Road Safety News
Road Safety News concern a selection of the most recent developments on road safety in Greece, in Europe and worldwide.
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The General Assembly of the United Nations urged accelerated action to reduce deaths and injuries from traffic crashes worldwide by implementing the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030. Precisely, it urged Member States and relevant actors to accelerate and scale up efforts to implement the Global Plan, making road safety a political priority and ensuring its relevance in the broader sustainable development agenda. Furthermore, Assembly invited Member States to consider adopting comprehensive legislation on key risk factors, including the non-use of seat belts, child restraints and helmets, and driving under the influence. ![](https://www.nrso.ntua.gr/wp-content/uploads/LINK.png)
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The European Council has published a special Report titled ‘Reaching EU road safety objectives – Time to move up a gear’, which provides an in-depth examination of the current state of play and trends in road safety in the EU. The text highlights the importance of investing on high-quality, resilient, and sustainable road infrastructure, and the related road safety planning obligations, as well as of interconnectivity and interoperability of data related to traffic to improve road safety management.
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Eurostat has recently released a progress Report titled ‘Sustainable development in the European Union – monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context – 2024 edition’. This publication provides readers with a statistical overview of the EU’s progress towards its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Based on the assessment of the past five years of available data, the EU made progress towards most of the SDGs, while it fell slightly behind in a few goals. Specifically for road safety, the EU road safety policy framework 2021–2030 and Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy aim to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the road by 50% by 2030.
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The European Association of Operators of Toll Road Infrastructures (ASECAP) organised with great success for the second year a European day awareness campaing to draw public attention on safety of staff working on motorways. This campaign titled “All lives matter” aims to take a European dimension supported throughout the network operated by ASECAP members. Drivers were able to take part in a wide range of workshops and simulations to illustrate in practical terms the risks they face daily to ensure the safety of everyone on the roads.
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The World Bank established a new dedicated Road Safety Unit that elevates the road safety agenda to an even higher priority level, housing also the multidonor Fund of the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF). On that occasion, GRSF has launched a new Business Plan for the years 2024-2027, as well as a new website showcasing the new strategy, approach, and programs. To further promote road safety, the World Bank recently established the annual Hart Schafer Road Safety Award in order to recognize excellence in advancing road safety financing and innovation in low and middle-income countries.
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The Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked this year 19th in Europe and 51-100 worldwide among all Civil Engineering Schools. This ranking is produced by the QS Organisation (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024) based on the following criteria: Research, Teaching, Employability, Facilities, Internationalization, Innovation, Engagement and Access. NTUA road safety activities have contributed to this ranking. ![](https://www.nrso.ntua.gr/wp-content/uploads/LINK.png)
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EFTHITA Rhodes completes 20 years of actions on road safety, for “a world without traffic injuries”. EFTHITA promotes traffic education and focuses on informing and raising public awareness for safer road traffic and harmonisation of legislation. Furthermore, the work and actions of this organization are in line with the strategies and actions of the European Commission and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in order to achieve the goal of reducing road fatalities by 50% by 2030.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently published the Road Safety Country Profiles within the framework of the fifth Edition of the Global Status Report on Road safety 2023 (GSRRS) published in December 2023, with the active contribution of NTUA. These 170 Country Profiles are available through the WHO web and the WHO Road Safety Data app and contain a unique wealth of data and information on all road safety pillars, including safe road infrastructure, safe vehicles, post-crash response and road user behaviour.
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The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has recently published a Synthesis Report titled “Speed Limits” which focuses on the interventions regarding effective speed management. More precisely, new principles about setting speed limits are emerging, based on an assessment of the combined risk relating to the infrastructure, travel speeds, volume and mix of traffic by type (including vulnerable road users). Furthermore, signs are the primary way of communicating the speed limit of a road to drivers, with principles of effective speed limits signing been uniformity, consistency, simplicity, relevance and legibility. ![](https://www.nrso.ntua.gr/wp-content/uploads/LINK.png)
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The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has recently published a Synthesis Report titled “Speed” which focuses on the relationship between speed and risk. Precisely, as average traffic speed reduces, so does the likelihood of a crash resulting in injury that is recorded by the police. Furthermore, effective speed management policies are likely to include an integrated package of measures, including credible speed limits, enforcement, education and engineering. RoSPA is a leading voice in health and safety that has campaigns to reduce avoidable crashes on the road. ![](https://www.nrso.ntua.gr/wp-content/uploads/LINK.png)
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Using the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) methodology, road safety infrastructure changes and safer speeds within more than 1,000 infrastructure projects have prevented almost 700,000 deaths and serious injuries in 74 countries since 2016, according to a new paper with Johns Hopkins University published in PLOS One. This study is the first to measure the impact of road projects financed by governments, development banks and private-sector road operators around the world using the iRAP methodology and tools. ![](https://www.nrso.ntua.gr/wp-content/uploads/LINK.png)
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BBC World News published an article about a revolutionary idea that changed the way Europe regarded road collisions. Claes Tingvall, as the head of Road Safety for the Swedish Road Adminstration in 1995, tried to balance road safety with other factors, including cost, driver preferences and the impact on the economy of changing traffic flows. Tingvall found that crash victims were not, as many in the road transport sector, assumed – drunk and irresponsible drivers but for the most part, they were people who made small mistakes. He introduced the Vision Zero fatalities as ultimum target and the Safe System approach as the way to share the responsibility also to the Authorities and all those involved in the design and the operation of the road and traffic system to be preventive and forgiving to human errors, eliminating the crash and injury risk. ![link](https://www.nrso.ntua.gr/wp-content/uploads/LINK.png)
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The Forum of European Road Safety Research Institutes (FERSI) published a paper titled “Secondary roads – Road Safety challenges“, which demonstrates the important contribution of secondary rural roads to the burden of road traffic injuries and fatalities. Furthermore, it identifies the most important road safety challenges and emphasizes the corresponding need for addressing these by introducing appropriate remedial road infrastructure measures and new technologies, supported by consistent research and innovation.
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NTUA conducted a research titled “The Impact of Ridesharing Services in Athens” to investigate ridesharing socio-economic impact in Athens. The research concludes that the introduction of ridesharing in Athens has a significant positive impact to social welfare of the city improving environment quality, traffic conditions, road safety and economic growth, mainly due to the travel demand swift from private cars to ridesharing services. The emergence of ridesharing service in Greek islands is also discussed.
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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 Young People Facts and Figures Report which examines the number of fatalities among persons aged 15 to 24 years old. The absolute number of fatalities among young people aged 15-17 decreased by 39% between 2012 and 2022, while the respective number of fatalities among young people aged 18-24 decreased by 38% during the same period. Furthermore, remarkable is that the mortality rate for the age group 15-17 was the second lowest among all age groups in 2022.
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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 Seniors Facts and Figures Report which refers to people aged 65 years and older. According to this report, seniors have the second highest mortality rate among all age groups, with an average of about 64 senior fatalities per million senior inhabitants in road traffic within the EU27. Moreover, when considering the mode of transportation, seniors experienced a considerably high number of fatalities in the most vulnerable modes. Specifically, in 2022 29% of senior fatalities were pedestrians, while 17% were cyclists.
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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 Motorways Facts and Figures Report which refers to motorways, which are public roads with dual carriageways, and at least two lanes each way. In 2022, 9% of all road fatalities in the EU27 occurred on motorways. Remarkable is that 68% of motorway fatalities were between 25 and 64 years old, compared to 54% on other roads (rural and urban roads).
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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 Buses & Heavy Goods Vehicles Facts and Figures Report which refers to fatalities of 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, remarkable is 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%).
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The Fondation VINCI Autoroutes has recently published the results of the 12th Euro-Barometer for Responsible Driving by Ipsos, in which representative attitudes of Europeans at the wheel are recorded, enabling also the monitoring of the evolution of risky driving and good practices to better target prevention messages in European countries. According to this study, Greece has the highest rate of drivers (83%) that use their mobile phone during driving in Europe (EU average 75%). Furthermore, almost half of Greek drivers (46%) admitted continuing driving even when they feel tired, whereas the respective EU average is 42%.
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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 Support for Policy Measures Report which focuses on the public support of many road safety policy measures, including zero tolerance for alcohol (0.0‰) for all drivers, installation of an alcohol ‘interlock’ system and the legal obligation to install ISA in new vehicles. Furthermore, the public support of the zero tolerance for using any type of mobile phone while driving for all drivers, the requirement for all cyclists to wear a helmet, as well as the requirement for cyclists to wear reflective material when cycling in the dark, are presented.
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The Road Safety Support International (RSSI) has been honoured with the prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade. This recognition highlights the organisation’s exceptional dedication and exemplary efforts to promote road safety on a global scale. Over the years Road Safety Support International (RSSI) has been tirelessly working to reduce road collisions and fatalities through extensive education, advocacy, and the implementation of effective safety measures. ![](https://www.nrso.ntua.gr/wp-content/uploads/LINK.png)
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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 Protective Equipment Safety Performance Indicator (SPI) Report which focuses on the prevalence and the road safety effects of road users’ use or non-use of bicycle helmets, motorcycle helmets, seat belts and Child Restraint Systems (CRS). Moreover, where feasible, these reports look at whether SPIs are related to existing policies and regulations, providing possible effective interventions to increase safe behaviour, or discourage unsafe behaviour.
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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 Main Factors causing Fatal Crashes Thematic Report, in which the role of key risk factors is quantified and discussed, based on the most recent international literature. These factors concern speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol, distraction and other psychoactive substances, and non-use of protective equipment. Addressing in priority the above causes of fatalities in Europe, through safe-by-design thinking, i.e. prevention, control and mitigation of the consequences of these errors, can contribute significantly towards the ambitious EU targets of halving fatalities by 2030 and eliminating them by 2050.
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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 Subjective Safety Safety Performance Indicator (SPI) Report which focuses on the subjective experience of feeling safe or unsafe in road traffic using different transport modes. Based on data from the ESRA project it is shown that road users feel safer in order importance as: pedestrians (6.7-8.8), car drivers (5.9-8.3), cyclists (4.5-7.3) and motorcyclists (4.5-6.5).
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Dimitris Nikolaou has successfully defended his PhD dissertation titled: Machine learning-based road crash risk assessment fusing infrastructure, traffic and driver behaviour data, under the supervisoon of NTUA Prof. George Yannis. Τwo distinct databases were developed; the first one concerned motorway segments and included road crash, traffic, road geometry and driver behaviour data (OSeven telematics), while the second database concerned urban and interurban road segments of a broader area. The results revealed that crash frequency on motorway segments is positively correlated with the traffic volume, the segment length, the number of harsh accelerations and the number of harsh brakings per segment trips. Furthermore, it was concluded that harsh brakings can serve as a valid subcategory of Surrogate Safety Measures under naturalistic driving conditions, which can be used as the dependent variable either in proactive road safety analyses or in cases where detailed crash data are unavailable. It was found that harsh brakings were positively correlated with road segment length, number of trips per segment, speeding and mobile phone use.
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The European Commission published the road fatalities collision matrix in urban roads in the EU. The available EU-wide data for 2022 contained in the CARE database, demonstrate that 38% of road traffic fatalities occured in urban areas, with vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists and users of powered two-wheelers) representing almost 70% of total fatalities. This collision matrix shows clearly that urban road user fatalities occur overwhelmingly when a crash involves cars and vulnerable road users, underlining the need to improve protection of these vulnerable road users. Furthermore, the high number (31% of the total crashes) of single vehicle crashes of cars and two-wheelers demosntrate the critical role of speeding in the cities.
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The European Commission published a breakdown of fatalities in the EU by road user and (other) “main vehicle” involved in the crash. The matrix shows clearly that fatalities overwhelmingly occur in collisions involving cars, and the need to increase the protection of vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists. EU policies are already evolving in this direction with the new mandatory safety measures introduced by the General Safety Regulation focused on VRUs.
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The results of the ESRA3 (E-Survey of Road users’ Attitudes) global survey on road users’ safety attitudes, self-declared behaviour on traffic and other background data such as exposure and traffic legislation, have recently been visualized through the ESRA3 Dashboard. VIAS, with the active contribution of NTUA, has produced the 39 Country Fact Sheets that show national results compared to regional average values. Several other Thematic Reports are expected to be published in 2024. ![link](https://www.nrso.ntua.gr/wp-content/uploads/LINK.png)
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The Expert Group on Urban Mobility (EGUM) of the European Commission has recently delivered its first set of Recommendations. These Recommendations focused on three pillars: how to ensure prioritisation of public transport in urban areas, how to increase public transport inclusiveness and how to deal with the worker shortage and evolving skill requirements of the public transport sector. Road safety is an important component of these Recommendations.
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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 Road Safety Country Profiles, which provide a comprehensive overview of the road safety status in the 27 EU Member States and three EFTA countries for the period 2012 to 2021. These country profiles exploit data and information from a range of sources, including the CARE and other international databases, as well as national sources, in order to highlight current road safety outcomes, performance indicators, policy & measures and structure & culture for each country. ![link](https://www.nrso.ntua.gr/wp-content/uploads/LINK.png)
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