NRSO Road Safety Update Νέα από το Ε.Μ.Π

ESRA2 (E-Survey of Road Users’ Attitudes) project with the active participation of NTUA is organising six on-line webinars under the theme “Measuring Global Traffic Safety Cultures to Support Effective Road Safety Policy Development” starting on 23 September 2020. The Webinar topics concern: Enforcement and traffic violations – Seat belt & Child restraint systems – Senior road users – Support for policy measures – Pedestrians – Cyclists – Moped drivers and Motorcyclists – Gender Issues –  Young road users – Subjective safety and risk perception – Vehicle automation.  Registration for the September 23rd webinar is now open.

Latest Developments

European Commission – Road safety in the COVID era, July 2020 The EU’s High Level Group for Road Safety held a discussion on road safety in the COVID era on 16 June and agreed on some conclusions setting out common principles for the forthcoming transitional period. It is highlighted the importance of obtaining and sharing timely data and the enhancement of safe active mobility. Ιt has also emphasized the need to reinstate road safety enforcement, particularly if higher volumes of cars return to the roads and to restore public confidence in public transport.

ETSC – The Impact of Covid-19 Lockdowns on Road Deaths, July 2020 The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published a PIN Briefing “The Impact of Covid-19 Lockdowns on Road Deaths in April 2020“, with the active contribution of NTUA. This Report assesses Covid-19 measures impact on road deaths in Europe during the month of April 2020 – by which time most countries were in lockdown. Out of 25 EU countries for which data is available, 19 saw a decrease in the number of road deaths in April 2020 compared to the month of April in the previous three years (910 people in 2020 compared to 1.415 people on 2019). A conclusion is that there were very substantial reductions in the number of road deaths as a result of the big drops in traffic volumes due to confinement.

EuroRAP/RSI – Road Risk Map in Greece, June 2020 In the framework of the SLAIN project (Saving Lives Assessing and Improving TEN-T Road Network Safety) which is implemented in Greece by the Road Safety Institute (RSI) ‘Panos Mylonas’ in cooperation with the International Organization EuroRAP, a risk map of the Greek road network was created.  The risk is presented by different colors (black-red-orange-yellow-green, from the highest to the lowest level of risk).

Statistics Corner

European Commission – Europe’s roads are getting safer but progress remains too slow, July 2020 According to the European Commission, compared to previous years, fewer people lost their lives on EU roads in 2019. An estimated 22.800 people died in a road crash last year (2% less than in  2018), almost 7.000 fewer fatalities than in 2010 – a decrease of 23%. Eight Member States registered their lowest fatality numbers on record in 2019: Croatia, Finland France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg and Sweden. However, progress has slowed in several other countries.

ETSC – 14th Annual Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) Report, June 2020 European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) published the 14th edition of PIN Annual Report , presented at the 2020 ETSC Road Safety Performance Index Award event which took place on-line with great success on 17 June 2020. Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia and Portugal have reduced road deaths the most since 2010 while road deaths in Malta, the Netherlands and the UK were higher in 2019 than in 2010. Road safety progress is demonstrated but away from the decade targets. Estonia was awarded with the 2020 European Transport Safety Council Road Safety Performance Index Award.

Our Publications

UNECE/Serbian RTSA – 15th International Conference Road Safety in Local Communities – Vrnjacka Banja, June 2020 Within the framework of 15th International Conference Road Safety in Local Communities, UNECE together with the Serbian Road Traffic Safety Agency organised  with great success an online Workshop on 25 June 2020. The aim of the Workshop was to strengthen knowledge of representatives of the South‐East Europe member States on road safety management, evidence‐based decision making on road safety strategic goals and targets and the role of the Global Framework Plan of Action of Road Safety in development of road safety system.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  EU Strategic Action Plan on Road Safety

LEVITATE – Webinar: The impacts of automation in urban transport, June 2020 The EU-funded Horizon 2020 project Levitate (Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles) organised with great success the 2nd Webinar on the impacts of automation in urban transport – featuring local urban strategies on 11 June, 2020.  This webinar provided an insight into the challenges that urban mobility is facing due to the COVID-19 crisis and into mid-term local mobility strategies. There were presentations from LEVITATE partners: NTUA, Transport for Greater Manchester, and Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.  The full recording of the webinar is available:  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Urban Transport Services

UTH – On-line Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility – Skiathos, June 2020 The University of Thessaly, Department of Civil Engineering, Traffic, Transportation and Logistics Laboratory (TTLog), organised on-line the 5th Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility (VirtualCSUM2020) on June 17-19, 2020. The theme of this year’s conference was “Advances in Mobility as a Service Systems” and its objective was the dissemination of knowledge and the exchange of good practices among researchers and practitioners in the domain of urban transportation.   NTUA contributed actively with several traffic safety papers and presentations:   A taxonomy of skills and knowledge for efficient autonomous vehicle operation   Investigating the correlation of mobile phone use with trip characteristics recorded through smartphone sensors  Benchmarking Analysis of Road Safety Levels for an Extensive and Representative Dataset of European Cities   A comparative gap analysis for electromobility and alternative fuels

HADI – Multidisciplinary Road Safety on-line Conference – Athens, May 2020 The Hellenic Association of Driving Instructors together with Key Transportation Organisations in Greece organized an International Multidisciplinary Traffic Safety on-line Conference on 29-30 May 2020. The Conference aims concerned the evaluation of traffic and road safety in Greece, the identification of current and future pedestrians and vehicles traffic problems in Greece related to new technologies, the exchange of experiences from scientific studies, and current traffic safety actions and practices in Greece and internationally.     NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations: Road users perception of driving fatigue  The consequences of autonomous buses in traffic, safety and the environment for future mobility scenarios  Evaluation and improvement of driver behavior and safety through mobile phone application International Experience in Environmental Pricing in Transportation The COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity for new mobility models: Athens Great Walk

Levitate Newsletter – Societal Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles, May 2020 The May 2020 newsletter of the EU funded Horizon 2020 project Levitate (Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles) was recently released highlighting the relation of automated vehicles and COVID-19.  It presents an interview with Helmut Augustin, City of Vienna, and the first LEVITATE webinar on the impacts of automation in freight transport.

Comparative Analysis of Traffic Accident factors per Driver Nationality in the European Union, March 2020 A Diploma Thesis titled “Comparative Analysis of Traffic Accident factors per Driver Nationality in the European Union” was recently presented by Aikaterini Skliami. The application of the models on data from the EU CARE database, revealed that driver nationality had a statistically significant effect on the number of drivers killed in traffic accidents. The main factors differentiating traffic accidents of local and foreign drivers are driver gender and accident area type.

Upcoming Events

ICCS/L3Pilot – Developing and Testing Automated Driving – Online Summer School, September 2020 The Institute of Communication & Computer Systems within the EU funded Horizon 2020 project L3Pilot are organising a Summer School titled “Developing and Testing Automated Driving“, which is going to be held on-line, on 9-10 September 2020. The L3Pilot Summer School 2020 will focus on the theory and practice of Automated Driving Implementation and Testing. It invites researchers, PhD students, developers, technicians and other professionals to learn more about the progress of the largest European pilot-testing of SAE Level 3 driving functions implemented by L3Pilot partners as well as to discuss the latest findings and main challenges in the areas of Automated Driving Technology.

SHOW – 1st Pan-European Workshop, online, September 2020 The SHOW (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) project is organising its 1st Pan-European Workshop, titled «How to make CCAM in Cities a reality» which will be held on-line on 18 September 2020. In this workshop, a selection of high-level keynote speakers will share their views and experiences about Connected and Cooperative Automated Mobility, while interactive sessions about Use Cases for CCAV in Urban Mobility and Best Practices for Business and Operating Models in Europe and worldwide will take place.