Author: agouma
A research titled ‘Parameters affecting seat belt use in Greece’ co-authored by G.Yannis, A.Laiou, S.Vardaki, A.Dragomanovits, E.Papadimitriou and G.Kanellaidis from NTUA, was published in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion in March 2011. A national field survey was conducted for the analytical recording of seat belt use. A binary logistic regression model was developed, and the impact of each parameter on seat belt use in Greece was quantified. Parameters included in the model concern characteristics of car occupants (gender, age and position in the car), the type of the car and the type of the road network. The variable with the highest impact on not wearing the seat belt is being a passenger on the back seats.
The European Road Safety Charter is an initiative of the European Commission aiming to engage with concrete actions as many as possible civil society organisations to the improvement of road safety in Europe, in order to achieve the common objective: to help reduce road fatalities and injuries. The Charter has more than 2.000 signatories. On March 3rd, 2011, several Greek Organisations signed the European Road Safety Charter and joined the large list of Greek signatories. 
ASECAP in cooperation with the Greek national road association TEO, organised a Road Safety Event in Athens. Road safety is the top priority in relation to the high-quality service delivered by the tolled motorways to their users. The high safety levels of motorways are commonly recognised and this fact was underlined by representatives from the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Greek authorities present at the event.
NTUA Prof. D.Tsamboulas presented ‘Deploying Road Safety In Europe A New Approach for managing Road Safety’.
The Conference on European best practices in road Safety was jointly organised by the Forum of European Road Safety Research Institutes (FERSI) and the Hellenic Institute of Transport under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport & Networks on February 21st and 22nd, 2011 at Zappeion Megaron, Athens, Greece.
NTUA presented:
The Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers organised in the 9th of February a seminar for the traffic issues of the Attica Municipalities. NTUA presented “Measures and policies for the reduction of accidents at the urban road network – successful interventions”. 
A research titled ‘When may road fatalities start to decrease?’ co-authored by G.Yannis, C.Antoniou, E.Papadimitriou and D.Katsohis from NTUA, was published in the Journal of Safety Research in February 2011. This research, carried out within the framework of SafetyNet project proposed a simple and, at the same time, reliable multiple regime model framework for international road safety comparisons, allowing for the identification of slope changes of personal risk curves and respective breakpoints. All countries examined, present a breakpoint after which road fatalities are decreasing, ranging from 220 to 360 vehicles per 1.000 inhabitants.
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) 90th Annual Meeting was held in Washington, D.C., in January 2011. NTUA presented ‘Modeling traffic fatalities in Europe’. The objective of this paper is to provide a parsimonious model for linking motorization level with the decreasing fatality rates observed across EU countries during the last three decades.
In January 2011, the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers made suggestions for the improvement of road safety inside urban areas. 73% of road accidents in Greece occur inside urban areas, as well as 48% of the total number of people killed in road accidents. 
The International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published the Annual Report 2010, which comprises a synthesis of the main trends and road safety indicators for the year 2009 and preliminary data for the year 2010. It also presents longer term trends in order to better understand the development taking place in the different countries. Moreover, a report activity of the IRTAD Group for the year 2010 summarising the activities of the Group and detailed reports from 32 countries. NTUA has contributed to the detailed report for Greece.
The new Law 3897/2010 prepared by the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport & Networks, establishing the National Road Safety Council and the General Diretorate for Road Safety of this Ministry, is in force since December 10th, 2010. The National Road Safety Council aims to support the various activities of the national road safety policy.
The Handbook for Safe Driving at an Older Age has been prepared by the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of NTUA under the scientific supervision of Prof. G.Kanellaidis, in the framework of a project granted by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks. The Handbook aims to assist older drivers increase their self-awareness of the effects of age-related changes on their driving safety and of the need to adapt their driving behavior, to assist older drivers improve their knowledge and develop appropriate concern for their own safety, and finally to guide older drivers to make informed driving decisions.
The Handbook was based on self-screening and educational material for older drivers as well as on the results of a study on the driving behavior of active older drivers, aged 65-74, on a freeway in Greece. Issues covered in the Handbook concern safety within the car, safety in traffic, safe practices on freeway, driving and emotion, driving in good condition, driving problems and age-related changes, indications of serious concern about driving ability and general information such as on procedures for driving license renewal, use of public transport and ways of getting around. The Handbook is available both in Greek and English languages.
In line with the implementation of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) co-organised under the Greek Chairmanship-in-office of BSEC and the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport & Networks, the Conference on Improving Road Safety in the BSEC Region in Ioannina, Greece on 18-19 November 2010. NTUA presented a Road Safety Strategy for Greece.
The 11th International Walk21 Conference was held in The Hague, The Netherlands, November 16-19 2010. NTUA presented ‘Evolution of pedestrian safety in urban areas in the OECD countries‘.
59% of road accidents and fatalities outside built-up area occurred on national roads. More than three quarters of road accidents and 44% of fatalities occurred inside built-up area. However, accident severity is 5 times higher outside built-up areas in total.
The majority of road accidents and fatalities occurred during clear sky, both inside and outside built-up area. However, accident severity is higher in rainy weather, especially inside built-up areas.
Most fatalities occur at daytime and at night with good street lighting inside built-up area, or with no street lighting outside built-up area. Accident severity is increased at night with no street lighting or poor street lighting.
Almost half of fatalities are passenger car occupants. Another 28% of fatalities are motorcycle riders. Most car occupant fatalities occur outside built-up areas while most motorcycle and pedestrian fatalities occur inside built-up areas. Accident severity is higher outside built-up areas for all transport modes.
Head on, at angle collisions and come off the road are the most common accident types outside built-up areas. Pedestrian accidents, at angle collisions and collisions with stopped vehicle are the most common accident types inside buipt-up areas. Accident severity is 5 times higher outside built-up areas especially at head on collisions when a pedestrian is involved.
Road fatalities characteristics are presented in this table. According to the data an important decrease in the road fatalities of young people and pedestrians is observed during the period 1991 – 2010, as well as a spectacular decrease in fatalities outside urban areas.
According to the data male drivers account for more than 60% of all road fatalities in Greece, while young male drivers account for more than 50% of all male driver fatalities. Older drivers account for more than 50% of pedestrian fatalities.
During the European Road Safety Day on October 13th, 2010, organised by the European Commission, the new strategic guidelines on European road safety policy for the period 2011‑2020 have been presented. At this European Road Safety Day particular importance was attributed to the cross‑border fight against the offences which cause most deaths.
The Directorate General for Enlargement of the European Commission TAIEX and the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) organised the international conference on Charting Commitments to Road Safety in Europe. The conference took place in Brussels (12 – 13 October 2010). NTUA presented ‘An Observatory for Road Safety – a framework for the efficiency assessment of road safety measures’.
In October 2010, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning road safety in rural roads. At least 21,500 people lost their lives on rural roads other than motorways in the EU im 2009. Luxembourg, Portugal and France achieved the highest annual reductions of more than 9% on average since 2001. Greece’s annual percentage reduction is almost the same with EU average reductions (-5%).
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Investigation of the impact of the conversation with passenger, eating and smoking on the driver behavior and the probability of being involved in an accident by the use of a driving simulator’ was presented by Charalampos Bairamis and Vasileios Sklias in October 2010. From the lognormal regression models developed it appeared that conversation, eating and smoking lead to a statistically significant decrease in speed, while the difficult conversation leads also to an increase in reaction time and decrease in the distance of the vehicle from the right borderline. From the binary logistic model developed it appeared that the difficult conversation leads to an increased likelihood of an incident. In summary, it appears that the lower speed and the deviation to the right of the drivers who have a difficult conversation while driving cannot offset the much greater risk of an accident due to increased reaction time.
In October 2010, the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers reported some suggestions about traffic education. Traffic education at scools can contribute in developing a more responsible traffic behaviour from an early age.
In September 2010, UNECE published the report “Consolidated Resolution on Road Signs and Signals”. The concept of ‘self-explanatory’ roads encompasses many different elements of the design, layout and operation of the road network. However, this term serves well to illustrate the need to create an environment that can be easily understood and safely operated by all its users. The Road Safety Forum has been mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to review this fundamental area and to make provisions for road signs and signals that are in line with the requirements of ever growing motorization.
The 5th International Congress on Transport Research was organised by the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers and the Hellenic Institute of Transport and the University of Thessaly and took place in Volos, Greeece in September 2010. At the road safety sessions quite a few interesting papers were presented, some of them concerning research carried out by NTUA.
NTUA road safety presentations concerned:
The Aegean University organised the international symposium for Road Safety – European Reality and Perspectives: A New Interdisciplinary Approach. The conference took place in Chios and its duration was 24-25 September. NTUA presented ‘Driver distraction and Road Safety in Greece and internationally’.
A research titled ‘Estimation of fatality and injury risk by means of in-depth fatal accident investigation data’, co-authored by G.Yannis, E.Papadimitriou, E.Dupont and H.Martensen was published in the Journal Traffic Injury Prevention in September 2010. A fatal accident investigation (FAI) database is used, which includes intermediate-level in-depth data for a harmonized representative sample of 1300 fatal accidents in 7 European countries. The results of this research show that the baseline fatality risk of road users involved in fatal accidents decreases with accident size and increases with the vulnerability of the road user. On the contrary, accident size increases non-fatal injury risk of road users involved in fatal accidents.
