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20 Years of NTUA Road Safety Observatory, 2004-2024 The NTUA Road Safety Observatory (www.nrso.ntua.gr) achieved its 20 years of continuous efforts towards scientific evidence in decision making for safer roads everywhere and for all. The nrso scientific team with high dedication, efficiency and expertise continues to grow and excel, with a rich and high quality scientific output of more than 1,000 road safety scientific Papers published (280+ in peer reviewed journals), hundreds of scientific Reports, 750+ presentations in scientific conferences, almost 200 Diploma Theses and 20 PhD dissertations. Over the past two decades, the NRSO portal has steadily expanded its contents, reach, visibility and impact, containing today more than 2.500 road safety items (25+ items per month), attracting over 100,000 pageviews annually, through its wide network of hundreds of Authorities, Research, Industry and Society partners worldwide and the 157 newsletters so far, reaching monthly more than 7.500 road safety experts worldwide. With great thanks to the NRSO dedicated scientists and all our great partners, the exciting journey towards scientific excellence continues …

Latest Developments

European Commission – Professional Drivers Safety Thematic Report, February 2025 The European Commission with the active contribution of NTUA, SWOV, VIAS Institute and KFV has published at the European Road Safety Observatory, the Professional Drivers Thematic Report which mainly refers to the safety of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and buses. This Thematic Report highlights that the safety of HGVs and buses are significantly influenced by road infrastructure due to their unique characteristics such as mass, maneuverability, and acceleration/deceleration capabilities, as well as the fatigue and distraction of the drivers. Furthermore, countermeasures about separating these heavy vehicles from other road users, providing professional drivers with timely warnings about hazardous or restricted road sections and addressing the need for adequate and well-managed overnight parking facilities for HGVs are suggested.

ERF – Recommendations for Sign Inspection, October 2024 The European Union Road Federation (ERF) has released the updated Recommendations for Sign Inspection. These guidelines provide the road community with important updated information on practices and technical recommendations to reduce roadside injuries and fatalities. The publication aligns with the EU’s Vision Zero goals, emphasizing the importance of safe infrastructure in crash prevention and injury mitigation.

IRF – International Registry for Road Safety Auditors, October 2024 The International Road Federation (IRF) together with TotalEnergies recently launched an International Registry for Road Safety Auditors at the IRF World Congress 2024 in Istanbul, Turkey. This registry aims to be a global platform in order to recognize qualified auditors and improve road safety standards. By setting universal benchmarks, the registry supports safer roads and reduces traffic injuries worldwide. This initiative ensures better access to skilled professionals for road safety projects globally.

Statistics Corner

IRF – World Road Statistics 2025 Open to All, September 2025 The International Road Federation (IRF) released the 62nd edition of the IRF World Road Statistics 2025 (WRS2025), with data 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 2025 continues to be the major comprehensive, universal source of statistical data on road networks, traffic and inland transport, including traffic crashes. This year the WRS 2025 includes the latest data covering years 2018 to 2023, 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.

European Commission – Buses & Heavy Goods Vehicles Facts and Figures Report, May 2024 The European Commission with the active contribution of NTUA, SWOV and KFV has published at the European Road Safety Observatory, the Buses & Heavy Goods Vehicles Facts and Figures Report which refers to fatalities in crashes involving buses/coaches and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) on European roads. In 2022, 14% of all road fatalities in the EU27 occurred in crashes involving HGVs and 2% of road fatalities in the EU27 occurred in crashes involving buses/coaches. Moreover, it is remarkable that female share in fatalities in crashes involving buses/coaches (32%) is remarkably higher than the respective share in crashes involving HGVs and all crashes (23%).

Our Publications

VTI/ULeeds – 20th International Conference Road Safety on Five Continents, Leeds, September 2025 The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) in cooperation with the University of Leeds organized with great success the 20th International Conference Road Safety on Five Continents (RS5C), which took place in Leeds, United Kingdom, on 3-5 September 2025. The Conference aimed to be a leading source of research results and interaction in the transport area with focus on safety and health associated with road transport.  Click here for the 11 NTUA presentations...

IRCOBI Europe Conference 2025, Vilnius, September 2025 The 2025 International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury (IRCOBI) Europe Conference was held with great success in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 10-12 September 2025. The IRCOBI Conference focused on the avoidance and reduction of injuries related to road-traffic collisions, with particular emphasis on advanced safety technologies. The safety aspects of automated driving and the influence of vehicle and equipment design on injury outcomes were also discussed.  NTUA actively contributed with the following papers:   Predicting pedestrian illegal crossing using vehicle dynamics with LightGBM   Analyzing Hard Braking events of Automated Shuttles from Naturalistic Urban Pilot Sites

Vilnius Tech – Invited Lecture on Artificial Intelligence in Road Safety and Mobility, September 2025 NTUA Professor George Yannis has given an invited lecture at the Faculty of Transport Engineering of Vilnius Tech on "Artificial Intelligence in Road Safety and Mobility" on September 12th 2025. The Lecture focused on recent advancements and practical applications of artificial intelligence in enhancing road safety and mobility and also explored how AI-driven solutions can be tailored to meet diverse and evolving transportation needs.

ITF – 7th IRTAD International Conference, Lyon, September 2022 The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works of Cyprus organized a Meeting on the implementation of 20/30 km/h speed limit zones in urban areas which took place online, on 25 July 2025. This Event brought together representatives from the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works and Municipalities of Cyprus to discuss relevant policy recommendations, supporting Cyprus initiative to adopt 20/30 km/h speed limits nationwide. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:   Benefits of the 30km/h speed limit in cities

Exploring the impact of driver feedback on safety: A systematic review of studies in real-world driving conditions, October 2025 A paper titled Exploring the impact of driver feedback on safety: A systematic review of studies in real-world driving conditions authored by Armira Kontaxi, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and George Yannis has been published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. This study systematically investigates the role of driver feedback towards improving driving behavior, by utilizing the PRISMA framework and by reviewing 34 studies. The studies are analyzed in terms of their experimental frameworks, including sample sizes, feedback delivery methods, and feedback phases, along with statistical models employed to assess the impact of feedback on driving behavior and road safety. The findings suggest that driver feedback can significantly reduce crash risks and improve driving behavior, but further research is required to explore its long-term effects and broader applicability.

Driving Automation Systems Penetration and Traffic Safety: Implications for Infrastructure Design and Policy, December 2024 A paper titled Driving Automation Systems Penetration and Traffic Safety: Implications for Infrastructure Design and Policy authored by Antonia Antonakaki, Maria Oikonomou, Thodoris Garefalakis and George Yannis has been published in Infrastructures. The study aims to evaluate the impact of Autonomous Vehicle (AV) penetration rates on traffic safety, through the use of microscopic simulation scenarios, utilizing multiple linear and multinomial logistic regression models. The findings highlight that higher AV penetration rates generally improve traffic safety, although the coexistence of conventional vehicles and vehicles equipped with driving automation systems introduces traffic heterogeneity, potentially influencing safety outcomes. These results suggest that while AVs have a positive effect on road safety, further analysis is needed to address the complexities introduced by mixed-traffic conditions.

Factors Influencing Speed Limit Violations on Athens Road Network, July 2025 A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled "Factors Influencing Speed Limit Violations on Athens Road Network" was recently presented by Daphne Kyprouli. For this reason data collected by OSeven Telematics and OpenStreetMaps, which includes information such as road geometry indicators, safety measurements and driving behavior metrics were utilized. The analysis consisted statistical models and machine learning algorithms  aiming to predict speeding violations and understand the factors influencing them, with overall ten models created. The results demonstrated that speeding has a statistically significant correlation with various variables and improving driving behavior will consequently lead to a reduction of road crashes. The main factors affecting the likelihood of speeding in the examined road sections are the number of trips, the road section length and the percentage of mobile phone use, while slopes presented the least impact.

CulturalRoad – 2nd Newsletter, July 2025 The Horizon Europe research project CulturalRoad has recently released the CulturalRoad 2nd Newsletter, which provides information on the latest outcomes of the EU-funded CulturalRoad Project aiming to develop innovative methodologies to ensure the equitable deployment of Cooperative, Connected, and Automated Mobility (CCAM) services. This version of the Newsletter announced the release of the Project’s first animated video, a perfect way to learn more about the Project, by presenting its vision for more equitable, inclusive and connected mobility. It also emphasizes on the five key pillars of mobility equity and the Five-Pointed Rating Star System, designed to evaluate the level of equity of CCAM systems within their specific environments.

Upcoming Events

ITF – 8th IRTAD International Conference, Athens, April 2026 The International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) and the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of NTUA are co-organizing the 8th IRTAD International Conference: Better Road Safety Data for Better Safety Performance which will be held in Athens, Greece, on 15-17 April 2026, with the support of FERSI, ECTRI and HITE. The objectives of the Conference are to discuss improvements in the quality of data systems and data analysis globally, by fostering knowledge transfer among participants, with particular emphasis on road safety performance. The Conference is open to all and is primarily for the attention of road safety researchers, data analysts, those involved in collecting safety data and developing databases, and all those using the results of research to advise decision makers on road safety matters. Researchers can submit their abstracts until 15 October 2025.

RSS2026 – 10th Road Safety and Simulation International Conference, Napoli, June 2026 The 10th Road Safety & Simulation International Conference 2026 (RSS2026) hosted by the University of Naples Federico II will be held in Napoli, on 23-26 June 2026,  under the theme "Advancing Towards the Safe System Approach". The Conference aims to explore how the Safe System Approach has been embraced by the transportation community as an effective way to prevent fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways. Researchers can submit their abstracts until 31 October 2025.