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The European Union has recently published its Mid-Point Progress Report on the 2021-2030 road safety strategy with the active contribution of NTUA.
The results summarised in this Report illustrate how much can be
achieved when actors at all levels – from individuals to EU-level
governing structures – contribute to the Safe System approach, within
their areas of responsibility. But the slow-down in progress towards
Vision Zero – against a background of increased traffic growth and new
societal and technological trends – calls into question whether the current road safety ‘toolbox’ is fit for the future. The
Report reveals significant opportunities in order to ensure the EU
remains on track to meet its 2030 objectives, namely: technological
advances in vehicle safety, growing awareness of the economic benefits
of investments in safety, an increasing political focus on sustainable
mobility and the coordinated, sustained, and properly resourced efforts
across the EU and within Member States at all levels of government and
society.   |
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Latest Developments
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The European Commission with the active contribution of NTUA, SWOV, VIAS Institute and KFV has published at the European Road Safety Observatory, the Speed and Speeding Thematic Report which emphasizes that driving at excessive or inappropriate speed is a major threat to safety on the road.
It is estimated that 10 to 15% of all crashes and 30% of all fatal
crashes are the direct result of speeding or inappropriate speed. It is
also emphasized that safety systems in cars, such as intelligent speed
assistance or electronic stability control can prevent speeding or
reduce the consequences of speeding, while education and communication,
in combination with and supporting other measures, are particularly
important. Moreover, city-wide 30km/h speed limits and their enforcement
has been shown to be the most efficient measure for quick reduction of
crash and injury risks. |
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The International Road Federation (IRF) organized with great success the IRF Annual Conference 2025 which
was held online on 2-4 December 2025. The Conference brought together
leaders from government, international organisations, academia, industry
and civil society, welcoming hundreds of participants from 84 countries
across nine online sessions under the theme, “Reimagining Roads for Inclusive, Safe, Green and Efficient Mobility”.
It was demonstrated that reimagining roads requires integrating
people’s lived mobility realities with technological, institutional and
financial transformation, while collaboration across countries and
disciplines remains central to addressing shared challenges. Session
summaries of the Conference are available here.
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Statistics Corner
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The European Commission with the active contribution of NTUA, SWOV and KFV has published at the European Road Safety Observatory, the Single Vehicle Crashes Facts and Figures Report which looks at
single vehicle fatalities, which means fatalities in crashes including
only one moving vehicle. According to this Report, in the EU in 2023, 6,621 people were killed in a single vehicle crash
and the number has increased by 1% in the last decade and amounts to
36% of all road fatalities. Moreover the share of single vehicle
fatalities within all road fatalities is highest in Southern and Western
Europe. Furthermore, there are proportionally more single vehicle
fatalities during weekends both during daytime (27%) and nights (15%)
compared to other road user fatalities (21% during daytime and 8% at
night). |
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The Speeding Thematic Report of the E-Survey of Road Users’ Safety Attitudes (ESRA) has been published with the active contribution of BASt and NTUA, containing a
wealth of information on road safety in 39 countries across Europe,
America and Asia-Oceania, based on the ESRA3 survey. This Thematic ESRA3
Report describes the self-declared behaviour, acceptability, attitudes
and support for policy measures regarding speeding. Key results on
self-reported speeding behaviors show that car drivers least frequently admitted to driving too fast for road/traffic conditions (27.8%-31.0%),
followed by exceeding speed limits in built-up areas (37.1%-47.3%),
with males, younger drivers (in Europe), and certain regional variations
(e.g., America8) displaying higher frequencies of speeding across road
types. |
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Our Publications
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The International Road Federation (IRF Global) organized with great success the IRF Global R2T Conference which was held in Los Angeles, USA on 9-12 December 2025. This year's Theme was "Transforming Roadways: Smarter, Safer & More Sustainable".
This Event offered a dynamic platform for learning, collaboration, and
forging influential partnerships, ensuring you stay at the forefront of a
rapidly changing industry. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
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The IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society (ITSS) organized with great success the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC 2025),
which was held in Gold Coast, Australia on 18-21 November 2025. This
annual flagship Conference attracts researchers, engineers,
practitioners, and students, from industry, universities and government
agencies to present their latest work and to discuss research and
applications for intelligent vehicles and vehicle-infrastructure cooperation. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
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The Hellenic Association for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS Hellas) in cooperation with the Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT/CERTH) and the I-Sense Group of the Institute of Communications & Computer Systems (ICCS), organized with great success the 10th ITS Hellas Conference, which took place in Athens, on 7-8 May 2025. The theme of the Conference was “Competitiveness, Accessibility, Resilience in Transports & Logistics”,
focusing on the developments in the field of Intelligent Transport
Systems in Greece. The conference also included a parallel exhibition of
cutting-edge technologies as developed by local initiatives, innovative
actions, pilot research projects and companies active in the field. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
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A paper titled State-of-the-art review on sustainable driving behavior: trade-offs between road safety, fuel consumption and emissions authored by Virginia Petraki, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and George Yannis has been published in Accident Analysis & Prevention. This paper aims to systematically review the role of driving behavior,
as expressed by road crashes, fuel consumption, and vehicular
emissions. A two-stage PRISMA approach was developed to shortlist the
most relevant studies for systematic review out of 1,120 initial
studies, with each stage focused on safety and eco-driving behavior
studies. The findings suggest that the main driver behavior factors
found to affect both road crashes and fuel consumption/emissions are
related to average and instantaneous driving speed and acceleration,
harsh acceleration and deceleration events, driving volatility,
vehicular jerk, and idling during driving. Furthermore, a discussion of
the knowledge gaps in the potential of an integrated methodological
framework of driving behavior assessment in the context of road safety,
economy, and environmental sustainability is then provided, followed by
the relevant conclusions.  |
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A paper titled Eco-driving in rural areas: a sustainable approach to reducing emissions and enhancing road safety authored by Marios Sekadakis, Penny Kourenti, Thodoris Garefalakis, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and George Yannis has been published in Case Studies on Transport Policy. This
study aims to examine the advantages of eco-driving in rural and
mountainous rural settings by employing an experimental methodology and
utilizing data collected from 39 participants across a range of driving
simulation scenarios and their characteristics through a questionnaire
survey. To achieve this goal linear and logistic regression models were
implemented. The analysis revealed that eco-driving
significantly reduces pollutant emissions reduces fuel consumption by
7%, and reduces the probability of crashes by 66.2%.
Furthermore, the quantitative analysis confirmed that mountainous rural
networks, due to their topographical complexity, are associated with
higher emissions, increased fuel consumption, and elevated crash risk
compared to flatter rural environments, highlighting the need for
terrain-specific eco-driving strategies. These findings highlight the
promise of eco-driving practices in improving environmental
sustainability and safety, particularly in rural environments. |
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A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “The impact of physical fitness on road safety and driver behaviour on rural roads" was recently presented by Marina Karachalia. An experimental
procedure involving 46 participants aged 19–27 was conducted. The
participants were evaluated in terms of their cardiorespiratory fitness
through the Maximal Oxygen Uptake index (VO₂max) and their self-reported
fitness habits and they were classified into two groups: high fitness
and low fitness. The data was analyzed using linear and logistic
regression models. Results suggest that high-fitness
drivers have longer reaction times, greater variability in headway
distance, higher average speeds, and, conversely, a lower probability of
road accident involvement. Overall, higher physical
fitness appears to be associated with more stable and controlled driving
behavior, which, despite the increased reaction time, may contribute to
reduced accident risk through improved decision-making.  |
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Vehicles Journal has recently launched the 2nd Edition of the Special Issue titled: “Emerging Solutions and Technologies for Smart Mobility and Vehicle Safety in Transportation” aiming to present cutting-edge research on novel solutions and technological advancements in smart mobility, transportation safety, and intelligent vehicle systems. The manuscript submission deadline is until 25 December 2026.
This Special Issue welcomes
contributions that explore data-driven approaches to traffic
management, machine learning applications for driver behaviour analysis,
crash prediction and prevention strategies, automation in
transportation systems, and the role of connected and autonomous
vehicles (CAVs) in improving road safety.
Guest editors of this special issue from NTUA are: Dr. Eva Michelaraki and Prof. George Yannis. |
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The Horizon Europe research project IMPROVA has recently released its 3rd Newsletter, focusing on enhancing road safety by addressing the complexities of long-term consequences (LTC) caused by road traffic crashes. This
version of the Newsletter mainly focuses on this year’s 1st IMPROVA
PANEL where the IMPROVA partners, each representing a crucial part of
the consortium (academy, research, medical, and industry), presented an
overview of what has happened in the project since it started. Moreover
in 2025, IMPROVA strengthened its presence in the international road
safety research community, presenting its findings and research approach
at several key conferences and expert meetings in Europe and Asia. In
total, IMPROVA participated in 11 industry events, conferences and
stakeholder meetings globally. |
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Upcoming Events
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The International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD), the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE) 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 and ECTRI, under the auspices of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
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. Early bird registration until 15 March 2026. Draft Programme can be found here. |
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