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European Commission – EU Methodology for Network-Wide Road Safety Assessment, 2023 The European Commission has published the EU Methodology for Network-Wide Road Safety Assessment, as developed by NTUA, FRED and FPZ and adopted by the EU Member States. Τhis Methodology will assist EU National Road Authorities to carry out safety assessments of their road network easily and efficiently, as required by the EU Road Infrastructure Safety Management Directive. The Methodology comprises both a reactive (crash based) and a proactive (feature based) safety assessment, covering issues such as lane width, road curvature, junctions design, roadside layout and potential conflicts between motorised vehicles and vulnerable road users. Subsequently, the two assessments are integrated into a common safety rating system classifying all roads in a country. This way, Road Authorities will be able to identify priorities for future road safety interventions and investments.

Latest Developments

PIARC – Specific Road Safety Issues in LMICs, July 2023 The World Road Association – PIARC recently published two Reports titled "Road Safety in LMICs: Identification and Analysis of specific Issues" in two parts Literature review and Illustrative Examples. The first part starts from the notion that road safety is a multifaceted problem which requires a multi-disciplinary approach. The safe system approach is generally considered as the central concept for this purpose and this starting point is also taken in this study. The second part is a follow up of an earlier literature review, in which were indicated which specific issues do need further attention in LMICs in the coming period up to 2030.

PIARC – Boosting Road Safety in LMICs: Focus on Vehicles, April 2023 The World Road Association – PIARC implemented an ambitious PIARC Knowledge Exchange project aiming at sharing knowledge about road safety, with the active contribution of NTUA, especially within the 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 Vehicles, as presented by the PIARC Task Force 2.1 President Ana Luz Jiménez Ortega. Throughout the year, PIARC will focus on the Safe System approach, addressing safe roads and roadsides, safe road users, safe vehicles and safe speeds.

Global NGOs/IRF – New Guide to Empower Road Safety Data Coalitions in Africa, September 2023 The Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety (the Alliance) and the International Road Federation (IRF), with the support of the TotalEnergies Foundation program, have recently released the LEARN Guide, a new resource of information and support to empower road safety advocates globally. This guide is structured in six straightforward steps and enables NGOs and other road safety stakeholders to set up their own LEARN coalitions, benefiting from the tools and learning experiences of existing ones.

iRAP – Google support Star Rating for Schools, September 2023 The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) program on Star Rating for Schools and AiRAP partnerships will be scaled up to provide 3-star or better journeys to school and address road traffic crashes that are the leading cause of death among children and young people worldwide with the support of  Google. By using artificial intelligence to identify high-risk 1- and 2-star roads that children use on their journey to school, potential hazards and mobilise evidence-based upgrades that will save children’s lives will be identified.

Ludin-Brown – Filtness – The Handbook of Fatigue Management in Transportation, September 2023 CRC Press has recently published a Handbook written by Christina Ludin-Brown and Ashleigh Filtness titled "Fatigue Management in Transportation", which is designed as a comprehensive reference point, bringing together international expertise from leaders in fatigue science, and showcasing valuable insights from transportation industry practitioners. The 40 authored chapters of this handbook are divided into six sections, to better understand fatigue science, the consequences of fatigue in transportation, contributors to fatigue, managing fatigue and promoting alertness, real world case studies of fatigue management in practice, and future perspectives.

Our Publications

PIARC – XXVIIth World Road Congress, Prague, October 2023 The World Road Association (PIARC) organised with great success the XXVIIth World Road Congress, which was held on 2-6 October 2023, in Prague. The theme of the congress was "Together on the road again" and provided a unique opportunity to discuss in depth all subjects related to road infrastructures and road transport, with safety being one of the Congress key topics. The program included ministerial sessions, 60 technical sessions covering all key aspects and topics of road infrastructure, valuable poster sessions, various specialised workshops and foresight sessions.  A special workshop on “Boosting Sustainable Road Safety Solutions in LMICs” was also foreseen.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations: Development and Pilot Testing of a European Methodology for Network Wide Road Safety Assessment Road Safety Audit of Ellinikon Urban Regeneration Project  Traffic Modelling a Case Study for the Port of Chios Island  AI for Safer Road Mobility  Key Road Safety Management Practices

NTUA – Telematics and Driver Behaviour Workshop, Athens, April 2023 The NTUA Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering organised with great success a Scientific Workshop titled “Telematics and Driver Behaviour” which took place in Athens on April 4th, 2023. Key driver telematics research findings were demonstrated and discussed, highlighting spectacular safety benefits from monitoring, evaluation and improvement of driver behaviour through feedback tools, social gamification schemes and motivation for drivers. Click here for the 15 NTUA presentations...

1st Energy Save Conference, Athens, September 2023 The 1st "Energy Save" Conference, organised with great success by Be best company, took place on 25 September 2023 at SNFCC in Athens. The theme of the conference was "How to reduce the energy footprint" and consisted of 3 sections: Energy footprint reduction, energy lost in traffic and electromobility promotion, road safety and micromobility. NTUA Professor George Yannis actively contributed with the following key-note presentation:   Significant Benefits from speed limits reduction

ICTR2023 – Young Researcher Best Road Safety Paper Award to Dimitrios Nikolaou, September 2023 Dimitrios Nikolaou, NTUA PhD Candidate & Researcher, received the Young Researcher Best Paper on Road Safety Αward 2023 during the International Congress on Transport Research 2023. The Award is granted jointly by the Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT/CERTH) and the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE). The award concerned the paper is titled: “Spatial analysis of telematics surrogate safety measures across road environments”, co-authored by Armira Kontaxi, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and George Yannis.

From conflicts to crashes: Simulating macroscopic connected and automated driving vehicle safety, May 2023 A paper titled “From conflicts to crashes: Simulating macroscopic connected and automated driving vehicle safety” authored by Maria  Oikonomou, Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Amna Chaudhry, Pete Thomas and George Yannis, has been published in Accident Analysis & Prevention. Analysis of the outputs along with traffic data and network geometry characteristics were conducted. The results indicated that in higher Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) market penetration rates (MPRs), crash rates will be significantly lower as well as when the following-vehicle in the occurred conflict is a 2nd generation CAV.

Correlation of crash risk with driver capacity in coping with driving tasks complexity using machine learning, July 2023 An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Correlation of crash risk with driver capacity in coping with driving tasks complexity using machine learning” was recently presented by Spyros Tsigkos. A large set of  driving data under real-life conditions in Great Britain was exploited and eight Structural Equation Models (SEM) were developed. It emerged that increasing the complexity of the trip increases the risk of a crash, while the deteriorated condition of the driver and the vehicle leads to increasing the crash risk. Male drivers have more high-severity abrupt incidents while driving compared to female drivers, which confirms the international literature.

Upcoming Events

SHOW – 4th Pan-European Automated Vehicles Workshop, Düsseldorf, October 2023 The Horizon 2020 research project SHOW project (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) will organise the 4th Pan-European Workshop, titled “Shaping Seamless AV Integration in Public Transport”, which will be held in Düsseldorf, on 12 October 2023. The workshop will provide a dynamic exploration of cutting-edge advancements in automated shared mobility, along with a field trip to nearby Monheim to experience the real-life AV service fully integrated into public transport. The workshop will combine concise presentations by industry leaders, experts, and project participants, followed by interactive panel discussions that delve deep into the heart of each topic.

POLIS – Polis Annual Conference, Leuven, November 2023 POLIS, the European Cities Network, is organising the 2023 Annual Polis Conference, which will take place in Leuven, on 29-30 November 2023. The POLIS Annual Conference is Europe’s leading sustainable urban mobility event, providing an opportunity for cities and regions to showcase their transport achievements , including recent safety developments, to a large audience of mobility experts, practitioners, and decision-makers from both the public and private sector.

6th International Traffic Safety Conference, Dammam, December 2023 The Saudi Traffic Safety Society is organizing under the patronage of His Royal Highness Governor of the Eastern Region the sixth International Traffic Safety Conference, which will take place in Dammam, Saudi Arabia on 4-6 December 2023. The theme of the conference is “Artificial intelligence and big data for transportation and traffic safety”. Experts, researchers, academics from internationally renowned research centres, institutions and international scientific organizations will take part in this conference.

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.