NRSO Road Safety

IRTAD Annual Road Safety Report 2019 The International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published the full version of the Road Safety Annual Report 2019, which provides an overview of road safety performance for 41 countries. The report outlines the most recent road safety developments and provides comparative data for the main road safety indicators. It also offers detailed analysis by road user, age group and types of road. It describes the crash data collection process in IRTAD countries, the road safety strategies and targets in place and information on recent trends in speeding, drink-driving and other aspects of road user behaviour.   Latest Developments PIARC – Road Safety Manual, 2019 The third edition of Road Safety Manual (RSM) developed by the World Road Association (PIARC) is designed to help countries at every stage of infrastructure development to fulfil road safety objectives. It is aligned with key pillars for the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020: Pillar 1: Road Safety Management, Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility, Pillar 4: Safer Road Users. This comprehensive resource builds on the broad range of knowledge and experience provided by PIARC in the previous editions. It includes new thinking on road safety and offers a clear argument on why adopting a Safe System approach is crucial for all countries.  ETSC Briefing: EU Strategic Action Plan on Road Safety, 2019 The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published a Report titled “Briefing: EU Strategic Action Plan on Road Safety”. In June 2019, the European Commission adopted the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030, outlining specific policy measures planned for 2021-2030 and developing on the EU Strategic Action Plan on Road Safety published in May 2018. ETSC stresses the need for stronger measures including legislation and a wider coverage of existing and emerging road safety issues that will be essential to addressing the recent stagnation in progress on reducing road deaths in the EU.   EC – ETSC Road Safety Exchange: Twelve EU Member States team up to improve road safety, 2019 Twelve EU Member States are joining forces to share smart ideas for improving road safety, as part of a new EU-funded project: “Road Safety Exchange”, coordinated by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) and launched in Brussels on October 9th, 2019. The three-year EU Road Safety Exchange project aims to tackle the current important disparities between the various EU countries and will link up experts on one hand from Bulgaria, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and on the other hand from Austria, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. Transport experts from the twelve participating countries will work together to share best practice on reducing speed, building safe infrastructure and improve enforcement, data collection, as well as the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in urban areas.  HELLASTRON – Hellenic Motorways change the drivers’ mindset Workshop, 2019 The Hellenic Association of Toll Road Network (HELLASTRON) organised a Road Safety Workshop on the occasion of the EDWARD project – European Day without a Road Death 2019, which took place on October 10, 2019, in Athens, Greece. The theme of the Workshop this year was “The Greek motorways are changing the behaviour of the driver”  and the very interesting results of a pilot study for the estimation of several Road Safety Key Performance Indicators on motorway drivers behaviour were presented.  Our Publications RSS2019 – Road Safety and Simulation International Conference, Iowa, 2019 The National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) of the University of Iowa organized the Road Safety & Simulation International Conference 2019 (RSS2019) which was held with great success on 14-17 October 2019 in Iowa City, Iowa, USA. The conference theme focused on Transformations in Transportation, and conference topics included, but were not limited to: Automated Vehicles Technology, Connected Vehicles Technology, Vulnerable Road Users, Roadway Infrastructure Design, and Distributed Simulation Technology.    All NTUAs' papers and presentations are available here. ITF – Micromobility Safety Workshop, Lisbon, 2019 The International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) organised a Workshop on Micromobility Safety, as part of the ITF Corporate Partnership Board, which took place with great success in Lisbon, Portugal, on 18 October 2019. The workshop focussed on the safety questions arising with the rapid development of electrically powered personal mobility devices and framed policy recommendations (including safety regulation and road space allocation) to best manage the safety of all micromobility vehicles and services, from e-scooters to e-bikes, whether privately owned or hired.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  The effect of experience on injury risk across various modes of transport IRTAD 29th Meeting, Klettwitz, Germany, 2019 The International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF) organised a Meeting at DEKRA headquarters, in Klettwitz, Germany, on 23-24 October 2019, in which the latest international road safety developments were discussed. NTUA contributed actively with the following presentations:  Impaired Cycling and Crash Involvement  Open Science in Road Safety Data  SaferAfrica: Final Results ECTRI – BeOpen – Open Science in Transport, Dublin, 2019 ECTRI organized the first BE OPEN event, during the 47th European Transport Conference (ETC 2019) on October 11, 2019, in Dublin, Ireland. BE-OPEN is a 30-months Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action that started on 01 January 2019 aiming to promote Open Science in transport research and assist in regulating and standardizing it. Open science on road safety is a key issue examined within the BeOpen project and the related implementation of TOPOS, the Transport Observatory / fOrum for Promoting Open Science.   NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:  Analysis of the State of the Art, Barriers, Needs and Opportunities for Setting up a Transport Research Cloud study’s findings NTUA at the 9th International Congress on Transport Research, Athens, 2019 The NTUA Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering contributed actively at the 9th International Congress on Transport Research (ICTR) themed: “Transportation 4.0: The Smart Evolution” and organised with great success on 24-25 October 2019, in Athens, Greece, by the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE) and the Hellenic Institute of Transport (H.I.T.). Special focus was given to innovative research and technological developments and solutions for the improvement of traffic safety in Greece and worldwide.   All NTUAs' papers and presentations are available here. Driving Safety Efficiency Benchmarking Using Smartphone Data, 2019 A paper titled “Driving Safety Efficiency Benchmarking Using Smartphone Data” authored by Dimitrios Tselentis, Eleni Vlahogianni, and George Yannis is now published in Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies. This paper aims to provide a methodological framework for the comparative evaluation of driving safety efficiency based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The analysis considers each driver as a Decision-Making Unit (DMU) and aims to provide a relative safety efficiency measure to compare different drivers based on their driving performance. The proposed methodological framework is tested on data from fifty-six (56) drivers during a 7-months period. Findings help distinguish the most efficient drivers from those that are less efficient. Most common inefficient driving practices are identified (aggressive, risky driving, etc.) and driving behaviour is comparatively evaluated and analyzed.  Analysis of pedestrians distracted behaviour talking on mobile phone, 2019 A Diploma Thesis titled “Analysis of pedestrians distracted behaviour talking on mobile phone” was recently presented by Dimitra Typa. The aim of this Diploma Thesis was to investigate the impact of hand-held cell phone conversation on pedestrians’ traffic and safety behaviour, when crossing signalized intersections. An outdoor-environment experiment, through video recording, was conducted in real road conditions, in three signalized intersections at the centre of Athens for the purpose of comparing the behaviour of distracted and non-distracted pedestrians. The results of the models’ application demonstrated that distraction caused by hand-held cell phone conversation had a negative impact on pedestrians’ main traffic and safety characteristics, since, in general, mobile use not only decreases pedestrians’ speed but also increases their probability of being involved in an accident with an oncoming vehicle.   Upcoming Events LEVITATE – Connectivity and Automation Impact Assessment Workshop, Brussels, 2019 The Horizon 2020 research project LEVITATE is organising an Experts and Stakeholders Workshop on Impact Assessment of Connected and Automated Transport Systems which will take place on 26 November in Brussels.  Public authorities, road users, researchers and industry players will discuss how the Levitate Policy Support Tool (PST) could assist Cities identifying the potential societal level impacts of connected and automated transport systems. Emphasis will be given to the prediction of the impact of transport systems automation (forecasting tool) and the identification of (policy) interventions to help achieve certain long-term mobility goals and/or to mitigate the potential negative effects of transport systems automation (backcasting tool).  Programme is now available.  ITS Hellas – 5th Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference, Athens, 2019 The 5th Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems and related developments in Greece, which is organised by “Hellenic Association for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems – ITS Hellas, will take place on 17 & 18 December 2019 at the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Athens, Greece.  The conference aims to discuss the broad deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) as a tool to achieve economic growth and prosperity and ensure the effectiveness, efficiency and safety of transport for the benefit of the respective industry, the end-users and the environment. During this important for the Hellenic transport sector event, prominent Greek and foreign speakers will thoroughly discuss and present a number of key-topics, through several sessions and a number of Round-Table discussions.

TISPOL Bulletin

 

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Let's start this latest Bulletin with a truly fantastic photograph from our colleagues in Norway... our thanks to Dag Gjærum of the Utrykningspolitiet for sending it. 

We posted this photo on Twitter and achieved the following excellent results:
Impressions:  12,501
Engagement:   1,670
Likes:                      173
Retweets:                31

 

Results from TISPOL Truck and Bus Operation, October 2019

From 14 to 20 October 2019, the Europe-wide TISPOL Control Week "Trucks and Buses" took place, focusing on checks of commercial goods and passenger transport. Over the year 29 European countries participate in these operations.  According to the latest feedback from 21 countries, 227,004 trucks and 113,777 buses were checked.   More than 60,000 violations were found (trucks: 49,926, buses: 11,034) 

Truck control results:

• On 1,912 occasions an onward journey had to be prohibited until the safe condition of the vehicles had been restored (1,871 trucks and 41 buses). This represents a small improvement on a similar operation in July this year, when 2,092 trucks and buses were prohibited.  
• The complaint rate was 22% for freight transport and 10% for buses.  
• European police officers have a very high standard of training in heavy traffic controls, which is reflected in the high complaint rate. 
• Most of the offences were found in the areas of technical offences and vehicle documents law for buses and in the areas of speed, legislation on driving and rest times and tachograph settings.  
• 8310 drivers (trucks 7,623, buses 697) offended against Europe-wide valid social regulations, meaning they drove their vehicle for longer than legally allowed without complying with the mandatory breaks.  
• On 6,049 occasions the prescribed tachographs were not properly managed. 
• Manipulations of digital tachographs were detected in 664 cases (a big rise on July with a total of 370). Interfering with the settings of the tachograph or even manipulating them takes on ever larger forms. The reason for this type of fraud might be the sustained competitive pressure in this still-growing industry.  The financial benefits for transporters may be large, but the risks for road safety are greater. 
• Unfortunately, 220 drivers were also found taking part in road traffic under the influence of alcohol, as well as 47 drivers under the influence of drugs. 
• In 10,738 cases (6,541 trucks, 2,594 buses) serious technical defects were found and the load securing was insufficient in 1,603 trucks.  
• Although the offences in the dangerous goods sector initially appear small in percentage terms at less than 3%, there were 711 offences (211 more offences than in the same period of 2018).  
• At the controlled buses most violations concerned missing documents (31,3%), the use of seat belt (8,3%), excessive speed (13,9%) and technical defects (23.5%).  

Bus control results:

• 697 bus drivers also had exceeded the legally permitted driving times   
• The result of the control week shows that inspections in the area of heavy goods traffic and passenger transport are still an important approach to improve traffic safety. 
• In addition to the punishment of violations, the drivers are informed by clarifying discussions on the dangers such as insufficient securing of load, putting on seat belt or fatigue due to exceeding of driving times.    

But also the constantly increasing problem of distraction at the wheel, for example by the use of mobile phones or other electronic devices, should be countered during these checks    

The next TISPOL operations will take place on 3 December 2019 (Operation ENABLE) and from 9 December till 15 December 2019 with the focus on Alcohol and Drugs.    

 

Belgrade seminar on drug-driving dangers

On 6 November, in Belgrade, Serbia, the Seminar on Prevention and Control of Drugs in Traffic was held. The Seminar was organized by the Ministry of Interior of Serbia, the Road Traffic Safety Agency of Serbia and TISPOL. 24 participants from 16 countries, members of TISPOL, took part in the Seminar. There were also heads of Traffic Police Directorates from Serbia, as well as representatives of the Road Traffic Safety Agency.

General Police Director of Serbia, Vladimir Rebić, in his opening speech emphasized the significance of Serbian membership in TISPOL, comparing the state of road traffic safety nowadays and before Serbia joined TISPOL in 2009.

TISPOL President, Volker Orben, said that approximately 25,000 people die on European roads each year, stressing the importance of prevention. "If you want to save lives, you have to invest your money in road collision prevention - this is my clear message to police officers in every country," Orben said.

Full report on the TISPOL website >>

 

Transport security update meeting

TISPOL President Volker Orben recently met the heads of Railpol and Airpol in Frankfurt to discuss latest developments in issues relating to transport security.

 

Words kill when you text and drive...

We are happy to share this new video from Gleeson Rebello, who as well as being an orthopaedic surgeon at Harvard Medical School, USA (specialising in paediatric trauma),  is also a song writer and children's author.