Ε. Μ.Πολυτεχνείο

 

 

New Year – New Hope – New Values

We leave behind a strange year, lucky to continue progressing with great scientific achievements against all odds. We persisted with dedication and passion to promoting evidence based safe traffic everywhere and for all and much-needed new sustainable mobility schemes too.

We thank you all for the excellent cooperation and we are sending you our very best wishes for Merry and Safe Christmas and a New Year with New Hope and New Values, full of personal and professional achievements. Let’s hope that the exceptional shared responsibility during the pandemic will become the new trend for responsible traffic behaviour, making our roads much safer and soon victims-free, in line with the UN decade and vision zero targets.

May the spirit of true solidarity keep up our faith this Christmas and this New Year 2021: 

European Commission – Executive Seminar on Speed and Speed Management, Brussels, October 2020 European Commission DG Move together with the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation organised an important Executive Seminar on “Speed and Speed Management in Road Safety Policy” held online on 8 October 2020, with the active contribution of NTUA.  Key Road Safety Experts contributed to a Synthesis Paper intended to guide policies in speeding globally  together with the respective Key Conclusions  highlighting the need for: high quality communication on the centrality of speed and speed management at all levels of government; more efficient speeding enforcement, including the use of dynamic speed limits; promoting Intelligent Speed Assistance Systems in vehicles (ISA) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on speeding to support evidence-based road safety policies; partnerships between all levels of government and with stakeholders and industry in order to make speed a central road safety issue for all

Latest Developments

European Commission – Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, December 2020 The European Commission (DG Move) recently presented the EU Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy together with an Action Plan of 82 initiatives (several of which aim to promote and enhance road safety), which lay the foundation for how the EU transport system can achieve its green and digital transformation  . Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean said: “As the backbone that connects European citizens and business, transport matters to us all. Digital technologies have the potential to revolutionise the way we move, making our mobility smarter, more efficient, and also greener”.

European Commission – Sustainable Urban Mobility Indicators, December 2020 The European Commission (DG Move) has recently developed the Sustainable Urban Mobility Indicators, which is a set of practical and reliable indicators that support cities to perform a standardised evaluation of their mobility system and to measure improvements that result from new mobility practices or policies. Two out of the 18 mobility indicators concern key urban road safety indicators to be jointly considered within the new urban sustainable mobility policies.    The complete set of indicators is now available

ETSC – Alcohol Interlocks in Europe Report, December 2020 The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has recently published a Report titled: Alcohol Interlocks in Europe: An Overview of Current and Forthcoming Programmes. This new Report aims at providing a more practical approach showing how each country has implemented their national scheme or intend to implement it in the future. It also identifies strengths and weaknesses to advocate for more effective measures and to inspire other Member States to deliver successful programmes.

Our Publications

ERF – Roadside Safety Event, online, December 2020 The European Union Road Federation (ERF) has organised a Roadside Safety Event which was held with great success online on 15 December 2020. The conference was a unique opportunity for road safety experts around the globe to exchange information concerning the latest trends and developments in the area of roadside passive safety and road safety design.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Impact of Median Jersey Barriers in the Design of Compound Alignments

ESRA 2 – Moped drivers and Motorcyclists Webinar, December 2020 The 4th ESRA2 Webinar took place with great success on 16 December 2020 including the NTUA presentation titled: “Moped drivers and Motorcyclists”.  This presentation was based on the results of the ESRA2 Thematic Report titled “Moped drivers and motorcyclists” focusing on key PTW attitudes from a survey that collected data from more than 35,000 road users across 32 countries worldwide. Speeding, drink and drive, helmet use and mobile phone distraction as well as self-declared safety perception of using mopeds and motorcycles, were among the key issues highlighted.

POLIS – Polis Annual Conference, online, November 2020 POLIS, the European Cities Network, has organised with great success the 2020 Annual Polis Conference which was held online from 30 November to 3 December. Cities and Regions showcased their transport achievements and get connected with up to 600 committed transport innovation professionals who work in local and Regional Governments and related public and private sector Organisations. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Development of a Policy Support Tool to assess Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles

ITS Hellas – 6th Intelligent Transport Systems Conference, online, December, 2020 The “Hellenic Association for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems – ITS Hellas, has organised with great success the 6th Intelligent Transport Systems and Developments in Greece Conference which was held online on 14-15 December 2020 with the support of the European Commission Representation in Greece, focusing on issues related to European goals and national aspirations and efforts for the transition to a sustainable and “green” mobility.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:  SWOT analysis for electric mobility in Athens  New data for supporting Road Safety actions

Rhodes’ Rescuers – Road accidents: Don’t just observe – Act Webinar, December 2020 Rhodes’ Rescuers Association have organised with great success a three-day Webinar titled “Road accidents: Don’t just observe – Act” which was held online on 18-20 December 2020.  The Webinar results are expected to bring significant value to road safety efforts at local, regional and national level. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation: Critical issues and priority actions for road safety in Greece

Identification of critical driving parameters affecting speeding using data from smartphones, 2019 A Diploma Thesis titled “Identification of critical driving parameters affecting speeding using data from smartphones” was recently presented by Aris Kokkinakis. Data collected from sixty- eight drivers who participated at a naturalistic driving experiment for fifteen months were analyzed with the use of linear regression modelling. The results revealed that key parameters like distance, high intensity harsh accelerations and braking, harsh cornering, average deceleration and mobile usage, had statistically significant on driver speeding behaviour. The number of high intensity harsh brakings had the most significant impact on speeding, whereas for each type of road separately, distance was the most significant parameter.

Car drivers’ road safety performance: A benchmark across 32 countries, September 2020 A paper titled “Car drivers’ road safety performance: A benchmark across 32 countries” authored by C. Pires, K. Torfs, A. Areal, C. Goldenbel, W. Vanlaar, M. A. Granie, Y. A. Stürmer, D. S. Usami, S. Kaiser, D. Jankowska-Karpa, D. Nikolaou, H. Holte, T. Kakinuma, J. Trigoso, W. Van den Berghe, U. Meesmann, is now published in the Journal of IATSS. This paper is based on the second edition of the E-Survey of Road Users’ Attitudes (ESRA), an online survey carried out in 2018 and includes data from more than 35,000 road users across 32 countries. The objective is to present the main results of the ESRA survey regarding the four most important risky driving behaviours in traffic: driving under the influence (alcohol/drugs), speeding, mobile phone use while driving, and fatigued driving.

Upcoming Events

SHOW – 1st Ideathon, online, January 2021 The Horizon 2020 research project SHOW (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) will organise the 1st Ideathon, which will be held online on 15 January 2021. Amongst others, the participants will have the chance to contribute to the development of automated urban mobility solutions that address end-users’ real needs and get access to advanced knowledge on automated mobility and gain insights in the needs of different user groups.

FERSI – Road Safety Conference, Hague, October 2021 The Forum of European Road Safety Research Organisations (FERSI) is organising the 2021 Road Safety Conference which will take place on 28-29 October 2021 in Hague, Netherlands. The conference focuses on the exchange of national and regional experiences with implementing evidence-based road safety measures with specific focus on the road to successful implementation, including overcoming barriers and promising ways to facilitate decision making. Extended abstracts submission deadline: 15 February 2021

United Nations Sixth Global Road Safety Week, May 2021 The UN Road Safety Collaboration is organizing the global campaign for the Sixth UN Global Road Safety Week, 17-23 May 2021. The 6th Global Road Safety Week will have as theme managing speeding. It will also be a great opportunity to mobilise the global population (Authorities, stakeholders, citizens) and launch the global plan for the newly proclaimed Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030. During this week, several road safety events are expected to be organised worldwide.