The Road Safety Month in Crete with message “I ‘m careful and I get winner on the road” took place in Crete from 8 to 18 November 2013 and was organised by the four Chambers of Crete together with the Region of Crete, the Municipalities of Herakleon, Chania, Rethimno and Agios Nikolaos, and the participation of the Hellenic Transport Chambers Association and the Road Safety Institute Panos Mylonas. These events were aiming to increase road safety awareness of local communities, given that road accident causes are known and can be prevented. Several activities took place with a large participation of the Crete communities. NTUA contributed with specialised presentations from the ROSEE project on key road safety issues in the four Workshops organised in Herakleon, Agios Nikolaos, Rethimno and Chania. More specifically, NTUA presentation concerned: Road safety of vulnerable road users

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is observed on the third Sunday of November each year (this year on 17 November 2013) by an increasing number of countries on every continent around the world. This day adopted by the UN in 2005, 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. In Greece this year, Efthita Rhodes and SOS Traffic Crimes, members of FEVR (European Federation of Road Traffic Victims) and the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety, organised a series of events to commemorate this day, including the promotion of the special video translated in several languages.   

The 20th Forum for Road Safety ‘Reducing victims of road accidents in urban areas’, organised by RACC, P(A)T and Generalitat de Catalunya took place with the participation of more than 200 road safety experts, decision makers and stakeholders, in Barcelona on 14 November 2013. The conference focused on a range of preventive, and corrective techniques applied to the management of public space, especially in the locations in which more accident and fatalities occur as well on the safety of vulnerable road users.  Urban Authorities presented and discussed the complexity of implementing measures addressing and balancing safety concerns of the various different vulnerable road users.  

NTUA Professor George Yannis made a key note presentation on Current trends in Urban Road Safety in Europe 

The International Conference on Better safety data for better road safety outcomes, co-organised by the International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF) and the Iberoamerican  Road Safety Observatory (OISEVI) took place with great success in Buenos Aires on 13-14 November 2013. More than 350 road safety experts, decision makers and stakeholders from more than 40 countries participated in the discussions focussing on various aspects of data improvement and quality as the best ally in the development of road safety strategies, as well as of data analysis in IRTAD, OISEVI and other countries.

More than 40 presentations covered all aspects of traffic safety data and their role in road safety policy, including safety indicators, spatial analysis, data quality, simulation tools, politics and health data crossing, capacity development, safety management, safety tendencies and data usage. 

NTUA presentation concerned: ‘Improving fatalities forecasting in times of recession through the use of panel time series models’. 

The 8th annual International Conference on Safe Transport Infrastructure, organised by AF CityPlan took place in Prague on 11-12 November 2013, with the partidcipation of more than 120 road safety experts and stakeholders. In the conference several critical road safety issues found in the European Countries were presented as well as comparisons of the road safety performance of the Czech Republic with those of the 28 countries of the European Union.  NTUA presentation concerned: ‘ROSEE – A road safety initiative to improve infrastructure and behaviour in South East Europe’. 

An international conference on “Engaging Stakeholders towards Road Safety”, organised by ROSEE and SENSOR projects in the framework of the South East Europe transnational cooperation programme, was held on November 7th, 2013 in Ljubljana. This Conference brought together the most important stakeholders, experts and public authorities from the South-Eastern Europe region who are engaged in road safety. The aim of the conference was to promote road safety in South East European roads through standardised safety assessment of the road infrastructure, proposals for road safety investments, comparative evaluation of safety performance and user behaviour in SEE countries and the active promotion of safer road user behaviours. 

The European Road Safety Charter is a participatory road safety platform of businesses, associations, research institutions and public authorities. Signatories perform actions and share good practice in order to solve road safety problems that they encounter in their everyday environments and cut road deaths. The new Charter should maintain civil society’s commitment and ensure pan-European coverage, while addressing vulnerable road users such as children and young people. The new edition aims to simplify the commitment process and operates based on a membership concept under the slogan ‘Together we are road safety’. 

The PIN Annual Conference, organised by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), will take place in Brussels on 18 June 2014. Key road safety policymakers are invited to discuss national road safety policy, targets and strategies and to help create political leadership. National decision-makers are confronted with both the successes and shortcomings of their road safety policy. During that event ETSC publishes the results of the Annual Report and awards the PIN Award to a high level policymaker responsible for the country’s outstanding progress in road safety.  

A paper titled ‘Exposure data and risk indicators for safety performance assessment in Europe‘ co-authored by Eleonora Papadimitriou, George Yannis, Frits Bijleveld and João Cardoso is now published in the Journal of Accident Analysis and Prevention. The objective of this paper is theanalysis of the state-of-the-art in risk indicators and exposure data for safety performance assessment in Europe, in terms of data availability, collection methodologies and use. More specifically, the concepts of exposure and risk are explored, as well as the theoretical properties of various exposure measures used in road safety research (e.g. vehicle- and person-kilometres of travel, vehicle fleet, road length, driver population, time spent in traffic, etc.). Moreover, the existing methods for collecting disaggregate exposure data for risk estimates at national level are presented and assessed, including survey methods (e.g. travel surveys, traffic counts) and databases (e.g. national registers). A detailed analysis of the availability and quality of existing risk exposure data is also carried out. Finally, the potential of international risk comparisons is investigated, mainly through the International Data Files with exposure data (e.g. Eurostat, IRTAD, ECMT, UNECE, IRF, etc.). The results of this review confirm that comparing risk rates at international level may be a complex task, as the availability and quality of exposure estimates in European countries varies significantly. The lack of a common framework for the collection and exploitation of exposure data limits significantly the comparability of the national data. On the other hand, the International Data Files containing exposure data provide useful statistics and estimates in a systematic way and are currently the only sources allowing international comparisons of road safety performance under certain conditions.  

The 8th International Congress on Vascular Dementia & The First Cognitive Impairment European Meeting, took place in Athens on 17-20 October 2013. The Congress was showcased new developments in the study of dementia. The goal of the Congress was to facilitate a fruitful exchange of knowledge and information between leading clinicians and researchers in the field of vascular dementia. 

A special session of this Conference focussed on the ability to drive in mild cognitive impairment and dementia, with four presentations:

 Assessing Driving Ability in the elderly: methodological issues

 Assessing cognition in elderly drivers

 Behavioral modifications in the elderly and driving

 Mild Cognitive Impairment, Dementia and Driving: Concluding remarks

Hellenic Institute of Transport and the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers took place in Thessaloniki, Greece on 17-18 October, 2013, with the participation of more than 200 transport scientists and stakeholders from Greece and abroad.  The main objectives of the Congress were to present recent research results in the field of transport and to examine the current developments and to exchange knowledge and experiences on the transport research at national and international level, with special focus on energy, environment and economy parameters in transport. 

NTUA road safety presentations concerned:

  Attitudes and behaviour of European drivers and other road users towards Road Safety

  Effect of GDP Change on Road Accidents

  Investigation of factors affecting helmet use among European motorcyclists

A symposium on “Powered Two Wheelers” organized by IFSTTAR, took place on 15-16 October 2013 in Lyon-Bron. This symposium was an opportunity to present to the scientific community recent research on the powered two wheelers road safety in France, in Europe and worldwide. 

NTUA presentation concerned “Implementation of the SUNflower Methodology for the analysis of Powered Two-Wheelers Road Safety In Greece“. 

 

A paper titled ‘Multilevel analysis in road safety research‘ co-authored by Emmanuelle Dupont, Eleonora Papadimitriou, Heike Martensen and George Yannis is now published in the Journal of Accident Analysis and Prevention. This paper summarizes the statistical and conceptual background and motivations for multilevel analyses in road safety research. It then provides a review of several ML analyses applied to aggregate and disaggregate (accident) data. In each case, the relevance of ML modelling techniques is assessed by examining whether ML model formulations (i) allow improving the fit of the model to the data, (ii) allow identifying and explaining random variation at specific levels of the hierarchy considered, and (iii) yield different (more correct) conclusions than single-level model formulations with respect to the significance of the parameter estimates. The evidence reviewed offers different conclusions depending on whether the analysis concerns aggregate data or disaggregate data. In the first case, the application of ML analysis techniques appears straightforward and relevant. The studies based on disaggregate accident data, on the other hand, offer mixed findings: computational problems can be encountered, and ML applications are not systematically necessary. The general recommendation concerning disaggregate accident data is to proceed to a preliminary investigation of the necessity of ML analyses and of the additional information to be expected from their application.  

A new book on Green Urban Mobility  has been presented on September 26th, 2013 in Athens, highlighting theEuropean approach on current policies for sustainable urban mobility. This book was edited by urban planner Stavros Tsetsis and was presented by the European Parliament Deputies Daniel Cohn Bendit and Marietta Giannakou. NTUA Associate Professor George Yannis has contributed a chapter on transportation choices in the modern city, highlighting not only the fundamental road safety choices of the modern city but also the need for integrating road safety choices in the urban mobility plans.  

The XXI World Congress of Neurology, organised by the World Federation of Neurology, took place in Vienna on 21-26 September 2013. 

NTUA presentation concerned “The impact of neurological condition on driver distraction in a driving simulator experiment: Preliminary findings” 

“Roads Kill” is a Pulitzer Center initiative that draws on its extensive global network of journalists in almost every corner of the world to raise the visibility of this growing public health crisis. The centerpiece of this flexible and fully embeddable digital platform, is an interactive map by clicking on a country one can access an assortment of road safety data, ranging from trend lines on highway fatalities to statistics on the types of vehicles most likely to be involved in fatal crashes. Moreover, there is the option to rove across the map and access an ever-expanding roster of full reports and brief “roads facts” from around the world. 

A conference on ‘Improving road safety – Solutions that work’, organised by TISPOL took place in Manchester on 1-3 October 2013. At the conference, the current thinking and developments in road safety and enforcement from across Europe and beyond were discussed. 

The 3rd International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention organised by the SAFER – Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre of the Chalmers University took place in Gothenburg on 4-6 September 2013, having brought together more than 150 Experts and stakeholders from more than 20 countries. 

Driver Distraction and Inattention Conference 2013 brought into the spotlight relevant developments in research from mainstream and neighbouring disciplines, and showcased new and emerging technologies, products and countermeasures. All papers, abstracts and presentations are now available.

NTUA presentations concerned:

 Effects of cerebral diseases on driver distraction

 Impact of Texting on Young Drivers’ Behaviour and Safety on Motorways by the Use of a Driving Simulator

 Impact of Mobile Phone Use and Music on Driver Behaviour and Safety by the Use of a Driving Simulator

A Workshop on Naturalistic Cycling Analysis organised by SAFER and Chalmers University of Technology, took place on 3rd of September in Gothenburg. The aim of this workshop was to discuss the potential of naturalistic cycling analysis to improve traffic safety. The workshop comprises of two parts: In the first part, current naturalistic cycling studies were presented, while in the second, different research questions were discussed and prioritized to suggest how naturalistic cycling analyses may tackle bicycle safety issues, such as single-bicycle accidents and conflicts at intersections.  

SWOV Senior Researcher Henk Stipdonk defended recently his PhD Thesis at Delft University of Technology, exploiting also findings from the EC co-funded research projects SafetyNet and Dacota. This Thesis, titled ‘Road safety bits and pieces: for a better understanding of the development of the number of road fatalities‘, focuses on the subdivision (stratification) of the crash data and the data of distance travelled. Different subgroups with different risks (like different travel modes, different age groups and combinations of both) are modelled separately. It is shown that these groups often have different risks and different trends in distance travelled. These different subgroups – the ‘bits’ and ‘pieces’ – and their different developments can give rise to a substantial change in the total risk – the ‘road safety’. It is concluded that the present manner of analyzing road safety developments – i.e. based on the total number of road fatalities and the total fatality rate – is insufficient to achieve a thorough understanding of these developments. It is better to divide the total number of road fatalities into subgroups and to investigate for each individual subgroup which factors influenced road safety. 

The European Commission has launched a new special section at the DG Move road safety website containg a comprehensive inventory of the traffic rules in force in the various EU countries aiming to assist those travelling abroad. This section provides on overview of the most important traffic rules applied by category and by EU country. The user can choose the country of their preference and get informed on the speed limits, seat belt use, alcohol limits and other road safety data of the specific country. 

The Association of European Police Forces (TISPOL) has recently launched a new section on their website, providing the users with country driving guides. TISPOL’s guides provide clear and easy to follow information to answer the most frequently asked questions by visiting drivers. Recent changes in legislation are highlighted and tips on what to do in the event of a breakdown or accident are provided. 

A paper titled ‘Is road safety management linked to road safety performance?‘ co-authored by Eleonora Papadimitriou and George Yannis is now published in the Journal of Accident Analysis and Prevention. Quasi-Poisson models and Beta regression models are developed for linking road safety management indicators (estimated on the basis of Categorical Principal Component Analysis ) and other indicators (i.e. background characteristics, etc.) with road safety performance (mortality and fatality rates, SPIs, composite indicators, etc.). The results of the analyses suggest that road safety management can be described on the basis of three composite indicators: “vision and strategy”, “budget, evaluation and reporting”, and “measurement of road user attitudes and behaviours”. More-over, no direct statistical relationship could be established between road safety management indicators and final outcomes. However, a statistical relationship was found between road safety management and SPIs, which were in turn found to affect ‘final’ outcomes, confirming the SUNflower approach on the consecutive effect of each layer.  

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are working hard to raise awareness of the dangers to pedestrians, and to provide leadership, expertise, and resources to communities across America to combat these crashes. Everyone has different preferences when it comes to transportation, but there’s one that all road users share – everyone is a pedestrian. ‘Everyone is a pedestrian’ initiative urges parents, caregivers, educators, traffic safety officials, and advocates to make the most of pedestrian safety resources to improve the quality of life in their communities.   

The good practice manual, titled ‘Strengthening road safety legislation: a practice and resource manual for countries‘ is now published by World Health Organisation. Comprehensive road safety legislation – which incorporates evidence-based measures and strict and appropriate penalties, backed by consistent, sustained enforcement and public education – has been proven to reduce road traffic injuries and fatalities. This manual describes methods and provides resources that practitioners and decision-makers can use for enacting new laws or amending existing ones as part of a comprehensive road safety strategy, it recommends a stepwise approach to assessing and improving legislation relating to five specific risk factors for road-traffic injuries, as well as post-crash care. 

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has released his recommendations for the Post-2015 development agenda which include road safety among key public health actions. Globally, road injury has become a severe health burden for young people – and particularly for young men. It is the number one cause of death for young people aged 15-29 and the second biggest killer of men aged 30-40 after HIV/AIDS. 

The 13th World Conference on Transport Research, organised by the World Conference on Transport Research Society and by the COPPE – Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, took place in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, between 15-18 July 2013. More than 1.200 participants from more than 60 countries presented and discussed the most recent trends in transport research in more than 900 oral presentations and in more than 100 poster presentations. Traffic safety analysis and policy was a major topic area (C4) of the Conference with more than 50 presentations.

NTUA road safety presentations concerned:

  Review of distracted driving factors

  Characteristics of road accidents with young people in Europe

  Parameters affecting road fatalities outside urban areas in Europe

  Seasonal distributions of road fatalities in Europe

  Motivations, travel habits, attitudes and behaviour of European Pedestrians

  Evolution in motorcycle crashes and current crash characteristics in the OECD countries

  Contributory factors of powered two wheelers crashes

  Misreporting injury severity in European road accidents

  Impact of meteorological factors on the number of injury accidents

  Powered Two Wheelers Safety Measures: Recommendations and Priorities

The 1st Meeting of the Transnational Working Group for road safety in South East Europe took place in Athens, on 4 July 2013 organised by the ROSEE project in the framework of the South East Europe transnational cooperation programme. Representatives from the ROSEE project countries (Italy, Romania, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Bulgaria) discussed onkey road safety issues in this European region and attempted to create synergies and cross fertilization across the South East Europe in the quest for fewer road accidents and casualties. All presentations are available at the ROSEE project website.

The NTUA presentation concerned a broad overview of road safety in Greece with focus on specific road safety issues related to the policy framework, the road infrastructure and the road user behaviour, as highlighted at the respective National Advisory Group.