Author: agouma
The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) has published a Report titled: Guidelines for Conducting Road Safety Data Reviews. Since road safety data definitions and collection methods must converge into standard international criteria, this Report is designed to support reviewers in the assessment of road safety data collection; the complete range of safety data should be considered. This task can be complicated because collection of road safety data is often not achieved by activities dedicated to this purpose, but rather through piggybacks on other sources. 
A paper titled “Driving and Alzheimer’s Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment: A systematic review of the existing guidelines emphasizing on the neurologist’s role“, authored by Petros Stamatelos, Alexandra Economou, Leonidas Stefanis, George Yannis and Sokratis Papageorgiou is published in Neurological Sciences. The review of this paper included eighteen G/Rs, referred to drivers with dementia and 9/18 referred to drivers with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). A common approach among G/Rs is the initial trichotomization of patients in safe to drive, unsafe to drive, and undetermined cases, which are referred to a second-line evaluator. Although extensive multi-disciplinary research has provided useful information for driving behavior of cognitively impaired individuals, we are still far from a widely accepted approach of driving ability evaluation in this increasing population. A comprehensive assessment from a multi-disciplinary team in which the neurologist plays a critical role seems to be required, although this has not yet been implemented in any G/Rs. 
A paper titled “The role of values in road safety culture: Examining the valuation of freedom to take risk, risk taking and accident involvement in three countries” authored by Tor-Olav Nævestad, Alexandra Laiou, Tova Rosenbloom, Rune Elvik, and George Yannis is published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. National focus on individual freedom versus paternalistic values is a fundamental theme, which defines the status of traffic safety in different countries. Linear and logistic regression model results indicate that Greek drivers value freedom to take risk in traffic higher than drivers from Norway and Israel. Greek drivers also expect higher levels of risk taking from other drivers in their country, they report higher levels of risky driving themselves, and are more often involved in accidents. Thus, it seems that values have an important role in Road Safety Culture (RSC), legitimizing and motivating risky driving, which are related to accidents.
The New Information System of the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport was presented by the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, responsible for Transport Mr. Michalis Papadopoulos, the General Secretary of Transport Mr. Giannis Xifaras and the General Manager of ONEX IoT, Mr. Konstantinos Nikolouzos. The new Information System ensures the digitization and the faster processes of Transport Services. The new digital network will integrate applications and tools, which might be highly useful for the improvement of the road safety, such as the vehicle registrations, the driving licenses and the controls of the Vehicle Technical Inspection Centers. 
The International Transport Forum (ITF) published a Report titled Streets That Fit: Re-allocating Space for Better Cities. This Report looks at how street space has typically been allocated in the past, examines the rationale for street space allocation and describes how to measure space consumption for mobility purposes. The study also explores by way of a simulation how new mobility services and travel modes interact when a limited, dynamic and demand-responsive re-allocation of street space is introduced in a mid-sized city. 
The International Transport Forum (ITF) published a Booklet titled Road Safety in Cities: Street Design and Traffic Management Solutions presenting measures that effectively reduce road traffic deaths and serious injuries in cities. The Booklet covers urban street design, traffic management and improving mobility options. Measures are illustrated with examples reported by cities collaborating in the ITF Safer City Streets network and include information on cost and effectiveness.
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) organised with great success the 101st Annual Meeting, which was held on 9-13 January 2022 in Washington DC. The meeting program covered all transportation modes, addressing topics of interest to policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions. A number of sessions and workshops focused on the spotlight theme for the 2022 meeting: Innovating an Equitable, Resilient, Sustainable, and Safe Transportation System. NTUA actively contributed with the following papers and presentations :
NTUA actively contributed with the following papers and presentations :
The 2021 infographic of NTUA Road Safety Observatory (www.nrso.ntua.gr) highlights one more very intensive and highly fruitful year, despite the pandemic. The nrso scientific team with high dedication, efficiency and expertise continues to grow and excel, being active in 31 innovative research projects, succeeded to publish a record number of 78 scientific papers (28 in peer reviewed journals), and travelled around the world in hundreds of webmeetings (and some in-person meetings) to develop and promote road safety science.
This year, besides intensive research in six Horizon 2020 projects and three innovative national research projects, we were also lucky to contribute to the National Road Safety Action Plan 2021-2030. Getting ready for the post-pandemic period, we are more than ever committed to our scientific quest for safer roads everywhere and for all. And of course we are waiting you all in-person at the highly promising 8th Road Safety and Simulation Conference in June in Athens.
The University of Thessaly, Department of Civil Engineering, Traffic, Transportation and Logistics Laboratory (TTLog), organized with great success the 6th Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility, which took palace in Skiathos Island, Greece, on 31 August – 2 September 2022. The theme of this year’s Conference was: “Smart Energy for Smart Transport” highlighting interesting topics as electric and clean energy in transportation, emerging and innovative technologies in transport and active and non-motorized travel.
The World Road Association – PIARC published a Report titled “Road Related Data and How to Use it“. 20 recommendations, referenced within the report, provide a clear framework for road administrations to systematically compare their current practices and develop tailored action plans. These also complemented by a further 4 recommendations for PIARC to consider, to supporting member organizations in their journey to deliver better services through smarter use of data.
The World Road Association – PIARC recently published a Report titled “Smart Roads Classification“. This Special Project presents an exploratory study about the feasibility of a Smart Roads Classification system. Identifying which steps should be done first becomes crucial, especially when addressing safety issues. One of the activities of the Special Project was exploring the feedback about follow-up proposals from several stakeholders.
The World Road Association – PIARC recently published a Report titled “Improving Road Tunnel Resilience, Considering Safety and Availability – PIARC Literature Review“. This Review focusses on key tunnel topics: a) General concepts and approaches for resilience management, b) Legislation, standards, strategies and policies, c) Criteria and requirements for resilience, availability and safety as a mandatory constraint, d) Various events and future developments to be resilient for (including weather, climate change, natural hazards, traffic incidents, etc.), e) Possible measures to improve road tunnel resilience for these events, f) Organisational and managerial aspects of resilience improvement.
The Public Health Association in Australia (PHAA) in co-operation with the World Health Organization (WHO) organised with great success the 14th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, which was held in Adelaide, on 27-30 November 2022. The Conference brought together people from across the globe to explore, discuss, and develop injury prevention strategies and it held workshops pre, post and during the conference, debates, meetings, site visits, conference declarations.
The Transportation Public Health Link (TPH Link) organized with great success the International Conference on Transport & Health (ICTH2022) which was held in Cardiff and online, on 13-30 June 2022. The theme for ICTH 2022 was “Looking upstream to identify downstream Social Determinants of Health” in order to analyse the impact of transport (and urban/rural) planning and design on quality of life, health and well-being in communities.
Boussias Communications organized the Connected Vehicle Conference 2022, that was held online, on 22 February 2022. The Conference, thought many interesting presentations, aimed to cover all innovative steps taken towards vehicles’ inteconnected services and to exlplain how telematics and connectivity add value the vehicle fleet management.
The International Transport Forum (ITF) organized the ITF 2022 Summit, that was held in Leipzig, Germany, on 18-20 May 2022. The theme of the 2022 Summit was Transport for Inclusive Societies and transport experts explored silo-breaking measures that boost inclusiveness and debate over all modes and diverse geographic levels and show the importance of inter-sectoral and multi-level governance.
The European Commission together with 2Zero, ERTRAC, and CCAM co-organised with great success the 5th European Conference H2020RTR21, which was held in Brussels, on 29-30 March 2022. 65 H2020 projects presented their new discoveries and achievements, how they tackled hurdles and resolved challenges, and what are the next research steps in different important areas for road transport: Green Vehicles, Urban Mobility, Logistics, Intelligent Transport Systems, Safety, Automated Road Transport.
The European Platform on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans of Eltis recently published a Topic Guide on Safe Use of Micromobility Devices, which proposes best practice and key recommendations on the integration of micromobility in urban mobility planning, with the goal to support cities in achieving a safer use of micromobility devices in urban areas. The Guide also highlights the need to urgently integrate e-scooters into cities’ Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs).
The Forum of European Road Safety Research Organisations (FERSI) organisined with great success the 2022 Road Safety Conference which took place on 6-7 October 2022 in Hague, Netherlands. This highly interesting Conference focused on the exchange of national and regional experiences and implemented evidence-based road safety measures, both positive and negative ones. There was a specific focus on the road to successful implementation, including overcoming the barriers encountered along the way. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations :
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations :
The International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published the Road Safety Annual Report 2021 focusing on the Covid-19 pandemic impact on road safety performance in 2020, identifying how the pandemic affected both mobility patterns and road fatalities. The analysis draws on data on road deaths from 34 member countries of the IRTAD Group and it also contains the IRTAD Country Reports highlighting the latest road safety developments in each country.
The European Commission presented its ‘Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy’ together with an Action Plan of 82 initiatives as a guide for the next four years. This strategy lays the foundation for how the EU transport system can achieve its green and digital transformation and become more resilient to future crises. Traffic safety is a major component of the EU Mobility Strategy. As outlined in the European Green Deal, the result will be a 90% cut in emissions by 2050, delivered by a smart, competitive, safe, accessible and affordable transport system.
The 3rd Newsletter of the Horizon 2020 project Drive2theFuture was recently released highlighting the 2nd Drive2theFuture Workshop, held on March 2021, with the so far achievements of the project. The Newsletter also includes a session entitled “Do we trust self-driving cars? – Social acceptance of autonomous mobility”. The aim of the session was to give an overview about Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM), its objectives and overall landscape, learn about driver behaviour and social acceptance of CCAM in Europe .
The Horizon 2020 project LEVITATE (Societal Level Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles) released a video explaining the LEVITATE Policy Support Tool, which is expected to be an open access, web-based Decision Support System that will allow users to explore the impact assessment, forecasting and backcasting of different CCAM development scenarios in cities. 
The Horizon 2020 project i-DREAMS (smart Driver Environment Assesment and Monitoring System) recently released its 4th Newsletter, presenting the main accomplishments of the project, through creative solutions and risk mitigation strategies. The Newsletter presents team’s and participant’s view on the Belgian field trial, seven new technical reports submitted in 2021 and several i-DREAMS dissemination activities.
The Horizon 2020 research project SHOW (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) has recently released the SHOW 3rd Newsletter. The Newsletter provides information on latest achievements and upcoming activities of the project. Also, there is an open call for follower sites, which will allow all cities in Europe to endorse and replicate SHOW activities.
Elsevier has published the International Encyclopedia of Transportation on May 2021. Containing almost 600 articles, the Encyclopedia brings a cross-cutting and integrated approach to all aspects of transportation from a variety of interdisciplinary fields including engineering, operations research, economics, geography and sociology in order to understand the changes taking place. Emphasising the interaction between these different aspects of research, it offers new solutions to modern-day problems related to transportation. NTUA Associate Professor George Yannis and Assistant Professor Eleonora Papadimitriou actively contributed with the following chapter:
The International Transport Forum (ITF) published a Report titled Artificial Intelligence in Proactive Road Infrastructure Safety Management, reflecting the discussions at a Round Table of Experts from 33 Organisations and 15 Countries, chaired by NTUA Prof. George Yannis. This Report examines and determines the most relevant cases for Artificial Intelligence (AI) use in a transport planning context for accident prevention on an entire road network and it explores the possibility of using computer vision to acquire relevant information and the capability of modelling and mapping high-risk locations. It also offers recommendations to stakeholders on the development and appropriate use of lifesaving AI solutions.
In the framework of the development of the National Road Safety Strategic Plan for the period 2021-2030, the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has launched a wide and organized Open Consultation with all road safety stakeholders. This Plan is being developed with the scientific support of the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of NTUA and aims to reduce the number of road fatalities and serious injuries by 50% by 2030. Any citizen or stakeholder can be informed and actively participate in the Open Consultation through the dedicated website:
Any citizen or stakeholder can be informed and actively participate in the Open Consultation through the dedicated website: 
The Chambre de Commerce et d’ Institute France-Grece (CCIFG) organised with great success the Sustainable Transport Infrastucture Forum, which was held in Athens on 15 December 2021. Several topics where discussed such as Sustainable Cities with Smart Transportation and Sustainable Public Transport. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
The Editorial Board of the Accident Analysis & Prevention organised with great success the 2nd International Symposium on Accident Analysis & Prevention (ISAAP2021), which was held online, on 29 November 2021. The Symposium principally focused on the road safety under the environment of intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs) and approximately 300 attendees participated from twenty different countries. All videos, posters, and related publications are available.
