NTUA Professor George Yannis has successfully completed his challenge to run 30 Marathons in 30 months in order to actively promote the 30km/h speed limit in cities. He has finished all marathons in under 4 hours. This campaign has a particularly significant social impact, with over 400,000 views and 100,000 visitors per year at the website and social media. It also received wide publicity with dozens of interviews on TV, radio and online media and dozens of articles in newspapers and publications in scientific journals and conferences, with the active support of NTUA and all major International Road Safety and mobility Organizations (ETSC, ECTRI, UITP, POLIS, ERF, IRF, FERSI, FEHRL, ECF, WALK21 and HITE).  

• Campaign Website: georgeruns30x30.com
• Short Video Documentary:
• Social Impact Infographic:
• Marathons Experiences:
• Marathons Photos:

George Yannis will continue with the same passion supporting with scientific evidence and promoting slower speeds and safer mobility everywhere and for all.

The European Commission  has recently released a final report titled “Study on the need for harmonised rules to support the rise of micro mobility and increased road safety for personal mobility devices”. This report emphasizes the importance of accurate and harmonized data to support evidence-based policymaking and the achievement of Vision Zero targets. It further highlights how improved data practices can directly contribute to reducing road fatalities and serious injuries across the EU. 

A paper titled “Effectiveness of 30 km/h speed limit – A literature review” authored by George Yannis and Eva Michelaraki has been published in Journal of Safety Research. This study evaluates the impact of 30 km/h speed limits on road safety, emissions, fuel consumption, traffic flow, livability and public health. It was revealed that city-wide 30 km/h speed limit can save (on average) over 40% of lives, 30% of crashes, 20% of emissions and 3.7 dB of noise, while no impact in travel times was observed. Results demonstrated significant subsequent increase of active travelling (pedestrians, cyclists and e-scooters) and Public Transport passengers, as mobility conditions become more user friendly to the vulnerable road users. Public awareness campaigns and promoting active mobility options, such as walking and cycling, could further support the adoption of city-wide 30 km/h speed limits. 

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 accident prevention and injury mitigation.  

The Horizon Europe research project IMPROVA has recently released the IMPROVA 1st Consortium Newsletter, which provides information on the latest outcomes of the EU-funded IMPROVA project focusing on advancing injury mitigation strategies to help achieve Vision Zero, under the European Commission’s Transport and Mobility sector.

The European Commission with the active contribution of NTUA, SWOV and KFV has published at the European Road Safety Observatory, the Powered Two-Wheelers Thematic Report which refers to the safety of moped riders and motorcyclists as vulnerable road users. This Thematic Report describes how PTWs participate in traffic, as well as PTWs in relation to road safety hazards. Moreover, countermeasures regarding safer road users, vehicles and roads are suggested.  

The TRB ACS10 Standing Committee organised with great success the Quarterly Meeting on Transport Safety Management Systems which was held online, on 25 September 2024. The primary focus of this meeting was the impact of the impact of the 30 km/h speed limit in urban areas.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:

•  Impact of a 30 km/h City-Wide Speed Limit

The Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility Association (CCAM) has released the Quarterly Newsletter which provides information on the latest CCAM news aiming to create a more user-centered and inclusive mobility system, increasing road safety while reducing congestion and environmental footprint. Established in 2021, the international not-for-profit organisation CCAM Association represents the private side of the CCAM Partnership, bringing together 230 innovation stakeholders involved in the connected, cooperative and automated mobility field. 

A paper titled “Cost benefit analyst of reducing speed limits in Athens to 30 Km/h” authored by Stella Roussou, Virginia Petraki, Katerina Deliali, Armira Kontaxi and George Yannis has been published in Case Studies on Transport Policy. The study highlights the benefits of lowering speed limits in Athens from 50 km/h to 30 km/h, including a 30-40% reduction in traffic crashes and a 20-25% decrease in injury severity . Additionally, the policy could lead to lower by 10-15% CO2 emissions and improve conditions for pedestrians and cyclists. The overall benefits are projected to outweigh the costs by 3 to 5 times, making it a highly effective policy for safer, more sustainable urban mobility. 

UNECE has introduced new Guidelines and Recommendations aimed at enhancing cycling networks and promoting cycling as a sustainable and safe mode of transportation. These Guidelines emphasize the need for well-connected cycling infrastructure and the integration of cycling into national transport systems. By prioritizing safer cycling routes, the Guidelines aim to achieve safer, healthier and more environmentally friendly urban and rural mobility. This initiative is expected to play a key role in shaping future transport policies across Europe.  

The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) announced at the IRF World Congress 2024 in Istanbul, Turkey, the enhancement of the Star Rating for Designs (SR4D), a Tool that allows the safety of road designs to be measured before the commencement of civil works. Using the Tool, road engineers and designers can define a road’s geometry and code its features to obtain a globally recognised iRAP safety Star Rating, along with fatal and serious injury estimations, and safety investment plans to optimise safety. 

The Horizon Europe research project metaCCAZE has recently released the metaCCAZE 1st Newsletter, which provides information on the latest outcomes of the EU-funded metaCCAZE project aiming to accelerate the deployment of smart systems that combine electric, automated and connected technologies and infrastructure, enabling zero-emission shared mobility services for both passengers and goods in European cities. 

The European Union Road Federation (ERF) has released the Road Statistics Yearbook 2024” with the active contribution of NTUA. As for many years, this publication provides the road community with important updated information on road transport sector and road infrastructure in Europe and beyond as an essential key element of the global mobility with one section focusing on road safety. 

The European Commission published the latest figures on Road safety in the EU, showing that 20,400 people were killed in road crashes in 2023, a 1% decrease in relation to 2022. While the underlying long-term trend is downward (-10% compared to 2019), the current pace of decline falls short of the required 4.5% annual reduction needed to achieve the EU’s goal of halving road deaths by 2030.  Preliminary figures for the first six months of 2024 indicate the number of deaths on EU roads has remained the same, compared with the same period in 2023. 

The Young and aging drivers Thematic Report of the European Survey of Road Users’ Safety Attitudes (ESRA) has been published with the active contribution of 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 behaviours and perceived acceptability (social and personal) related to driving while impaired, speeding, and distraction, among young and aging drivers. Furthermore, it includes comparisons among the participating countries as well as results in relation to age and gender.  

The Speeding Thematic Report of the European Survey of Road Users’ Safety Attitudes (ESRA) has been published with the active contribution of 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. Factors associated with speeding per area and road type are also analysed. Furthermore, it includes comparisons among the participating countries as well as results in relation to age and gender.  

The Infrastructure Thematic Report of the European Survey of Road Users’ Safety Attitudes (ESRA) has been published with the active contribution of 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 use and the safety perception of infrastructure among different road users, including car drivers, moped riders and motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians. Furthermore, it includes comparisons among the participating countries as well as results in relation to age and gender.  

The European Commission with the active contribution of  NTUA,  SWOV and KFV has launched a Vulnerable Road Users promotion activity focusing on children, cyclists, pedestrians and Powered Two-Wheelers (mopeds and motorcycles). According to the new Reports from the European Road Safety Observatory, the high vulnerability of non-motorised road users in urban areas is highlighted, with a disproportionately high number of fatalities in these areas for children (46% of total fatalities) and pedestrians (73%), compared to the average for all road users (38%). Recommendations to reduce fatalities among vulnerable users, including infrastructure improvements, protective equipment and vehicle design are also provided.     

NTUA Professor George Yannis has been awarded an Honorary Distinction during the Environmental Awards 2024, organised by Boussias events, held on 30 September 2024 in Athens. Professor George Yannis was awarded for his campaign promoting city-wide 30km/h speed limits in as many cities as possible worldwide, as a key policy for safer, healthier and greener cities, through his challenge of 30 Marathons in 30 months. These unique Awards highlight and reward good practices and initiatives for environmental protection and sustainability, as well as innovative “green” projects, technologies or programmes.  

Eva Michelaraki has successfully defended her PhD dissertation titled: Improving driver safety tolerance zone through holistic analysis of road, vehicle and behavioural risk factors, under the supervision of NTUA Prof. George Yannis. Data from 190 drivers who participated in a large on-road and simulator driving experiment were exploited. An innovative methodology, consisting of both statistical analyses (Generalized Linear Models, Structural Equation Models) and machine learning techniques (Decision Trees, k-Nearest Neighbors, Neural Networks and Random Forests) was implemented. Results indicated that RF models outperformed the DT and kNN models across all metrics, making them the most effective for predicting speeding and headway, with overall accuracy up to 90%. It was also revealed that task complexity was positively correlated with risk, while coping capacity was negatively correlated with risk, indicating that drivers with higher coping capacity are better equipped to handle challenging driving situations.  

The European Commission is making available within the European Road Safety Observatory, the Road Safety Atlas application, exploiting data from the CARE database, the EU database with disaggregate data. It is an application openly available with several detailed thematic maps on road fatalities and extended backround data available, including statistics per country and comparisons between countries. It provides a user-friendly interface to discover up to date road safety indicators for European countries.   

In a recently published study conducted at Stanford University (USA), using a range of parameters for each scientist’s research contribution and influence, million scientists data from Scopus database were analysed. According to this study 1,019 Greek scientists are contained in the global top 2%, among which 159 researchers from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). 25 Professors from the School of Civil Engineering of NTUA are among the top 2% researchers in the world (4 within the top-ten of NTUA), while 7 of them from the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering, (5 within the top-ten of the School of Civil Engineering). 

A paper titled “Detection of dangerous driving behaviour with wide-scale data from smart systems and machine learning techniques” authored by Hector Kamvoussioras, Thodoris Garefalakis, Eva Michelaraki, Christos Katrakazas and George Yannis has been published in Advances in Transportation Studies. Specifically, four classification models: Ridge Classifier (RC), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Random Forests (RF), and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) – were developed. These models were utilized to categorize driving behaviour into three defined levels of “Safety Tolerance Zone (STZ)”. The results revealed that the RF and XGBoost models achieved high accuracy, reaching 95% in prediction accuracy. By identifying the factors that influence risky driving behaviour, this framework offers valuable insights for guiding safety interventions , ultimately contributing to enhanced road safety. 

A paper titled “Modeling and Sustainability Implications of Harsh Driving Events: A Predictive Machine Learning Approach” authored by Antonis Kostopoulos, Thodoris Garefalakis, Eva Michelaraki, Christos Katrakazas and George Yannis has been published in Sustainability. This study addresses the complex task of predicting dangerous driving behaviors through a comprehensive analysis of over 356,000 trips, enhancing existing knowledge in the field and promoting sustainability and road safety. Findings indicate that Gradient Boosting and Multilayer Perceptron excel, achieving recall rates of approximately 67% to 68% for both harsh acceleration and braking events. The application of machine learning algorithms, feature selection, and k-means clustering offers a promising approach for improving road safety and reducing socio-economic costs through sustainable practices. 

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is observed on the third Sunday of November each year (this year on November 17), launched in 1995 by the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims (FEVR) and since 2005 adopted by the United Nations and is dedicated to remembering the many millions killed or injured in road crashes and their families and communities, as well as to pay tribute to the dedicated emergency crews, police and medical professionals who daily deal with the traumatic aftermath of road death and injury.  

The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), the International Road Federation (IRF) and the FIA Foundation have launched a SaferRoadsPledge campaign calling on organisations involved in designing and financing roads to pledge their commitment to safer roads ahead of the 4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety. The Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety recommends using Road Safety Audits and Star Ratings to lift the safety of roads and designs. Road designers and financing institutions from the government and private sector are called on to commit their support for safer roads that enable more sustainable mobility. 

A paper titled “Analysis of harsh braking and harsh acceleration occurrence via explainable imbalanced machine learning using high-resolution smartphone telematics and traffic data” authored by Apostolos Ziakopoulos has been published in Accident Analysis & Prevention. Subsequently, Synthetic Minority Oversampling TEchnique (SMOTE) was applied due to class imbalance and then binary classification was conducted to detect factors leading to harsh brakes (HB) and harsh accelerations (HA) occurrence.  Results reveal strong nonlinear effects on harsh event occurrence, with individual speed and traffic flow parameters showing the highest influence, followed by exposure parameters such as segment length and pass count. However, network characteristics such as number of lanes, and speed limit had limited influence on harsh events occurrence, as did behaviors such as mobile phone engagement and speeding. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently published the 2023 Status Report on Road Safety for the Africa Region. According to this Report, road traffic death rates during the period 2010-2021 have increased significantly in the African region, with 17% increase in road-related fatalities, despite being home to only 15% of the world’s population, and 3% of its vehicles. Conversely, global rates fell by 5% during the same period. WHO recommends concerted efforts to implement a range of interventions, in order to strengthen national road safety strategies in Africa.  

The Moped Riders & Motorcyclists Thematic Report of the European Survey of Road Users’ Safety Attitudes (ESRA) has been published with the active contribution of 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 frequency of riding a moped or a motorcycle, the use of infrastructure, the road crash involvement, the acceptability of unsafe traffic behaviour, the safety perception of using moped and motorcycle, the rates of self-declared behaviour and factors associated with risky riding behaviours. Furthermore, it includes comparisons among the participating countries as well as results in relation to age and gender.  

The European Commission with the active contribution of NTUA, SWOV and KFV has published at the European Road Safety Observatory, the Traffic Law Enforcement (TLE) Thematic Report which can be defined as the entire penal procedure designed to persuade road users to obey traffic laws and regulations through threat of detection of violation and the imposition of a penalty. This Thematic Report describes the working mechanisms of TLE in Europe, as well as how effective are for road safety the enforcement of speeding, red light running, drug-impaired driving, drink-driving, mobile phone use and seat belt use. Moreover, enforcement support measures such as legislation, sanction types, data-driven enforcement operations and public communication are suggested.