NTUA within the framework of the Eight UN Global Road Safety Week is organizing a Scientific Workshop titled “Artificial Intelligence for Road Safety and Mobility” which will take place in Athens (and online) on May 15th, 2025. The objective of this Workshop is to highlight through an intensive flow of presentations the main findings and challenges of key road safety and mobility research projects carried out within the NTUA Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering and to open up the discussion in a round table with high-level experts on key innovations in road safety and mobility research in Greece, in Europe and worldwide. Participation is free upon registration. Connect to Workshop. Programme can be found here.
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) together with the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and European Commision organized with great success the EURSE Workshop of Road Safety: Urban Safety and Safety of PTW, which took place in Athens, on 31 March – 1 April 2025. The main focuses of this event included information on the new regulations, as well as good practices to enhance road safety. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
A paper titled Identifying driving profiles after take over request in automated vehicles at SAE levels 2 and 3 authored by Marios Sekadakis, Sandra Trösterer, Peter Moertl and George Yannis has been published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. The analysis included clustering to develop distinct driving profiles based on key measurements collected through a driving simulator experiment, such as acceleration, deceleration, and speed, offering a deep understanding of driver behavior in responses to take over requests. Findings suggest that the nervous driving profile, although less frequent, poses significant safety implications due to higher deceleration rates and variability in speed and deceleration. The study also highlights that non-driving related tasks increase the need for longer take over time with greater variability observed at higher automation levels. These insights can inform the design of more adaptive HMI systems, enhance real-time feedback mechanisms, and improve driver training programs to ensure safer transitions during take over requests. 
A paper titled Evaluating the Environmental and Safety Impacts of Eco-Driving in Urban and Highway Environments authored by Marios Sekadakis, Maria Ioanna Sousouni, Thodoris Garefalakis, Maria Oikonomou, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and George Yannis has been published in Sustainability. Within a group of 39 participants aged 18–30, multiple driving scenarios were conducted, both without and with eco-driving guides, to assess the impact of eco-driving behavior on environmental sustainability and safety outcomes. Data on pollutant emissions, as well as crash probability were utilized using linear regression models, while binary logistic regression models were employed to assess crash probability. The analysis revealed thateco-driving led to a significant reduction in pollutant emissions, with CO2 emissions decreasing by 1.42%, CO by 98.2%, and NOx by 20.7% across both urban and highway environments, with a more substantial impact in urban settings due to lower average speeds and smoother driving patterns. These findings support the integration of eco-driving techniques into transportation policies and driver education programs to foster sustainable and safer driving practices.
A paper titled Examining the effects of texting, web surfing, and navigating apps on urban driving behavior and crash risk authored by Maria Oikonomou, Foteini Orfanou, Marios Sekadakis, Dimosthenis Pavlou and George Yannis has been published in Traffic Safety Research. This study collects driving data from 36 young adult drivers through a driving simulator experiment, supplemented by a survey to gather participant characteristics and driving profiles. Data analysis utilized linear and binary logistic mixed models to explore the effects of texting and web surfing on speed and its deviation, headway distance and its deviation, and crash risk. Results indicate that using texting, web surfing and navigating applications while driving elevate crash risk by 10% and decrease speed, speed deviation, headway, and headway deviation by 9%, 23%, 6%, and 18%, respectively. These findings underscore the crucial role of specific smartphone applications in shaping driving behavior and emphasize the need for targeted interventions to mitigate the associated risks in urban driving scenarios.
A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “The impact of alcohol consumption on driving in rural roads using a driving simulator” was recently presented by Giorgos Papadakis. For this purpose, a driving simulation experiment was conducted with 35 drivers of different characteristics, who were required to drive under varying blood alcohol concentration levels. Additionally, data were collected through questionnaires, including demographic characteristics, driving habits, and perceptions regarding alcohol-impaired driving. Data analysis was performed using statistical and mathematical models, such as linear regression and binary logistic regression, revealing that increased BAC leads to a longer reaction time, higher accident probability, and reduced ability to maintain a safe distance from the preceding vehicle. The results confirm the significant impact of alcohol consumption on driving safety and emphasize the necessity of additional preventive measures. 
A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Predicting driver behaviour in a cross-country naturalistic driving study using machine learning techniques” was recently presented by Giannis Roukos. For this reason, valuable data on driver behavior were collected through a driving experiment conducted under real-world conditions in Belgium and the United Kingdom. In the initial analysis, the importance of the variables was calculated using the “Random Forest” algorithm, based on which nine input variables were selected for further analysis. Findings suggest that the average speed of the vehicle was identified was the most significant variable, while sudden driving events, including both harsh acceleration and harsh braking, were found to significantly influence the classification of driving behavior as dangerous.
A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Cost-benefit analysis of reducing speed limits on Greek highways” was recently presented by Michalis Nikolaou. For this reason, participants evaluated choices based on travel time, fuel consumption, and accident risk. Three scenarios were analyzed: (I) reducing the speed limit from 130 to 120 km/h, (II) reducing it to 110 km/h, and (III) no change, using binary and multinomial logistic regression models. To assess economic viability, a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) was conducted for the period 2023-2033. This study provides valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders, offering an in-depth understanding of public perception and acceptance of lower speed limits, which is crucial for developing effective and widely accepted road safety interventions in Greece.
The Horizon Europe research project IMPROVA has recently released its IMPROVA 2nd Newsletter, which provides information on the latest outcomes of the EU-funded IMPROVA project focusing on enhancing road safety by addressing the complexities of long-term consequences (LTC) caused by road traffic accidents. This newsletter announces the 2nd Knowledgebase Forum (KBF) which will focus on the advancements in the topic of Long-term consequences: Scales, Virtual Testing and Human Body Models, which will take place in Vilnius Lithuania, on September 8 2025, as well as its presence at the International Congress on Transportation Research, which will be held in Thessaloniki, Greece on 16-18 October 2025. The Project also announced the 3rd IMPROVA General Assembly which will take place on June 16-18 2025 in Warsaw, Poland. Special focus was given to the Data Protection Impact Assessment training carried out by NTUA, in which consortium members gained valuable insights. 
According to the European Commission preliminary statistics, fewer people died on European roads in 2024, a slight 3% drop compared to 2023, which is the equivalent to 600 fewer lives lost. In 2024, Around 19,800 people were killed in road crashes in the EU. Road Safety progress across the EU remains uneven, with some countries making significant strides while others struggle to reduce fatalities. Over the past five years, Greece, Spain, France, and Italy have seen only modest declines in road deaths, while Ireland and Estonia have experienced an increase – although annual fluctuations in smaller countries tend to be more pronounced. In contrast, Bulgaria, Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovenia are making strong progress toward the 50% reduction target. Even if road fatalities decreased more significantly in 2024 than they did in 2023, the overall pace of improvement remains too slow, and most Member States are not on track to meet the EU’s goal of halving road deaths by 2030.
Road fatalities in Greece in 2024 presented a slight increase (3%) compared to 2023 figures, according to the provisional ELSTAT data. During the period 2014-2024, Greece presented an impressive road safety improvement in the European Union, with a decrease of 16% in road fatalities since 2014 and a decrease of serious injuries of 46%. The rate fatalities per million vehicles has decreased by 30% since 2014. These figures highlight that there is great need for extra effort to further improve road safety in the Greek roads, with systematic actions from the Authorities and serious engagement from the society. 
Eurocities organized with great success the Impacts and Evidence Webinar “How to move from regulation to effectiveness of speed reduction strategies a task force on 30 km/h and speed reduction in cities”, which was held online, on 14 March 2025. As part of the activities of the Eurocities Task Force, 20 cities actively involved to organize this Webinar on impacts of 30 km/h in which 200+ cities participated. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
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), are organizing the 10th ITS Hellas Conference, which will take place in Athens, on 7-8 May 2026. The theme of the Conference will be “Competitiveness, Accessibility, Resilience in Transports & Logistics”, focusing on the developments in the field of Intelligent Transport Systems in Greece. The conference will also include a parallel exhibition of cutting-edge technologies as developed by local initiatives, innovative actions, pilot research projects and companies active in the field.
Chemnitz University of Technology is organizing the HUMANIST Conference 2025 which will take place in Chemnitz, Germany on 27-29 August 2025. The focus of this event will be on innovative and intelligent mobility solutions and applications for diverse user groups. The Conference will bring together researchers, experts and stakeholders from several multidisciplinary communities that are active in the field of Human Factors in Transport. It is going to be a unique and attractive forum to present current and planned activities as well as to share ideas and experiences. Researchers can submit their abstracts until 30 March 2025.
A paper titled Using computer vision and street-level videos for pedestrian-vehicle tracking and behaviour analysis, authored by Roberto Ventura, Stella Roussou, Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Benedetto Barabino and George Yannis has been published in Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Using advanced computer vision object detection and feature extraction models, this framework integrates Kalman filtering, homography transformations, and object re-identification to achieve high accuracy. This study utilizes data from roadside video recordings from Athens, Greece. The findings show accuracy rates of 50%-70% in detecting traffic light statuses and identified a 23% discrepancy on average between manual and automated counts of illegal crossings. This paper underscores the potential of computer vision detection systems to provide reliable, real-time data that takes the road network conditions into account, ultimately contributing to safer urban traffic management and informed policy decisions.
The European Commission together with the European Conference of Transport Research Institutes (ECTRI), the US Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the World Conference on Transport Research Society are organizing the ITF Annual Summit Research Sessions, held as part of the 2025 ITF Annual Summit, which will take place in Leipzig, Germany, on 21-23 May 2025. The Research Sessions will promote exchanges between research experts and policy practitioners focused on the Summit themes. This event will focus on key shocks such as natural disasters, pandemics, cyber-attacks, and geopolitical crises, which can cause operational delays, economic losses, and diminished public confidence.
The International Transport Forum (ITF) is organizing the ITF 2025 Summit which will be held in Leipzig, Germany, on 21-23 May 2025. The theme of the event is “Transport Resilience to Global Shocks”. The ITF Annual Summit is the world’s largest gathering of transport ministers and the premier global transport policy event. Since 2008, ministers from ITF’s 69 member countries, heads of international organisations, parliamentarians, and leaders in industry and academia have met annually during the event.
The International Motor Vehicle Inspection Committee (CITA) and TÜVTÜRK are organizing the CITA International Conference and the 24th CITA General Assembly which will take place in Istanbul, on 6-8 May 2025. The theme of the Conference is “Alliances for Safer Roads and Greener Future”. This event is an opportunity to connect with key decision-makers in vehicle inspection, road safety, and sustainable mobility.
The Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG Move) of the European Commission announced a reinforced platform for dialogue and co-creation of actions to implement the 2021 EU Urban Mobility Framework. The Expert Group for Urban Mobility, released 17 new Reports on mobility and road safety, reaffirming the EU’s long-term strategic goal to achieve as close to zero deaths and zero serious injuries on the EU’s roads by 2050. The goal is stronger engagement by Member States and improved dialogue with cities, regions and stakeholders on all urban mobility issues.
The European Road Safety Charter of the European Commission, has recently published a new Article, exploiting the latest statistics from across Europe for helmet use and seatbelt/child restraint systems, two of the most widespread safety equipment. Through this article, the Chapter increases the attention over the coming months to the use of safety equipment, hoping to achieve the EU’s objective of halving the number of road deaths by 2030. The data suggests that when cycling, helmet use reduces the risk of serious head injury by 60% and fatal head injury by 71%, also according to the WHO, wearing a quality motorbike helmet reduces the risk of death by over six times and the risk of brain injury by up to 74%. Wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of death and injury by around 60% for drivers and 44% for rear-seat passengers. Correct use of a child restraint system reduces the risk of being killed or injured by around 55% to 60% compared with children who are not buckled up.
