NRSO Road Safety

 

ETSC – 17th Annual Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) Report, June 2023 The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) published the 17th edition of PIN Annual Report, with the active contribution of NTUA, presented at the 2023 ETSC Road Safety Performance Index Award event which took place with great success on 20 June 2023 in Brussels. The EU27 collectively reduced the number of road deaths by 22% over the period 2012-2022. The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has awarded its 2023 Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) Award to Poland for the first time, because the country cut road deaths by 47% between 2012 and 2022, a rate only bettered by Lithuania, last year’s winner.

Latest Developments

Global Alliance NGOs – Accountability Toolkit Launched, July 2023 The Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety launched, with the active contribution of NTUA, an accountability toolkit, which is a set of practical, web-based tools. It offers tangible steps to equip NGOs to hold their governments accountable for the safety of all road users by reducing road deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030, in alignment with the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 (Global Plan). The toolkit is a practical resource for NGOs and other civil society advocates and is underpinned by five Priority Interventions that have been proven to be among the most effective in reducing road deaths and injuries.

FIA Road Safety Index, July 2023 The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has recently released the FIA Road Safety Index, a tool that provides Organisations with a methodology to assess their road safety performance and calculate their safety footprint, relying on a similar concept as the carbon footprint calculators. The safety footprint of an Organisation refers to the number of fatalities and seriously injured persons as a result of road crashes occurring within its entire value chain. Designed on the basis of a long-term commitment, the index offers a systematic approach to identify, measure and follow up road safety results from a value chain perspective.

PIARC – Boosting Road Safety in LMICs: Focus on Speed, May 2023 The World Road Association – PIARC  launched an ambitious PIARC Knowledge Exchange project, aiming at sharing knowledge about road safety, with the active contribution of NTUA, especially within Low and Middle Income Countries with limited resources but also in more developed economies with different needs and priorities. The theme of this month refers to Speed, as presented by the PIARC Technical Committee 3.1 "Road Safety" member John Barrell. Throughout the year, PIARC will focus on the Safe System approach, addressing safe roads and roadsides, safe road users, safe vehicles and safe speeds.

Statistics Corner

IRF – World Road Statistics 2023 Open to All, September 2023 The International Road Federation (IRF) released the 60th edition of the IRF World Road Statistics 2023 (WRS2023), with data now open to all for free through the IRF WRS Data Warehouse platform, thanks to the generous support of the TotalEnergies Foundation and Michelin Corporate Foundation. The IRF WRS 2023 continues to be the major comprehensive, universal source of statistical data on road networks, traffic and inland transport, including traffic accidents. This year the WRS 2023 includes the latest data covering years 2016 to 2021, with the active contribution of NTUA for the Greek data. It includes over 200 road and transport-sector related indicators across 11 sections, covering more than 200 countries and territories   . Follow the launching event on 28 September 2023.

Our Publications

George Yannis – Why city-wide 30 km/hour speed limit? July 2023 NTUA Professor George Yannis contributed actively at the Scientific Workshop on: “Should we promote a 30 km/hr speed limit in cities?” organised by the Chair of Transportation Systems Engineering of the Technical University of Munich (TUM). which was held in Munich on July 6th, 2023. The Workshop hosted vivid discussions from Key - Experts on the different dimensions and perspectives of city-wide 30 km/h speed limit . Professor George Yannis contributed two key-note presentations:  Why city-wide 30km/h speed limit?  Artificial Intelligence, Big Data & Road Safety

i-DREAMS – Smart Driver Behaviour Assessment Workshop, Brussels, April 2023 The Horizon 2020 project i-DREAMS (smart Driver Environment Assesment and Monitoring System) organised its Final Event which was held in Brussels, on 26 April 2023. In this i-DREAMS Workshop the main accomplishments of the project for the role of human factors in transport safety were discussed. Results indicated that the integrated treatment of task complexity, coping capacity and risk can improve behavior and safety of all travellers and all transport modes, through unobtrusive and seamless behaviour monitoring.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:  Key results of the i-DREAMS project: Determinants of risk An integrated model of driver-vehicle-environment interaction and risk

HADRIAN Symposium, Graz, Austria, May 2023 The HADRIAN Symposium was held in Graz, Austria, on 9-10 May 2023, under the theme "Shaping automated driving for human mobility needs". The Horizon 2020 project HADRIAN  (Holistic Approach for Driver Role Integration and Automation Allocation for European Mobility Needs) evaluated an holistic approach to shape automated driving to meet societal mobility needs. Over the last three years, the HADRIAN consortium investigated innovations within this scope and tested and demonstrated them in driving simulators and in real vehicles on test tracks and open roads. Results revealed that the “Integrated fluid HMI” had a great improvement in takeover performance and distraction prevention as well as outperformed with less mental or cognitive effort, higher comfort in use, and control feeling.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations: HADRIAN Safety and Impact Assessment  HADRIAN Safety Impact

Transport Research Arena (TRA), Lisbon, November 2022 The European Commission and the Agência Nacional de Inovação (ANI) together with the European Transport Research Platforms ACARE, ALICE, CEDR, ECTP, ERRAC, ERTRAC, ETRA and Waterborne, organised with great success the Transport Research Arena Conference (TRA2022) which took place in Lisbon, on 14-17 November 2022. The pillars of the Conference were the scientific excellence, research and innovation challenges, the latest technological and industrial developments and innovative policies regarding the European Transport Research and Innovation and the cooperation of Europe with other continents.    Click here for all NTUA presentations...

Real-Time Monitoring of Driver Distraction: State-of-the-art and future insights, August 2023 A paper titled “Real-Time Monitoring of Driver Distraction: State-of-the-art and future insights” authored by Eva Michelaraki, Chistos Katrakazas, Susanne Kaiser, Tom Brijs and George Yannis, has been published in Accident Analysis & Prevention. The aim of the present research is to critically review and assess the state-of-the-art systems and platforms measuring driver distraction or inattention. The results indicated that real-time eye tracking systems, cardiac sensors on steering wheels, smartphone applications and cameras were the most frequent devices to monitor and detect driver distraction. On the other hand, less frequent and effective approaches included electrodes, hand magnetic rings and glasses.

Investigating the influence of mobile phone use on driving behavior with Machine Learning analysis of imbalanced data, March 2023 A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Investigating the influence of mobile phone use on driving behavior with Machine Learning analysis of imbalanced data” was recently presented by Konstantinos-Eirinaios Kaselouris. For classification and regression of mobile phone usage, telematics data from the OSeven telematics company were used as collected from naturalistic driving measurements. Mobile phone use was defined as an indicator of risky behaviour and classification was performed on two levels of driving behaviour (risky and not risky). Variables related to travel speed were found to be the most significant independent variables, while according to the classification evaluation metrics, the most appropriate model was considered to be that of ‘Linear Discriminant Analysis’.

SHOW – 7th Newsletter, May 2023 The Horizon 2020 research project SHOW (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) has recently released the SHOW 7th Newsletter. The Newsletter provides information on the latest outcomes of the project. The sites had the opportunity to present their achievements in a recent Review Meeting with the European Commission, where  the excellent work being done across the project, the results that are beginning to emerge, and of course, the challenges to overcome to allow the sites to fulfill their potential, were discussed. SHOW’s aim now is to enhance urban mobility and automation by understanding people’s needs.

Upcoming Events

PIARC – Webinars on Road Safety in LMICs, September 2023 The World Road Association – PIARC is organising two webinars which will be held online on 5 and 15 September 2023. The topics of the Webinars will be: Infrastructure, Tunnels, Speed, Data and Management, Behaviour, VRUs, Vehicles. The webinars will provide solutions and recommendations to build road safety expertise in all countries with focus on Low and Middle Income Countries, in order to adopt effectively the Safe System Approach and reduce fatal and serious crashes on road network.  Registration is open.

ICTR2023 – 11th International Congress on Transportation Research, Heraklion, September 2023 The Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE) and the Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT/CERTH) are co-organizing  the 11th International Congress on Transportation Research (ICTR 2023), which will be held on 20-22 September 2023, Heraklion, Greece. The spotlight theme of the 2023 Congress will be "Clean and Accessible to All Multimodal Transport". Special focus will be given to innovative research and technological developments for clean and accessible multimodal transportation in Greece and worldwide. In this context, eight parallel workshops will take place, providing sustainable, safe and inclusive transport solutions for meeting the needs of people and ensuring efficient transportation both within and between cities.

PIARC – XXVIIth World Road Congress, Prague, October 2023 The World Road Association (PIARC)  is organising the XXVIIth World Road Congress, which will be held on 2-6 October 2023, in Prague. The theme of the congress is "Together on the road again" and will provide a unique opportunity to discuss in depth all subjects related to road infrastructures and road transport. The program includes ministerial sessions, 60 technical sessions covering all key aspects and topics of road infrastructure, valuable poster sessions, various specialised workshops, foresight sessions and much more.

Transport Research Arena (TRA), Dublin, April 2024 The European Commission and the An Roinn Iompair (ARI) together with the European Transport Research Platforms ACARE, ALICE, CEDR, ECTP, ERRAC, ERTRAC, ETRA and Waterborne will organise the Transport Research Arena Conference (TRA2024) which will take place in Dublin, on 15-18 April 2024. The pillars of the Conference will be the safe & inclusive transport, the sustainable mobility of people and goods, the efficient & resilient systems and the collaborative digitalisation regarding the European Transport Research and Innovation and the cooperation of Europe with other continents.