

ETSC – Last Night the EU Saved My Life, 2018

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has launched a new campaign “Last Night the EU Saved My Life”. The EU has the exclusive authority to set minimum safety standards for all new vehicles sold on the EU market.  EU crash safety tests, and mandatory inclusion of technologies such as seat belt reminders and Electronic Stability Control have saved thousands of lives. The revision of the “General Safety Regulation”, published on 17 May 2018, includes a set of new vehicle safety measures, including mandatory installation of new driver assistance technologies, as well as revised minimum crash testing standards and measures to protect pedestrians and cyclists. But the new legislation now needs the support of Members of the European Parliament and the Member States of the European Union in order to be passed into law, and that’s why ETSC has launched this new campaign with the active support of  NTUA.   twitter

 

November 27th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

UNECE – 50th anniversary, Vienna Conventions on Road Traffic and on Road Signs and Signals, 1968-2018

UNECE celebrates the 50th anniversary of Vienna Conventions on Road Traffic and on Road Signs and Signals, 1968-2018. At the turn of their 50th anniversary, the Vienna Conventions on Road Traffic and on Road Signs and Signals from 1968 are more relevant than ever. Whether helping to address the most critical road safety needs, or facilitating the development of automated driving functionalities, reference to these legal texts, which are evolving with technological developments, is a necessity for countries around the world. The two Conventions have a global scope and are important frameworks facilitating international road traffic through uniform traffic rules and harmonized road signs, signals, symbols and markings video

November 27th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

Matthew Baldwin – the New European Coordinator for Road Safety – Exclusive interview at NRSO

EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc recently announced the appointment of Matthew Baldwin as European Coordinator for Road Safety to help drive forward the new road safety strategy as set out under the key actions in the Commission’s third Mobility Package to modernise Europe’s transport system in May 2018. The role will involve the coordination of road safety efforts with Member States, the European Parliament, cities, regions and all stakeholders in the road safety community.  pdf5  Matthew Baldwin gave an exclusive interview to the NTUA Road Safety Observatory:

NRSO: Matthew, tell me a bit about this new role of the European Coordinator for the promotion of road safety in Europe and what will be your specific areas of focus?

MB: First, thanks for this opportunity to set out what this role is all about and how I see it as fitting into our road safety “architecture”. (more…)

October 14th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

Capturing the effects of texting on young drivers behaviour based on copula and Gaussian Mixture Models, 2018

A paper titled “Capturing the effects of texting on young drivers behaviour based on copula and Gaussian Mixture Models” authored by Loukas Dimitriou, Katerina Stylianou, and George Yannis is now published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. This research effort aims to investigate the impact of texting on young drivers’ behavior and safety based on data from driving simulator experiments, for different driving contexts, like motorways, urban and rural roads, during daytime and night, and for alternative weather conditions (‘clear sky’ and rain). GMMs application showed that drivers using mobile phones who were involved in a collision presented a different driving behavior compared to the drivers who were occupied but were not involved in a collision. doi

October 4th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

TISPOL / EC – EDWARD – European Day without a Road Death 2018

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. link 

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

September 29th, 2018|Categories: News|

The effect of anger on driver behavior and safety, 2018

A Diploma Thesis titled “The effect of anger on driver behavior and safety” was presented by Orestis Gavalas in July 2018. In order to achieve this goal, a driving simulator experiment was conducted and a questionnaire including the DAX scale was filled in a sample of 125 drivers. The collected data were grouped into anger components using the factor analysis method. Subsequently, both linear and logarithmic regression models were developed. Valuable conclusions were reached including men demonstrating higher levels of driving anger as well as that anger decreases with increasing age. The presence of anger is related to the increase in average speed, the reduction of headway (measured in time) and the increase in the probability of being involved in an accident and a road traffic infringement. On the other hand, forgiveness and noble mindedness lead to fundamentally opposite effects. pdf5 ppt5

September 7th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

SafetyCube – Road Safety DSS is live! – Newsletter August 2018

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. 

September 6th, 2018|Categories: News|

Critical driver behaviour and risk factors in Europe, 2018

A Diploma Thesis titled “Critical driver behaviour and risk factors in Europe” was presented by Dimitrios Vachaviolos in July 2018. The aim of the present Diploma Thesis is the analysis of critical behavior and risk factors of drivers in Europe. To this end, we analyzed the responses of a representative sample of 17,980 European citizens who participated in the pan-European ESRA survey, which took place in 2016. The analysis of behavior and the investigation of the critical factors affecting driver behavior and safety, was carried out by using statistical methods of cluster analysis and binary logistic regression. The model results revealed that speeding leads to the increase of accident involvement probability, as is the case also for fatigue – drowsiness and distractionpdf5 ppt5

September 5th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

Mobility and Road Safety in European cities, 2018

A Diploma Thesis titled “Mobility and Road Safety in European cities” was recently presented by Dimitrios Giagkou, focusing on the impact of mobility characteristics on road safety in European cities. For this analysis, various international databases (CARE, UITP, Eurostat) were exploited with data on road accident fatalities, demographics and mobility characteristics of 25 European cities in 2012. Generalized Linear Models were developed for both the total number of fatalities and for specific subcategories too. The results led to the conclusion that more public transport capacity offered, more cycle trips and fewer motorcycles lead to a reduction in the number of fatalities in urban road accidents. Moreover, it was found that denser road network, higher population density and higher GDP per capita are correlated with fewer fatalities in urban road accidents. pdf5 ppt5

August 15th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

Impact of economic, social and transport indicators on road safety during the crisis period in Europe, 2018

A Diploma Thesis titled “Impact of economic, social and transport indicators on road safety during the crisis period in Europe” was presented by Dimitrios Nikolaou in July 2018. For this analysis a database containing Human Development Index (HDI), suicides, passenger-kilometers and road fatalities for European states for 2006-2015 was developed. The results led to the conclusion that Human Development Index has the most important impact and its increase leads to road fatalities decrease. Moreover, the economy evolution effect on road accidents is more important than social and transport indicators. Especially after the economic crisis, the impact of the economy is even higher. Passenger-kilometers were also found with increased impact on the number of road fatalities after the economic crisis. pdf5 ppt5

August 11th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

SaferAfrica 3rd Newsletter, 2018

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. pdf5

August 9th, 2018|Categories: News|

Correlation of road safety performance with health and economy indicators in the European Union, 2018

A Diploma Thesis titled “Relation of the performance of road safety to medical, economic and social indicators to countries in the European Union” was presented by Myrto Damianou in July 2018. The 27 European Union Member States are studied between 2008 and 2014. Linear regression and linear mixed statistical model were developed. The results demonstrated important but different impacts of the examined indicators at the different countries and varying impact weight of these indicators. pdf5 ppt5

August 4th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

Comparative investigation of road accidents cost in the European Union, 2018

A Diploma Thesis titled “Comparative investigation of road accidents cost in the European Union” was presented by Ypatia Mihou-Archimandritou in July 2018. For this analysis, social, economic and transport indicators from various international sources were exploited and a common database was developed, containing data about the rate of passenger cars use, GDP per capita, population, road accidents fatalities, suicides, number of passenger cars, Misery Index and other for the year 2015. The results led to a conclusion that an increase of the rate of passenger cars use leads to a decrease of the accident cost, while an increase of Misery Index leads to an increase of the accident cost. Furthermore, in economically strong countries higher accident cost is observed in comparison to the other two groups. pdf5 ppt5

August 1st, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

NTUA Dpt of Transportation Planning and Engineering ranked 15th in Europe 2018

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. 

July 26th, 2018|Categories: News|

Modelling the economic impact of road accidents in Greece, 2018

A Diploma Thesis titled “Modelling the economic impact of road accidents in Greece” was presented by Eleftherios-Marios Kourtis in July 2018. The objective of this Diploma Thesis is the estimation of the human cost of road accidents based on the “Willingness-to-Pay” (WTP) methodology, and the identification of drivers attitudes towards the probability of getting involved in a road accident, using the “Stated Preference” method. The results demonstrate a positive correlation between the number of road accidents that a driver was involved so far and the annual amount that is willing to invest. Furthermore, based on the WTP methodology, the road accident fatality human cost in Greece was estimated at 1.761 million euros. pdf5 ppt5

July 26th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

NTUA Associate Researchers obtained the NTUA Thomaidion Awards 2017

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. doi

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. doi

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. doi

 

June 10th, 2018|Categories: News|

ITF – Safer Roads with Automated Vehicles? 2018

The International Road Traffic and Accident Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published recently a new Report: “Safer Roads with Automated Vehicles?”. This report examines how increasing automation of cars and trucks could affect road safety, and which security vulnerabilities will need to be addressed with the rise of self-driving vehicles. It introduces the principles of Safe System approach and the relevance of Vision Zero for road safety to the wider discussion on vehicle automation.   pdf5

May 29th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

European Commission – New Integrated Policy for the Future of Road Safety, 2018

The European Commission’s Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG Move) has released the well expected and breakthrough EU integrated policy for the future of road safety within its new set of actions to modernise Europe’s transport systems with the agenda for safe, clean and connected mobility“.   pdf5  This integrated policy comes together with the revision of road infrastructure safety management directive (with the active contribution of NTUA) and the proposal for a regulation on type-approval requirements for motor vehicles   and the communication on the road to automated mobility.  The full list of proposals, together with the respective fact sheets and supporting documents is available: 

Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc stated that the European Commission has put forward initiatives addressing the challenges of today and paving the way for the mobility of tomorrow; today’s measures constitute a final and important push so that Europeans can benefit from safe, clean and smart transport.

May 29th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

IRF – global Transport Knowledge Resource Centre, 2018

The International Road Federation (IRF) is operating the global Transport Knowledge Practice 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), functioning like an on-line library, with Road Safety being a key component of this knowledge centre. Registered users (free of charge) can exploit interactively the wealth of data and knowledge and also contribute their own knowledge and experience. 

May 2nd, 2018|Categories: News|

UN – Launch of United Nations Road Safety Trust Fund, 2018

The United Nations have recently launched the UN Road Safety Trust Fund, aiming to accelerate progress in improving global road safety by bridging the gaps in the mobilization of resources for effective action at all levels. The Fund is expected to mobilize resources from governments, intergovernmental or non-governmental organizations, the private sector, philanthropic organizations and individuals. UNECE estimates that every $1,500 contributed to the Road Safety Trust Fund could: save one life, prevent ten serious injuries, and leverage $51,000 in road safety investment.   

Jean Todt, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, stated that the UN Road Safety Trust Fund has the potential to galvanize our global efforts to address the road safety situation, building on the progress made and experience gained over the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.

May 2nd, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

Greece – New fines scheme for traffic infringements, 2018

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. pdf5

May 2nd, 2018|Categories: News|

CAMP-sUmp University Campus Sustainable Mobility Conference, Valencia, 2018

The Department of Methodology in the Behavioural Sciences of the University of Valencia organised the CAMP-sUmp University Campus Sustainable Mobility Conference, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund of the Interreg MED Programme in Valencia, Spain, on 27 March 2018. Designed to improve sustainable mobility in the Mediterranean area universities’ campus, CAMP-sUmp promotes the advancement of low-carbon strategies and energy efficiency within safe and efficient transport policies. At the CAMP-sUmp Conference the Action Plans and the related Road Maps were presented aiming to support Universities to improve their sustainable mobility plans with emphasis on traffic safety. Presentations were given by the CAMP-sUmp Universities: Catanzaro, Athens, Valencia, Cyprus, Split, Malta and Bologna. 

NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation: ppt5 Studying Sustainable Mobility in University Campuses

April 14th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

ITF – Speed and Crash Risk, 2018

The International Road Traffic and Accident Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published recently a new Report “Speed and Crash Risk”, with the active contribution of NTUA. After reviewing the current knowledge on the relationship between speed and crash risk, this report analyses eleven cases from ten countries that have recently changed speed limits or introduced a large-scale automatic speed control. The analysis confirms the very strong relationship between speed and crash risk and that higher speed is associated with increased occurrence and severity of road crashes pdf5

March 31st, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

NTUA Civil Engineering School ranked 11th in Europe 2018

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).

March 7th, 2018|Categories: News|

ITF – Alcohol-Related Road Casualties in Official Crash Statistics, 2018

The International Road Traffic and Accident Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published recently a new Report, with the active contribution of NTUA, which examines how improving insights regarding the real number of alcohol-related road casualties worldwide can help to save lives.  A total of 45 countries were surveyed with the help of an online questionnaire, and insightful statistics are presented in this Report.  pdf5

IRTAD Chairman, Professor Fred Wegman, highlighted that: “With great certainty, the real number of alcohol-related road casualties is higher than reported in the official statistics”.

February 18th, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

SaferAfrica 2nd Newsletter, 2018

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. pdf5

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.

February 3rd, 2018|Categories: News|

ITF – Benchmarking Road Safety in Latin America, 2018

Road safety is a major issue in Latin America and substantial actions are needed to reduce the number of road deaths and injuries. The International Transport Forum (ITF) released a report which describes and benchmarks road safety management and performance in ten Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay. The comparisons in this study allow identifying similarities and differences between countries’ road safety performance. It will be useful to policy makers in assessing weaknesses and strengths, and designing effective road safety policies that make use of the experiences in other countries pdf5

February 1st, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

NTUA Road Safety Observatory in figures 2017

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! pdf5

January 29th, 2018|Categories: News|

e-Drive Academy – Introducing Traffic Behaviour and Road Safety in Greek Schools, 2018

e-Drive Academy is an Innovative Educational e-platform for Safe, Smart, Ecological Transport and Driving, developed and operated by the General Directorate of Road Safety of the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks. e-Drive Academy provides all necessary educational services in order to develop an improved road safety culture and safe travelling for all road users, regardless of age, education or economic level. It aims to raise awareness of road users to adapt their behaviour to safer everyday travelling, with particular emphasis on consolidation of road safety issues and traffic safety education of children and preparing them as the responsible drivers of tomorrow. e-Drive Academy introduces for the first time the systematic teaching of Traffic Behaviour and Road Safety in Greek Primary Schools which start within 2018.   

January 21st, 2018|Categories: Knowledge, News|

European Commission – VESAFE, the one stop shop for vehicle safety, 2018

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 TNOTOIKooperationstelleFesvialvhp, 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

January 21st, 2018|Categories: News|

NACTO/GDCI – Global Street Design Guide, 2017

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.  pdf5

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.

January 10th, 2018|Categories: News|

World Bank/GRSF – The High Toll of Traffic Injuries: Unacceptable and Preventable, January 2018

The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) has published a Report titled “The High Toll of Traffic Injuries: Unacceptable and Preventable”. It proposes a comprehensive methodology to quantify both the income growth and social welfare benefits that safer roads could bring to developing countries.  The study shows that reducing the number of RTIs in developing countries not only increases income growth, but also generates substantial welfare benefits to societies

January 10th, 2018|Categories: News|

NTUA Best Wishes for a Joyful and Safe 2018

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. pdf5

January 1st, 2018|Categories: News|

Universita di Pavia – Post Graduate programme in management of Road Safety, 2018

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.  pdf5

December 6th, 2017|Categories: News|

European Commission launched TRIMIS, 2017

The Transport Research and Innovation Monitoring and Information System – TRIMIS is an online platform for researchers to share and discuss innovation in mobility in Europe. It is an evolution of the Transport Research & Innovation Portal (TRIP), and incorporates TRIP’s database of over 10,000 EU and national transport research projects. TRIMIS monitors the implementation and effectiveness of the roadmaps developed by the Strategic Transport Research and Innovation Agenda (STRIA). TRIMIS analyses technology trends, research and innovation capacities and developments in the European transport sector, providing open-access information. 

December 2nd, 2017|Categories: Knowledge, News|

Global NCAP & AA South Africa launched #SaferCarsforAfrica, 2017

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. 

December 2nd, 2017|Categories: News|

WHO – 12 Global Road Safety Performance Targets 2017

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 pdf5 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. pdf5  The Member States have also invited WHO and other UN Agencies to continue the work by developing a set of related indicators. 

 

 

November 22nd, 2017|Categories: News|

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims 2017

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.   twitter

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 pdf5

Several activities took also place in Greece:

November 7th, 2017|Categories: News|

UN – Road accidents in Africa among deadliest worldwide, urging more action, 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. 

November 7th, 2017|Categories: News|

HITE Position on Road Safety and on Road Traffic Code changes in Greece

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. pdf5 pdf5 

November 5th, 2017|Categories: News|

25th IRTAD Meeting – Marrakesh 2017

The 25th Meeting of the International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) organised by the International Transport Forum (ITF) took place in Marrakesh, on 13 October 2017 

NTUA presentations concerned:

October 14th, 2017|Categories: Conferences, News|

Safety Science – Call for papers for the Special Issue on Naturalistic Driving Research, 2017

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

October 11th, 2017|Categories: News|

FIA – Distraction is a killer, #ParkYourPhone when on the road, 2017

FIA Region I and its member Clubs are launching #ParkYourPhone, a campaign to encourage responsible smartphone use in traffic. For drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, only a few seconds of distraction can make a difference between life and death.  FIA President and UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, said “Drivers, cyclists and pedestrians need to understand the dangers of using smartphones in traffic. To combat the 3,500 lives lost every day in road accidents, I urge all road users to park their phones when they are in traffic.”   video video

October 3rd, 2017|Categories: Knowledge, News|

UN ECE – SafeFITS Global Road Safety Model 2017

Safe Future Inland Transport Systems (SafeFITS), the Global Road Safety Model developed by NTUA for the United Nations – Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) with the support of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) was presented by NTUA Professor George Yannis, at the Global Forum for Road Traffic Safety (WP.1) as part of its Seventy-fifth session in 19 September 2017, in order to showcase current developments and obtain feedback from national representatives. The SafeFITS tool is built around a statistical model based on historical road safety data and the relations between different road safety indicators. SafeFITS will enable Governments to identify the most appropriate road safety measures and policies to save even more lives. pdf5 

September 30th, 2017|Categories: Knowledge, News|

BRSI is now Vias institute, 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.  

September 14th, 2017|Categories: News|

SAFER’s new Website, 2017

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. 

September 4th, 2017|Categories: News|

I_HeERO Workshop & Demonstration in Athens, 2017

The Institute of Communication & Computer Systems and the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure & Transport are organising a workshop and demonstration of  I_HeERO – “Infrastructure Harmonised eCall European Pilot” implementation in Greece, that will be held on Tuesday, 24 October 2017 at the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport facilities, in Athens, Greece. The European project I_HeERO: Deployment pilot project of EU-wide eCall is aimed at the preparation of Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) in the participant Member States (Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia) for the deployment of eCall based on 112 as reference implementations. The event is expected to attract a wide variety of participants from private and public institutions, local authorities, academic and research communities, manufacturers, road transport professionals and end users associations.  pdf5

August 29th, 2017|Categories: Conferences, News|

PIARC – Advanced technology for data collection and information to users and operators, 2017

The World Road Association-PIARC recently published a Report entitled: “Advanced technology for data collection and information to users and operators”. The Report provides brief summaries of projects from around the world, presented in the form of use cases that are representative of innovative ways of collecting, distributing, and making use of mobile data to assist transportation officials in their winter maintenance operations and to provide information to the travelling public. The use cases or case studies were selected because it is the belief of the authors that, when deployed, any of the technologies described will have a positive impact on transportation safety, mobility, the environment, and/or more efficient use of human and material resources needed to carry out their winter maintenance duties. 

August 29th, 2017|Categories: Data, News|