Eva Michelaraki has successfully defended her PhD dissertation titled: Improving driver safety tolerance zone through holistic analysis of road, vehicle and behavioural risk factors, under the supervision of NTUA Prof. George Yannis. Data from 190 drivers who participated in a large on-road and simulator driving experiment were exploited. An innovative methodology, consisting of both statistical analyses (Generalized Linear Models, Structural Equation Models) and machine learning techniques (Decision Trees, k-Nearest Neighbors, Neural Networks and Random Forests) was implemented. Results indicated that RF models outperformed the DT and kNN models across all metrics, making them the most effective for predicting speeding and headway, with overall accuracy up to 90%. It was also revealed that task complexity was positively correlated with risk, while coping capacity was negatively correlated with risk, indicating that drivers with higher coping capacity are better equipped to handle challenging driving situations.  

In a recently published study conducted at Stanford University (USA), using a range of parameters for each scientist’s research contribution and influence, million scientists data from Scopus database were analysed. According to this study 1,019 Greek scientists are contained in the global top 2%, among which 159 researchers from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). 25 Professors from the School of Civil Engineering of NTUA are among the top 2% researchers in the world (4 within the top-ten of NTUA), while 7 of them from the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering, (5 within the top-ten of the School of Civil Engineering). 

The European Commission and the An Roinn Iompair (ARI) together with the European Transport Research Platforms ACARE, ALICE, CEDR, ECTP, ERRAC, ERTRAC, ETRA and Waterborne organised with great success the Transport Research Arena Conference (TRA2024) which took place in Dublin, Ireland, on 15-18 April 2024. The pillars of the Conference were the safe & inclusive transport, the sustainable mobility of people and goods, the efficient & resilient systems and the collaborative digitalisation regarding the European Transport Research and Innovation and the cooperation of Europe with other continents.   NTUA actively contributed with 35 innovative presentations:

•  European Road Safety Observatory
•   Road safety in Low- and Middle-Income Countries – Analysis and recommendations
•   Monitoring National Road Safety Strategies in the EU
•   Naturalistic Spatial Road Safety Analysis: The SmartMaps Project
•   Traffic simulation and safety assessment requirements for enhancing road safety prediction tools
•   Bicycle traffic analysis before and after mobility interventions using crowdsourced data
•   Assessing the Impact of Athens Great Walk on VRU Volumes: A Temporal Analysis
•   The HADRIAN Novel Human-Machine Interface Prototype for Automated Driving: Safety and Impact Assessment
•   Safety evaluation via conflict classification during automated shuttle bus service operations
•   Outcome Evaluation of i-Dreams (H2020 Project) Interventions: Comparison of Multi-Country Driving Behavior
•   Unveiling driving behaviour patterns during a naturalistic driving experiment
•   Investigating the effect of driver-vehicle-environment interaction with risk through naturalistic driving data
•   Predicting risky driving behavior with classification algorithms: Results from a large-scale filed-trial and simulator experiment
•   Unfolding the dynamics of driving behavior: A machine learning analysis from Germany and Belgium
•   Investigating the Influence of Mobile Phone Use on Driving Behaviour with Machine Learning Analysis
•   Exploitation of naturalistic driving data to estimate crash risk through machine learning techniques
•   Examining the influence of traffic enforcement on the development of traffic safety culture
•   Analyzing Acceptance of Reduced Speed Limits on Greek Motorways
•   Economic Assessment of Free Public Transport in Athens
•   Examining the impact of driver distraction on speeding through the exploitation of smartphone sensor data
•   Impact assessment of governance models on the integration of connected and autonomous vehicles
•   Assessing the Readiness of European Cities for Distributed Traffic Management: A Smart Infrastructure Readiness Index
•   Does Eco-Routing Even Work? Some Experimental Findings
•   Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to Prioritize Network Benefits When Applying Novel Traffic Management Strategies
•   Comparing Random Forests and Multinomial Logit Models for Urban Travel Choice under Innovative Traffic Management Strategies
• E-Survey of Road Users’ Attitudes
• Optimising driver behaviour for safe, green and energy efficient mobility
• Injury Mitigation to Promote Vision-Zero Achievement
• CulturalRoad: Cultural, regional and societal factors to overcome barriers to connected, cooperative and automated mobility deployment
•  SHOW simulation suite: A guide for simulating shared automated mobility
• metaCCAZE – Flexibly adapted MetaInnovations, use cases, collaborative business and governance models to accelerate shared Zero Emission mobility for passengers and freight
• Flexibly adapted MetaInnovations, use cases, collaborative business and governance models to accelerate shared Zero Emission mobility for passengers and freight
• Artificial Intelligence for Vision Zero in Road Safety
• Integration of road user behavior models to traffic safety analytic tools
•  Artificial Intelligence boosting Road Safety

The European Commission with the active contribution of NTUA, SWOV and KFV has published at the European Road Safety Observatory, the Annual Statistical Report on road safety in the EU, which provides an overview of crash data for 2012 to 2022 from 27 EU Member States and the four EFTA countries. According to this Report, 52% of road traffic fatalities occurred on rural roads, versus 38% in urban areas and 9% on motorways. It was also revealed that car occupants (drivers and passengers) represented 45% of all fatalities, while pedestrians accounted for 18%, users of powered two-wheelers (motorbikes and mopeds) 19%, and cyclists 10%.    

A book titled “Shaping Automated Driving to Achieve Societal Mobility Needs: A Human-Systems Integration Approach” was recently published under the framework of the Horizon 2020 project HADRIAN  (Holistic Approach for Driver Role Integration and Automation Allocation for European Mobility Needs). This book describes novel human-systems integration approaches to improve acceptance, safety, and comfort of automated vehicles. Each chapter offers timely and practice-oriented information concerning the different aspects in the development of automated driving systems which adapt to the users’ needs.  NTUA actively contributed with the following chapters:

• Results of Two Demonstrations of Holistic Solutions for Automated Vehicles to Increase Usefulness and Safety
• An Integrated Display of Fluid Human Systems Interactions

A paper titled “Network-wide road crash risk screening: A new framework” authored by Michela Bonera, Benedetto Barabino, George Yannis and Giulio Maternini  has been published in Accident Analysis & Prevention. This study integrates road safety factors, prediction models and a risk-based method. Road segments are ranked according to the risk value and classified by a five-level scale, to show the parts of road network with the highest crash risk. This framework introduces a valid support for road safety Authorities to help identify the most critical road segments on the network, prioritise interventions and, possibly, improve the safety performance. 

The 2023 infographic of NTUA Road Safety Observatory (www.nrso.ntua.gr) highlights one more very intensive and highly fruitful year. 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 49 scientific papers (23 in peer reviewed journals), and travelled around the world in hundreds of meetings to develop and promote road safety science. The 30 Marathons campaign for promoting 30km/h city-wide speed limit was also widely welcomed, contributing to the culture of calm and safe streets everywhere and for all. 

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) organised with great success the 103rd Annual Meeting, which was held in Washington DC, on 7-11 January 2024. More than 600 workshops and sessions took place, covering all transportation modes and quite a few of them focussed on theory and practice of road safety worldwide.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations and posters:

•   Network-wide Road Safety Assessment: Methodology of the European Union
•   Interactions between road environment and driver state for the identification of safety critical conditions
•   Identifying the impact of Task Complexity and Coping Capacity on Driving Risk – Comparison among Different Countries and Transport Modes
•   Leveraging Machine Learning Algorithms to Predict and Analyze Single-Vehicle and Multi-Vehicle Crash Occurrences on Motorways

Getting into 2024, we steadily progress in our scientific excellence quests with persistence, dedication and passion to promoting evidence based safe mobility everywhere and for all. For reaching the decade -50% target we need to further strengthen our individual and collective efforts to sincerely include traffic safety into the mobility agenda and start implementing the vision zero traffic fatalities.

We thank you all for the excellent cooperation and we are sending you our very best wishes for Merry Christmas and a Joyful New Year, full of personal and professional achievements. 

Several cities worldwide have started setting speed limits of 30 km/h in large parts of the city. Brussels, Paris and Vienna have introduced city-wide 30km/h speed limits, mixing safely traffic of pedestrians, cyclists and motorised vehicles, with significant results in reducing road crashes, emissions and noise and upgrading city liveability. Within the 30 Marathons in 30 months campaign-challenge of Prof. George Yannis, a comprehensive set of resources on cities experiences with 30km/h speed limit is made available: georgeruns30x30.com/resources

The NRSO campaign for the promotion of city-wide 30km/h speed limit in all cities by running 30 Marathons in 30 months by Prof. George Yannis has received wide publicity in the tv, the radio, newspapers, magazines and the social media, as well as in scientific journals, conferences and workshops, with the active support of the NTUA and several International Organisations (ETSC, ECTRI, UITP, POLIS, ERF, IRF, FERSI, FEHRL, ECF, WALK21). This campaign has a particularly significant social impact, as depicted by international findings, demonstrating an average 37% reduction in fatalities in road crashes in cities which have adopted the 30km/h speed limit, together with significant environmental, energy and health benefits. All these media interventions are available at: https://georgeruns30x30.com/media

The International Road Traffic Safety Analysis and Data (IRTAD) Group and of the International Transport Forum (ITF) organised with great success the 36th Meeting which was held in Paris and online, on 8-9 November 2023. In this conference, the latest international road safety developments were discussed. 45 road safety experts enriched the discussion aimed to help improve road safety across the globe. Particular emphasis was given to new mobility and the evaluation of road safety measures. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:

•  ERSO Tool: Monitoring National Strategies
•  Effectiveness of city-wide 30 km/h speed limit

 

The Horizon 2020 research project SHOW project (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) organised with great success the 4th Pan-European Workshop, titled “Shaping Seamless AV Integration in Public Transport”, which was held in Düsseldorf, on 12 October 2023. The workshop  provided a dynamic exploration of cutting-edge advancements in automated shared mobility, along with a field trip to nearby Monheim am Rhein to experience the real-life AV service fully integrated into public transport. The workshop  combines concise presentations by industry leaders, experts, and project participants, followed by interactive panel discussions that delve deep into the heart of each topic.   

The World Road Association – PIARC organised with great success two webinars which were held online on 5 and 15 September 2023, with the active support of NTUA. The topics of the Webinars were: Infrastructure, Tunnels, Speed, Data and Management, Behaviour, VRUs, Vehicles. The webinars provided solutions and recommendations to build road safety expertise in all countries with focus on Low and Middle Income Countries, in order to adopt effectively the Safe System Approach and reduce fatal and serious crashes on road network.  NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:

• Boosting Road Safety in LMICs – Human factors/behaviour

Dimitrios Nikolaou, NTUA PhD Candidate & Researcher, received the Young Researcher Best Paper on Road Safety Αward 2023 during the International Congress on Transport Research 2023. The Award is granted jointly by the Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT/CERTH) and the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE). The award concerned the paper is titled: “Spatial analysis of telematics surrogate safety measures across road environments”, co-authored by Armira Kontaxi, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and George Yannis. 

A paper titled “Real-Time Monitoring of Driver Distraction: State-of-the-art and future insights” authored by Eva Michelaraki, Chistos Katrakazas, Susanne Kaiser, Tom Brijs and George Yannis, has been published in Accident Analysis & Prevention. The aim of this research is to critically review and assess the state-of-the-art systems and platforms measuring driver distraction or inattention. The results indicated that real-time eye tracking systems, cardiac sensors on steering wheels, smartphone applications and cameras were the most frequent devices to monitor and detect driver distraction. On the other hand, less frequent and effective approaches included electrodes, hand magnetic rings and glasses.   

A paper titled “Star rating of driver’s behavior as a tool to prevent risky behavior” authored by Milan Tešić, Suzana Miladić-Tešić, Katerina Folla, George Yannis and Oscar Oviedo-Trespalacios has been published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. Results were analysed regarding the following aspects: 1) star rating of driver’s behavior and 2) defining the stages of the periodic factors monitoring for each Police Administration Unit (PAU) examined. It was revelated that using a mobile phone while driving, not using child restraints system, alcohol drunk driving during the night and seat belt use at rear seats of passenger vehicles were identified as the most significant factors associated with risky driving behaviors. 

A paper titled “COVID-19 and driving behavior: Which were the most crucial influencing factors” authored by Marios Sekadakis, Christos Katrakazas, Eva Michelaraki, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and George Yannis, has been published in Data Science for Transportation. Based on the collected data, XGBoost feature analysis algorithms were deployed to obtain the most significant factors. Results revealed that COVID-19 new cases and new fatalities were the most significant factors related to COVID-19 metrics impacting driving behavior. In addition, the correlation between driving behavior with other factors (i.e., distance traveled, mobile use, driving requests, and driving during risky hours) was revealed. Lastly, the differences and similarities of the harsh event rates between the two lockdown periods were identified. 

A paper titled “The impact of cognition-affecting neurological diseases on reaction time and driving speed deviation” authored by Athina Diamanti, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and George Yannis, has been published in Open Transportation Journal. Analysis of cognitive impairments based on GDS questions showed that frequent ‘feelings of boredom’ correlated with a 7% increase in reaction time and a 8% increase in the standard deviation of driving speed. Conversely, ‘feelings of worthlessness’ reduced the standard deviation of driving speed by 4.5%. Drivers with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases showed higher reaction times, while drivers with depression and the control group showed lower reaction times. Drivers with Parkinson’s disease showed statistically fewer deviations of average speed. This research demonstrated that cognitively impaired individuals have larger reaction times and more erratic driving speeds.  

A paper titled “A Review of Surrogate Safety Measures Uses in Historical Crash Investigations” authored by Dimitrios Nikolaou, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and George Yannis, has been published in Sustainability. On that purpose, 34 studies were examined, providing insights on the different types of SSMs collected under real road environment conditions, the way they are collected, their connection with specific road crash types, and the type of the developed statistical models are examined and discussed. Particular focus is also placed on the temporal dimension of the collection period of both SSMs and road crashes. Based on the classification performance metrics of the developed models, it was found that the Random Forests classifier outperformed the other developed classifiers in terms of predicting crash risk levels of the considered motorway segments. 

The World Road Association – PIARC implemented an ambitious PIARC Knowledge Exchange project, aiming at sharing knowledge about road safety, with the active contribution of NTUA and AIT, especially within Low and Middle Income Countries with limited resources but also in more developed economies with different needs and priorities. The theme of this month refers to Speed, as presented by the PIARC Technical Committee 3.1 “Road Safety” member John Barrell. Throughout the year, PIARC will focus on the Safe System approach, addressing safe roads and roadsides, safe road users, safe vehicles and safe speeds.     

A paper titled “From conflicts to crashes: Simulating macroscopic connected and automated driving vehicle safety” authored by Maria  Oikonomou, Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Amna Chaudhry, Pete Thomas and George Yannis, has been published in Accident Analysis & Prevention. Analysis of the outputs along with traffic data and network geometry characteristics were conducted. The results indicated that in higher Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) market penetration rates (MPRs), crash rates will be significantly lower as well as when the following-vehicle in the occurred conflict is a 2nd generation CAV.   

The World Road Association – PIARC implemented an ambitious PIARC Knowledge Exchange project aiming at sharing knowledge about road safety, with the active contribution of NTUA and AIT, especially within the Low and Middle Income Countries with limited resources but also in more developed economies with different needs and priorities. The theme of this month refers to Vehicles, as presented by the PIARC Task Force 2.1 President Ana Luz Jiménez Ortega. Throughout the year, PIARC will focus on the Safe System approach, addressing safe roads and roadsides, safe road users, safe vehicles and safe speeds.   

A paper titled “Driving behaviour in depression based on subjective evaluation and data from a driving simulator” authored by Vagioula Tsoutsi, Maria Papadakaki, George Yannis, Dimosthenis Pavlou, Maria Basta, Joannes Chliaoutakis and Dimitris Dikeos, has been published in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The group of patients with depression did not differ from controls regarding driving behaviour as assessed through questionnaires; on the driving simulator, patients kept a longer safety distance. Results indicated that subjective fatigue was positively associated with aggression, dislike of driving, hazard monitoring and violations as assessed by questionnaires. It was revealed that, although certain symptoms of depression (insomnia, fatigue and somnolence) may affect driving performance, patients compensate by driving more carefully, eliminating thus, their impact. 

The Horizon 2020 project i-DREAMS (smart Driver Environment Assessment and Monitoring System) released its 7th Newsletter, presenting the main accomplishments of the project, through creative solutions and risk mitigation strategies, exploiting state-of-the art findings on driver safety tolerance zone. The Newsletter presents the main results and the key findings from field trials and simulator experiments in Belgium, Germany, UK, Greece and Portugal and recommendations are also provided. The management approach, the communication and dissemination strategy as well as the ethical challenges tackled are presented through 37 deliverables, technical reports, interviews.  

A paper titled “An Evaluation of the Passing Process through Road – Vehicle Parameters Assessment” authored by Stergios Mavromatis, Vassilios Matragos, Konstantinos Apostoleris, Fotios Fotos and George Yannis, has been published in European Transport Research Review. The methodology is based on a realistic representation of the passing task with respect to roadway’s posted speed and the ability of the passing (examined) vehicle to perform such maneuvers. The analysis revealed that the difference between the speed of the passed vehicle and the posted speed value, as well as certain interactions of the assessed parameters impact excessively passing sight distances (PSDs), especially for values below 20 km/h. 

A paper titled “Texting while driving: a literature review on driving simulator studies” authored by Gheorghe-Daniel Voinea, Razvan Boboc, Ioana-Diana Buzdugan, Csaba Antonya and George Yannis, has been published in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. The main findings revealed that texting while driving has negative effects on driving performance, affecting drivers’ divided attention and concentration, which can lead to potentially life-threatening traffic events. This review can serve as a basis for regulators and interested parties to propose restrictions related to using mobile phones in a vehicle and improve road safety. 

The World Road Association – PIARC launched an ambitious PIARC Knowledge Exchange project aiming at sharing knowledge about road safety, with the active contribution of NTUA and AIT, especially within the Low and Middle Income Countries with limited resources but also in more developed economies with different needs and priorities. The general theme of this month refers to Boosting Road Safety, as presented by the Secretary General Patrick Mallejacq. Throughout the year, PIARC will focus on the Safe System approach, addressing safe roads and roadsides, safe road users, safe vehicles and safe speeds.  

The 2022 infographic of NTUA Road Safety Observatory (www.nrso.ntua.gr) highlights one more very intensive and highly fruitful year. The nrso scientific team with high dedication, efficiency and expertise continues to grow and excel, being active in 33 innovative research projects, succeeded to publish a record number of 90 scientific papers (26 in peer reviewed journals), and travelled around the world in hundreds of meetings to develop and promote road safety science. 

The Horizon 2020 project i-DREAMS (smart Driver Environment Assessment and Monitoring System) recently released its 6th Newsletter, presenting the main accomplishments of the project, through creative solutions and risk mitigation strategies, exploiting state-of-the art findings on driver safety tolerance zone. The Newsletter presents some insights in the first results and findings from field trials in Belgium and the UK are described. The first outcomes have been also presented to the User Advisory Board and Expert Advisory Board.