The European Commission and the EU Rotating Presidency (Ministry of Communications and Works of Cyprus) organised a conference titled ‘Active involvement of Youth in Road Safety’ for the fourth European Road Safety Day. The conference took place on 25 of July 2012, in Nicosia, Cyprus.

A review of “Road safety research in Greece through 31 NTUA Diploma Theses” has been published at the honorary Edition for Professor G.Giannopoulos of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. These Diploma Theses were carried out at the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the School of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens during the period 2000 – 2011 under the supervision of Associate Professor George Yannis and concern seven road safety disciplines:infrastructure, driver behaviour, driver distraction, pedestrians, weather conditions, economic valuation of road accidents and international comparisons. The important potential for road safety research at the Greek Technical Universities has been demonstrated. 

A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Impact of texting on young drivers’ traffic and safety on motorways by the use of a driving simulator‘  was presented by Christos Gartzonikas in July 2012. An experimental process on a driving simulator was carried out, in which all the participants drove in different driving scenarios. Lognormal regression methods were used to investigate the influence of text messaging as well as various other parameters on the mean speed and the mean distance from the front vehicle. Binary logistic methods were used to investigate the influence of text messaging as well as various other parameters in the probability of an accident. It appears thattext messaging leads to statistically significant decrease of the mean speed and to increase of the headway in normal and in specific conditions in motorways and simultaneously leads to an increase of accident’s probability, probably due to increased reaction time of the driver in case of an incident. 

A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Simulation of texting impact on young drivers’ behaviour and safety in urban and rural road‘   was presented by Charalambos Christoforou in July 2012. An experimental process on a driving simulator was carried out, in which all the participants drove in different driving scenarios. Lognormal regression methods were used to investigate the influence of texting as well as various other parameters on the mean speed and mean reaction time. Binary logistic methods were used to investigate the influence of text messaging use as well as various other parameters in the probability of an accident. It appears that text messaging leads to statistically significant decrease of the mean speed and increase the mean reaction time in urban and interurban road environment and simultaneously leads to an increase of accident’s probability, perhaps due to distraction of driver attention and as a result of the delayed reaction time at the moment of the incident. 

A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Attitudes of Greek drivers towards mobile phone use while driving‘  was presented by Paraskevi Marinou in July 2012. The research is based on the data of the pan-European SARTRE 4 survey, which was conducted on a representative sample of Greek drivers in 2011. The analysis of the drivers’ behavior was carried out by the statistical methods of factor and cluster analysis. According to the results of factor analysis, Greek drivers’ responses in the selected questions were summarized into seven factors, describing road behavior, accident involvement probability, but also their views on issues concerning other drivers’ road behavior, enforcement for road safety and mobile phone use while driving. The results of cluster analysis indicated four different groups of Greek drivers: the cautious, the moderate, the conservative and the thoughtless drivers and the characteristics of each group where identified.

The Road Safety Institute “Panos Mylonas” and the Representation of the European Commission in Greece continue their efforts to raise awareness and improve the numbers of road traffic accidents in Greece, occurring especially during summer time. For this reason they have launched a road safety awareness raising campaign has been created to inform and sensitize both Greek civilians and foreign visitors of the country during summer time.  

The European Union Road Safety Federation within its activities for road infrastructure safety improvement, has launched a new website dedicated to road restraint systems (RRS). Road Restraint Systems are one of the most efficient and cost-effective road infrastructure solutions that can reduce the impact of a road accident and the number of fatalities and injuries for the vehicle passengers. 

The Deputy Minister for Public Works has issued Ministerial Decree  (ΔΙΠΑΔ/ΟΙΚ/273 published at the Official Journal 2221/2013) concerning 440 New Greek Standards for Public Works.  Several of these new standards concern road works and are directly linked to road safety.  

Road Safety of Motorcycles and Mopeds in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. In 2009, 1.209 riders (drivers and passengers) of mopeds and 4.905 riders of motorcycles were killed in road traffic accidents in the EU countries, repersenting 16% of the total road traffic fatalities. 

Vehicle checks are fundamental to road safety. Technical defects contribute heavily to accidents, they are responsible for 6% of all car accidents, translating into 2,000 fatalities and many more injuries yearly. 8 % of all motorcycle accidents are linked to technical defects. More than five people die on Europe’s roads every day in accidents linked to technical failure. For this reason, the European Commission has adopted new rules to toughen up the testing regime and widen its scope. 

The European Commission published a report on the application legislation which requires professional drivers to undergo dedicated training. Data show that trainings have been effective and continue to enhance road safety. The report advises on specific issues to further improve the application of the legislation. The report suggests a few specific issues which can improve the application of the Directive, such as raising the involvement of social partners, and enhance the cooperation between Member States. 

The Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG Move) of the European Commission released the Statistical Pocketbook 2012 ‘EU Transport in figures‘. In this Statistical Pocketbook, key road safety Tables are contained, together with several other Tables on transport statistics, providing a complete picture of current trends in transport in Europe. Data on road fatalities for the EU member states and associate countries allow for time series comparisons and country rankings. 

The Department of Infrastructure and Transport of the Australian Government has recently published a statistical report. The report presents summaries of road deaths and road death rates for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations and Australian states and territories. The rates allow for a comparison of Australia’s road safety performance with that of other OECD nations by accounting for the differing levels of population, motorisation and distances travelled. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Alliance of NGO’s for Road Safety have recently published a Guide for Nongovernmental Organizations. This guide is an attempt to define more clearly the role of nongovernmental organizations in the advocacy arena. It is especially targeted towards organizations which operate with limited resources. Moreover, it offers ideas for the types of initiatives nongovernmental organizations might conduct, with a series of related checklists, and case studies from around the world, as well as guiding principles and strategic approaches for more targeted advocacy. 

A paper titled ‘Analysis of Pedestrian Exposure to Risk in Relation to Crossing Behaviour‘ co-authored by E.Papadimitriou, G.Yannis and J.Golias is published in the Transportation Research Board. The objective of this research was to analyze pedestrian exposure to risk along urban trips in relation to pedestrian crossing behavior. The results showed that exposure to risk for pedestrians along a trip was significantly affected by the pedestrians’ crossing choices, as well as by road and traffic characteristics. Results also revealed that pedestrians with increased walking speed might have partly compensated for their exposure to risk so that the risk was not significantly affected by traffic volume.  

A paper titled ‘Overview of critical risk factors in Power-Two-Wheeler safety’ co-authored by E.Vlahogianni, G.Yannis and J.Golias is just published in the Accident Analysis and Prevention scientific journal. The paper focuses on the PTW accident risk factors and reviews existing literature with regard to the PTW drivers’ interactions with the automobile drivers, as well as interactions with infrastructure elements and weather conditions. Several critical risk factors are revealed with different levels of influence to PTW accident likelihood and severity. A broad classification based on the magnitude and the need for further research for each risk factor is proposed. The paper concludes by discussing the importance of dealing with accident configurations, the data quality and availability, methods implemented to model risk and exposure and risk identification which are critical for a thorough understanding of the determinants of PTW safety.   

Road Safety of single vehicle accidents in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. More than 134.000 persons were killed in single vehicle accidents in EU within the decade 2000-2009. This number represents almost one third of all traffic accident fatalities in those countries (32%). A significant decrease of 36% in single vehicle accident fatalities is recorded during the decade 2000-2009. 

Road Safety by Seasonability in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. Although the annual number of people who died in road traffic accidents in Europe has fallen over many years, the distribution of the annual number by month has scarcely changed. Motorcycling is the mode of transport with the most seasonal fatality distribution. 

The detailed main road safety figures of the EU are highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011, recently released at the  European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. The United Kingdom, Netherlands and Sweden are the best performing EU countries, as far as fatalities per population is concerned, whereas Romania, Greece and Poland are those with the lowest performance. 

Road Safety at Junctions in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. Almost 7.200 people were killed in road traffic accidents at junctions in the EU countries in 2009, representing more than 20% of the total road traffic fatalities. The fall in the number of fatalities at junctions over the past decade has broadly paralleled the fall of all fatalities. 

Road Safety of Youngsters in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. Almost 1.000 youngsters (aged 15-17 years old) were killed in road traffic accidents in the EU countries in 2009. This figure represents a 40% decrease in relation to the 1.700 youngster fatalities since ten years before in 2000. 

Road Safety of Young people in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2010 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. 5.675 young people (aged 18-24 years old) were killed in road traffic accidents in the EU countries in 2009. This figure represents a 44% decrease in relation to young people fatalities since ten years before in 2000. 

Road Safety of the Elderly in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. Almost 7.000 elderly people (>64 years old) were killed in road traffic accidents in the EU countries in 2009. This figure constitutes 21,7% of road traffic fatalities of all ages in 2009. The number of elderly people who died in road traffic accidents fell by almost a quarter between 2000 and 2009. 

Road Safety of Cyclists in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. In 2009, 2.109 pedal cyclists were killed in road traffic accidents in the EU countries, repersenting 6,6% of the total road traffic fatalities. The figure represents a 33% decrease during the decade 2000-2009. 

Road Safety of Heavy Goods Vehicles and Buses in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. More than 4.200 people were killed in road traffic accidents involving HGVs and more than 850 people died in road traffic accidents involving buses or coaches in the EU countries in 2009. The annual number of people killed in road traffic accidents involving HGVs, buses or coaches fell by more than 40% between 2000 and 2009. 

Road Safety in Urban Areas in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. 12.301 people were killed in traffic accidents on urban roads in the EU countries in 2009, repersenting 38% of the total road traffic fatalities. Fatalities on urban roads were reduced by 32% between 2000 and 2009. 

Road Safety outside Urban Areas in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. More than 16.000  people were killed in traffic accidents on roads outside urban areas in the EU countries in 2009. Fatalities on roads outside urban areas were reduced by 40% between 2000 and 2009. 

Road Safety by Gender in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. In 2009, 31.978 people were killed in road traffic accidents throughout the EU, a reduction of more than 37% since 2000 (51.202). The number of people killed in road accidents in the EU decreased between 2000 and 2009 by 37% for males and 39% for females. The reductions in most countries were greater for female fatalities than for male. 

Road Safety of children in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. Almost 900 children (<15 years old) were killed in road traffic accidents in the EU countries in 2009. This figure represents a fall of over a half in relation to the 1.912 children fatalities since ten years before in 2000.