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Traffic incident management 2009

In May 2009, CEDR published a report titled ‘Traffic incident management’. Good incident management is an important goal for all concerned with the management and safe operation of road networks. Research indicates that non-injury incidents contribute substantially to incident-related congestion. The most powerful tool in minimising the impact of incidents is the provision of fast, direct, high-quality information in a standard format that is acceptable across Europe.

Safer cars across the EU 2009

In April 2009, ETSC published a PIN Flash concernig safer cars across the EU. European citizens do not benefit equally from improvements in passive safety as huge differences persist between countries in the market penetration of safe cars. Sweden, Ireland and Norway are the countries with the highest proportion of cars awarded 5 stars for occupant protection among new cars sold in 2008. Hungary, Portugal and Spain are the countries with the highest proportion of cars awarded 3-stars for pedestrian protection, 5 being the maximum, closely followed by Israel and Greece.

WHO Seat-belts and child restraints Safety Manual 2009

The fourth in this series of good practice manuals, titled ‘Seat-belts and child restraints: a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners‘, jointly prepared by GRSP, WHO, the FIA Foundation and the World Bank, focuses on seat-belts and child restraints. The manual is a practical guide to implementing, enforcing and evaluating seat-belt and child restraint programmes, and consists of a series of ‘how to’ modules.

Ιnvestigation of the minimum gap from the vehicle accepted by the pedestrian for urban street mid-block crossing 2009

A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Ιnvestigation of the minimum gap from the vehicle accepted by the pedestrian for urban street mid-block crossing’ was presented by Athanassios Theofilatos in March 2009. A lognormal regression model was developed in order to investigate the influence of certain parameters in the minimum pedestrian gap acceptance. It appeared that the distance from the vehicle, illegal nearby parking that may affect pedestrian’s visibility, the vehicle size and possible companions have statistically significant impact to the minimum gap acceptance. Concerning the choice to cross the road or not, the waiting time and the gap between the pedestrian and the vehicle strongly define his decision.

Linking Emergency Medical Department and Road Traffic Police casualty data: a tool in assessing the burden of injuries in less resourced countries 2009

A study titled ‘Linking Emergency Medical Department and Road Traffic Police casualty data: a tool in assessing the burden of injuries in less resourced countries’ co-authored by E.Petridou, G.Yannis, A. Terzidis, N. Dessypris, E. Germeni, P.Evgenikos, N.Tselenti, A.Chaziris and I. Skalkidis was published in the Journal Traffic Injury Prevention in February 2009. The study aimed to assess the magnitude of road traffic injuries in a country missing a formal linkage system of police with hospital data, quantify the under-reporting and produce a convenient algorithm exploring its constituent components.

Reducing Child Deaths on European Roads 2009

In February 2009, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning children’s road safety. Road safety of children has improved considerably in all 30 countries covered by PIN over the past decade. Portugal achieved the best annual average reduction in child road mortality of 15%. Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Czech Republic, Greece and Romania performed poorly with average annual reductions of less than 5%, while EU’s average annual reduction is 7%.

UNECE – Transport Review 2008

In November 2008, UNECE published the first edition of the Transport Review, dedicated on road safety. Transport, especially road traﬃc safety, is the area in which global cooperation is inevitable as hundreds of millions of people who travel on the roads every day take a risk. The risk include excessive speeding, driving under the inﬂuence of alcohol or other drugs, failure to use seat-belts and helmets, poorly designed or insuﬃ ciently maintained road infrastructure, and the use of vehicles that are old, poorly maintained or lacking safety feature. People’s safety must be preserved and improved. This can be achieved through the concerted eﬀ orts of several players, public and non-governmental alike. Even though certain achievements are obvious, further improvements should be made.

EU-27 capitals are safer today than ten years ago 2008

In October 2008, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning roads safety in the capitals of the EU. Dublin, Lisbon and Oslo scored the best year-to-year reduction in the number of people killed per 100,000 residents, with respectively 12%, 10% and 9% average annual reduction. In Athens the annual reduction in the number of people killed per 100,000 residents is less than the EU’s average annual reduction (4.1%).

Mobile phone use and traffic characteristics 2008

A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Mobile phone use and traffic characteristics‘ was presented by Panagiotis Papantoniou and Nikolaos Petrelis in July 2008. Appropriate data were collected through an experimental process in real road conditions of urban environment. From the mathematical application of the models, it appears that the cell phone use leads to statistically significant decrease of traffic speed and space headways.

WHO Drinking and Driving Safety Manual 2008

The manual ‘Drinking and driving: A road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners ‘, was launched by the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) ahead of the UN Road Safety Week. The good practice manual Drinking and driving, a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners, proposes simple, effective and low-cost solutions to prevent drinking and driving that can be implemented on a national or local level.

ETSC PIN Report – Will the Target be reached on Time? 2008

In June 2008, ETSC published the PIN Annual Report. France, Portugal and Luxembourg have progressed best, they have cut road deaths by 43%, 42% and 38% respectively over the past six years. For Greece thepercentage reduction for the period 2001-2007 is 15%, while the average reduction for EU is 21%.

Impact of enforcement on traffic accidents and fatalities: A multivariate multilevel analysis 2008

A research titled ‘Impact of enforcement on traffic accidents and fatalities: A multivariate multilevel analysis’co-authored by G.Yannis, E.Papadimitriou and C.Antoniou from NTUA was published in the Journal Safety Science in June 2008. In this research, distributional assumptions of the Poisson-family are considered for the counts of road accidents and fatalities of the various regions of Greece. The combination of the model results with additional behavioural data led to the conclusion that enforcement intensification has a direct impact on the improvement of driver behaviour and attitude and subsequently on the reduction of road accident and fatalities.

NTUA Road Safety event with the President of the Republic 2008

On June 3rd, 2008, NTUA organized an event on Road Safety under the auspices of the President of the Hellenic Republic. The event was held in the Old Parliament House and was attended by more than 250 people, including Ministers, Members of the Parliament and other key road safety experts. At the key note speech Professor George Kanellaidis highlighted the current challenges of road safety in Greece and stressed the importance of the strategic planning for the improvement of road safety in Greece.

Improving older people’s safety 2008

In May 2008, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning road safety of the elderly. Older people account for one sixth of European population. Portugal and Israel scored the highest average annual reduction (over the period of 1997-2006) of 8% and 7% respectively in elderly road mortality expressed as number of deaths among older people per 100,000 elderly population. France ranks third with an annual average reduction of over 6%. Greece among other countries follows with reduction above the EU average of 3.7%.

4th International Congress on Transport Research in Greece 2008

The 4th International Congress on Transport Research in Greece was organised by NTUA, ASCE and TRB and took place in Athens in May 2008.

NTUA presented:

A critical review on setting road safety targets in Europe

Correlation of road risk with selected interurban road characteristics

Investigation of the influence of the median to the relative risk of interurban road segments

Cost-benefit assessment of the intensification of road safety enforcement in Greece

Safety implications of motorcycling in the European Union 2008

The European Transport Safety Council presented recently a Review on vulnerable riders and safety implications in the EU, including recommendations on how to improve PTW safety in Europe.

Testing a framework for the efficiency assessment of road safety measures 2008

A research titled ‘Testing a framework for the efficiency assessment of road safety measures’ co-authored by G.Yannis, V.Gitelman, E.Papadimitriou, A.S.Hakkert and M.Winkelbauer was published in the Journal Transport Reviews in May 2008. An exhaustive review of standard methodologies and practices related to cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses was carried out. Moreover, a number of case-studies are performed, concerning the efficiency assessment of various road safety measures in different countries. The procedures and barriers involved in the use of efficiency assessment techniques at different levels of decision-making are also highlighted, by means of feedback received during and after the various case-studies.

WHO Speed Management Safety Manual 2008

The third good practice manual, titled ‘Speed management: A road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners’, jointly prepared by GRSP, WHO, the FIA Foundation and the World Bank, on speed management, was launched by GRSP ahead of the United Nations General Assembly discussion on road safety later this month. Speed has been identified as a key risk factor in road traffic injuries, influencing both the risk of a road traffic crash as well as the severity of the injuries that result from crashes.

Transport Research Arena Conference 2008

The Transport Research Arena Conference in 2008, took place in Ljubljana.

NTUA presented:

Comparative analysis of road safety parameters in the European motorways

A comparative analysis of drinking and driving related accidents in Southern European countries

Risk exposure data availability, collection methodologies and use in the EU

Best Practice for Cost-Effective Road Safety Infrastructure Investments 2008

In April 2008, CEDR published a report titled ‘Best Practice for Cost-Effective Road Safety Infrastructure Investments‘. The report was drawn up by the NTUA. This Synthesis can be considered as a complete proposal for best practice on road safety investments, which could be used as a reference by any Road Authority for the selection of the most appropriate road safety interventions.

SafetyNet Conference, Rome 2008

The 2nd SafetyNet conference was held in Rome, in April 2008.

NTUA presented:

How the European Road Safety Observatory can be used to save lives

Modelling road fatality trends in the European countries

Risk exposure data availability and compatibility – From data needs to a common European framework

CADaS – Attaining road accident uniformity at EU level

Current and future Challenges for road accident data in Europe

Impact of mobile phone use on vehicle speed 2008

A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Impact of mobile phone use on vehicle speed’ was presented by Xenia Karekla and Froso Kontodima in March 2008. An experimental process in real road conditions was carried out. Linear and lognormal regression methods were used to investigate the influence of mobile phone use and certain other parameters in the variable examined. From the models application it appears that the mobile phone use leads to statistically significant decrease of traffic speed. Furthermore, men and women drivers reduce the traffic speed similarly when they are using mobile phone.

Reducing deaths on motorways 2008

In February 2008, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning motorway safety. Over 3,200 people are killed annually on EU motorways. The number represents just 8% of the total number of road deaths in the EU and has been going down steadily. The motorways are safest in Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Great Britain, where less than two people are killed on average for every billion km driven. The number of deaths on EU motorways has been decreasing in 2001-2006 by 5% yearly, yet it has clearly tended to increase in Greece, Sweden, Hungary and Slovenia.

Assessment of pedestrian safety measures in Europe 2007

A research titled ‘Assessment of pedestrian safety measures in Europe’ co-authored by G.Yannis, G Kanellaidis, J.Dimitropoulos and N. Muhlrad was published in ITE Journal in December 2007. An extensive hierarchical inventory of pedestrian safety measures took place, classifying them according to the functions served and the main safety problems addressed. This comprehensive synthesis showed that mechanisms should be ensured for converting policy into practice at the level of “street design” and guaranteeing coordination between actors of different responsibilities and disciplinary backgrounds.

A mixed logit model for the sensitivity analysis of Greek drivers’ behaviour towards enforcement for road safety 2007

A research titled ‘A mixed logit model for the sensitivity analysis of Greek drivers’ behaviour towards enforcement for road safety’ co-authored by G.Yannis and C.Antoniou from NTUA, was published in the Journal European Transport in December 2007. Traffic violations are among the leading causes of road accidents. In this research, the sensitivity of Greek drivers to a hypothetical intensification of police enforcement for speed violations and improper overtaking is analyzed, using stated preference data. It can be argued that while the “typical” Greek driver may not be particularly risk-prone, there are segments of the population that show a tendency to violate traffic laws.

Reducing motorcyclist deaths in Europe 2007

In December 2007, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning roads safety of motorcyclists. In 2006 at least 6200 Powered Two-Wheeler (PTW) riders were killed in road crashes in the EU representing 16% of the total number of road deaths while accounting for only 2% of the total kilometres driven. Norway, Switzerland, Denmark and Finland are the least dangerous places to ride, with average rider deaths between 30 and 45 per billion kilometres. While Greece, among other countries, is just below the EU average of 86 riders killed per billion km.

5th International Conference on Protection of children in cars 2007

The 5th International Conference on Protection of children in cars took place in Munich, in December 2007. An interdisciplinary forum of engineers, experts in biomechanics and pediatrists in children’s hospitals were in the focus as well as the advances in child restraint systems and their interaction with the car.

NTUA presented ‘How safe are children in cars on European roads?’.

Mobility patterns of moped and motorcycle riders in Greece 2007

A research titled ‘Mobility patterns of moped and motorcycle riders in Greece’ co-authored by G.Yannis, J.Golias, I.Spyropoulou and E.Papadimitriou from NTUA, was published in the Journal Trasportation Research Record in December 2007. A nationwide travel survey targeted at two-wheeler and passenger car active drivers was carried out. The results of the survey were exploited in two ways; first, the usage of the examined vehicle types in Greece was investigated in relation to driver characteristics, through the calculation of the respective sample distributions. The results demonstrated a clear difference between vehicle ownership rates and vehicle usage rates per vehicle type.

Modelling crossing behaviour and accident risk of pedestrians 2007

A research titled ‘Modelling crossing behaviour and accident risk of pedestrians’ co-authored by G.Yannis, J.Golias and E.Papadimitriou from NTUA, was published in the Journal of Transportation Engineering in November 2007. A methodology for modeling pedestrians crossing behavior along an urban trip is presented, as well as an algorithm for the estimation of accident risk along the trip. For that purpose, existing models are exploited and further developed.

Directive on Road Infrastructure Safety Management 2007

The European Commission has recently adopted the proposal for a Directive on Road Safety Infrastructure Managemen t dealing with a package of instruments ensuring that safety is integrated in all phases of planning, design and operation of road infrastructure.