Author: Virginia Petraki
The IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society (ITSS) organised the 23rd IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC) which was held on-line, on 20-23 September 2020. The conference focused on new developments in theory, analysis, simulation and modeling, experimentation, demonstration, case studies, field operational tests, and deployments. 
NTUA actively contributed with the following paper and presentation: 
Impacts of Autonomous Shuttle Services on Traffic, Safety and Environment for Future Mobility Scenarios
NTUA actively contributed with the following paper and presentation: Impacts of Autonomous Shuttle Services on Traffic, Safety and Environment for Future Mobility Scenarios
In the framework of the European Mobility Week, the ROADPOL Safety Days (formerly known as Project EDWARD) took place on 16-22 September, in Mainz, Germany. The aim of the ROADPOL Safety Days was to reduce the number of traffic fatalities, which is 70 per day across Europe, to zero at least in one day. Activities varied from additional roadside checks to awareness-raising initiatives, such as vehicle turnover simulations, exhibitions and debates.
The SHOW (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) project organised its 1st Pan-European Workshop, titled «How to make CCAM in Cities a reality» which was held on-line on 18 September 2020. In this workshop, a selection of high-level keynote speakers shared their views and experiences about Connected and Cooperative Automated Mobility, while interactive sessions about Use Cases for CCAV in Urban Mobility and Best Practices for Business and Operating Models in Europe and worldwide took place.
A paper titled “Meta-regressions of exposure parameters used in spatial road safety analyses, September 2020” authored by Apostolis Ziakopoulos, and George Yannis, is now published in Advances in Transportation Studies. The objective of this paper is to obtain quantitative estimates that several study characteristics impose on the values of their coefficients applying meta-regression techniques to three common exposure parameters (traffic volume/AADT, roadway length and vehicle distance traveled). Results indicate that the impact of traffic volume on crash counts was positively correlated with taking speed limit and road user age into consideration in spatial analyses, while the impact of road length on crash counts in spatial analyses was found to be higher in studies considering only fatal crashes. 
KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence (KIOS CoE) of University of Cyprus organized the 23rd EURO Working Group on Transportation EWGT 2020 which took place with great success in Paphos, Cyprus, on 16-18 September 2020. The sessions focused on various themes including advanced methodologies for road safety analyses. NTUA actively contributed with the following paper and presentation: European Countries’ Road Safety Evaluation by Τaking Ιnto Account Multiple Classes of Fatalities
NTUA actively contributed with the following paper and presentation: European Countries’ Road Safety Evaluation by Τaking Ιnto Account Multiple Classes of Fatalities
ActTravelWise orginised a webinar titled “The Emergency Active Travel Fund: Plans and Implementation at the Local Level” which was held with great success on 14 September 2020. Authorities who received funding under the Emergency Active Travel Fund, shared their plans and how they intend to implement them on the ground to benefit local residents. Athens took the opportunity to introduce a step-change in active travel infrastructure. Lastly, a panel discussion took place, with the opportunity for other local authorities to share their plans and any issues or challenges. Presenters: George Yannis, Laura Wells, Ambrose White, Lynsey McGarvey, and Sian Fox. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation: Athens Great Walk transformation project
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation: Athens Great Walk transformation project
The Slovenian Traffic Safety Agency organized the periodical training course for Road Safety Auditors which took place with great success on September 14-16, 2020 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
NTUA actively contributed with the following lecture: Innovations in Road Safety Audit practices in the European Union and internationally
Innovations in Road Safety Audit practices in the European Union and internationally
The International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) published recently a new Report titled “Best Practice for Urban Road Safety”, in which seven case studies of cities that are implementing data-driven road safety policies are presented. It highlights relevant experiences aimed at reducing the number of traffic casualties and protecting vulnerable road users in Barcelona, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Fortaleza, London, New York and Rotterdam and illustrates the diverse approaches to better understand road crashes and to prevent road traffic deaths and serious injuries.
Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety organised with great success an online Q&A session with Dr. Etienne Krug, Director of the Department of the Social Determinants of Health, WHO which was held on 22 September 2020. This webinar gave an insight on the new UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/74/299 on improving global road safety answering questions like what the resolution is, why it matters, and how it can help you to advocate for safer roads.
The International Road Federation (IRF) and the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) organised a free webinar which was hosted on 9th September at 14:00 under the frame of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration (UNRSC). The Ten Step Plan for Safer Road infrastructure has been produced by the UNRSC partners to support countries seeking to implement initiatives in relation to the improved safety of road infrastructure and broader transport networks, the UN Convention on Road Traffic and Road Signs and Signals and the achievement of UN Member States Agreed Global Targets 3 and 4 for safer new and existing roads. The webinar provided to the participants the opportunity to learn about the Trust Fund and this new pilot project.
The Department of Highway Engineering of the Gdansk University of Technology and the Foundation for the Development of Civil Engineering in Gdansk organised with great success the 13th International Road Safety Conference GAMBIT 2020. The Conference has held online on 7-8 September 2020 focusing on challenges and requirements of improving road safety until 2030. It covered topics such as challenges and opportunities for implementing Vision Zero, programmes and strategic actions for road safety until 2030, road safety innovation, from science to practice – an overview of road safety research projects, vulnerable road users, new technologies for road safety, road safety in road design guidelines, safe road surfaces, road safety management, safe public transport and urban mobility versus road safety.
The chair of Transportation System Engineering of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) organised the 7th IEEE International Conference on Models and Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems (MT-ITS 2021), which was held online on the 16-17 June 2021. More than 80 state-of-the-art papers were presented boosting vivid discussion on future ITS challenges and opportunities. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:
- Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for Vision Zero Road Fatalities (key note presentation)
- Investigating the acceptance of an environmental transport charging policy. The case of Athens
- Risk scenario designs for driving simulator experiments
- Driving Behavior Safety Levels: Classification and Evaluation
The International Road Federation (IRF), together with Qatar University, Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Center, National Traffic Safety Committee of Qatar Government and World Conference on Transport Research Society, organised with great success a Webinar on “Global Trends on the Status of Traffic Safety under the Covid-19 Pandemic”, which was held on 29 September 2020. This webinar aimed to discuss the potential impacts of the current Covid-19 Pandemic and the associated mobility restriction policies on road traffic safety status.
The International Road Federation (IRF) organised with great success the first IRF Executives Talks with Florent Menegaux, CEO, Michelin, which was held online on 11 September 2020. The ‘IRF Executives Talks’ was a series of 30 min talks with high-level executives from the transportation sector highlighting the challenges the sector faces, innovative programmes & ideas and a lot more.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank Group, the International Transport Forum (ITF), the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) recently established the Asia Pacific Road Safety Observatory (APRSO), as the Regional Forum on road safety data, policies and practices to ensure the protection of human life on the roads across Asia and the Pacific. Member countries of APRSO are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
The UN General Assembly has adopted a new resolution on “Improving global road safety” which was co-sponsored by 55 governments. Among key decisions, the resolution proclaims the period 2021–2030 as the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety, with a goal of reducing road fatalities and injuries by at least 50% from 2021 to 2030, and in this regard calls upon Member States to continue action through 2030 on all the road safety-related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The resolution calls for action to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries as a pressing development priority. It also endorses the Stockholm Declaration, approved at the third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, held in Stockholm on 19 and 20 February 2020.
The 9th conference of European Association for Research in Transportation (hEART) organized by the Transport, Urban Planning and Economics Laboratory (LAET), took place with great success in Lyon on 3-4 February 2021. It covered relevant areas of transportation research with focus on methods, models and planning of transport systems. The aim of the conference was to connect researchers in transport modelling, transport economics, transport engineering and transport policy with advanced practice and state of the art, including road safety applications. NTUA actively contributed with the following paper: Exploring driving behavior as a latent variable in safety modeling. A preliminary analysis from a driving simulator study.
The Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked 25th in Europe among all Transportation Science & Technology Schools and the Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked 7th worldwide (3rd European) among all Civil Engineering Schools according to ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2020. The methodology of ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking includes specific thresholds, indicators, and weights.
among all Transportation Science & Technology Schools and the Civil Engineering School of the National Technical University of Athens was ranked 7th worldwide (3rd European) among all Civil Engineering Schools according to ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2020. The methodology of ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking includes specific thresholds, indicators, and weights.
Vlaamse Stichting Verkeerskunde (VSV) in cooperation with Flanders, Road Safety GB, UHasselt, ETSC and Polis organized with great success a European Road Safety Summer School which took place online, on 24-28 August 2020, targeting road safety professionals. The schedule of the Summer School for these 5 days included key topics on: road safety strategies, strategies in education and awareness raising, infrastructure, technologies, enforcement and technical site visits.
The Road Safety Screening and Appraisal Tool (RSSAT) is developed by the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) early ex-ante assessment of road safety conditions and associated economic impacts, which will apply to all new road infrastructure projects in the World Bank portfolio. After successful trials in 2019-2020, use of the RSSAT is now required for all World Bank transport projects, and it is also recommended to be used for other operations that can have road safety impacts, such as urban and agriculture projects. Using the tool, project teams can evaluate road safety performance based on existing conditions and screen for safety improvement opportunities in road and roadside infrastructure. It is possible to estimate fatality rates under scenarios with and without the project, as well as the associated economic costs. In the following months, RSSAT will be also available to governments, development agencies, researchers, and other road safety professionals through an interactive GRSF web platform .
Implemented by the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) and supported by the World Bank GRSF, an international experts team has developed the Occupational Road Risk Toolkit – a structured e-learning program in which fleet managers, drivers, and motorcycle riders can receive tailored content. This platform contains resources and free e-learning modules for different stakeholders to help manage risk across numerous road safety challenges. With this innovative tool, EBRD wants to improve the quality of management and vehicle fleet as well as the way in which road networks are used.
EuroRAP launches a new website including important changes to navigation and content compared to the previous one. The new website is interactive and gives better access to About Us, Our Protocols, Our Activities, Our Impact, Get Involved and News. Amongst the new features, the site contains integrated social media buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. EuroRAP are committed to constantly updating content with helpful information, articles, blogs, newsletters, announcements and RAP Journey Road Authorities successes in the News section.
United Nations Road Safety Collaboration Group (UNRSC) produced a Report titled “The Ten Step Plan for Safer Road Infrastructure”. The main objective is to support countries seeking
to implement initiatives in relation to the “Improved safety of road infrastructure and broader transport networks” for the achievement of UN Global Road Safety Targets 3 and 4 for safer new and existing roads. This Report aims to build the institutional capacity and regulatory framework to support these targets and unlock the potential of safer roads and safer cities to save lives.
A paper titled “A descriptive analysis of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on driving behavior and road safety” authored by Christos Katrakazas, Eva Michelaraki, Marios Sekadakis, and George Yannis, is now published in Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Driving behavior and safety indicators were captured through a specially developed smartphone application in two countries, namely Greece and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). It was shown that reduced traffic volumes due to lockdown, led to a slight increase in speeds by 6–11%, but more importantly to more frequent harsh acceleration and harsh braking events (up to 12% increase) as well mobile phone use (up to 42% increase) during March and April 2020.
An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Acceptance of environmental transport charging policies” was recently presented by Asimina Korentzelou. This Diploma Thesis places emphasis on environmental charging (annual card) for private cars access in Athens center. On that purpose, data were collected through a questionnaire survey, using stated preference methodology. The results demonstrate that annual card cost and travel time savings are the main factors for the acceptance of the annual card. Furthermore, men, young people and high-income travelers are more likely to accept the annual card and environmental traffic policies. Finally, it was observed that the environmental awareness of drivers affects the acceptance of environmental traffic policies.
INTERAMERICAN and Anytime with the support of the NTUA Road Safety Observatory organised with great success at CNN Greece an online Workshop titled “We lead Transport to modern solutions” on 22 July 2020. The workshop highlighted modern solutions and applications of technology in Automotive, aiming at a cleaner atmosphere and environment in cities, saving energy and enhancing road safety for all citizens. 
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation: New Technologies and Driving Safety
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation: New Technologies and Driving Safety
The third Newsletter of the Horizon 2020 project BeOpen (European forum and observatory for open science in transport) was recently released highlighting the latest deliverables submitted and project activities in the next sections. It also informs about the BE OPEN contribution to UNESCO global discussion on Open Science and the project featuring in the FIRM magazine Issue 15. Finally, the 3rd Newsletter presents the seven distinguished international experts who have agreed to be part of the BE OPEN Advisory Board.
The 2nd Newsletter of the Horizon 2020 project i-DREAMS (Safety Tolerance zone calculation and interventions for driver-vehicle-environment interactions under challenging conditions) was recently released highlighting six new Technical Reports submitted in the past six months and the User Advisory Board. It also presents the CardioID’s instrumented i-DREAMS car, equipped with a suite of monitoring technologies to be used in the project, and introduces the DSS simulator builders.
Apostolos Ziakopoulos has successfully defended his PhD dissertation titled: Spatial Analysis of Road Safety and Traffic Behaviour using High Resolution Multi-parametric Data. This PhD thesis was carried out at the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering at the School of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens under the supervision of Prof. George Yannis, using data from OSeven Telematics.
The main objective of this PhD Dissertation is the spatial analysis of harsh event frequencies in road segments using multi-parametric data, including (i) high resolution naturalistic driving and driver behavior data from smartphone sensors, (ii) microscopic road segment geometry and road network characteristic data from digital maps and (iii) high resolution traffic data. Spatial analyses were performed on two parallel pillars: (i) Prediction models were developed in an urban road network training area, with the intent to transfer them to a second urban road network testing area and assess their predictive performance and (ii) Causal models including road user behavior and traffic input data were calibrated in an urban arterial study area per traffic state, in order to investigate additional underlying correlations in an effort to further understand the phenomena of harsh braking and harsh acceleration frequencies. Geographically Weighted Poisson Regression (GWPR) models, Bayesian Conditional Autoregressive Prior (CAR) models and Extreme Gradient Boosting algorithms with random cross-validation (RCV XGBoost) and spatial cross-validation (SPCV XGBoost) were implemented.
An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Preferences towards e-scooters in Athens” was recently presented by Vasilis Maragkoudakis. This Diploma Thesis identifies the most important factors affecting traveler modal choices in Athens. Logistic regression models were developed (multinomial and binary), which demonstrated that the probability of choosing an e-scooter depends largely on the cost, time, comfort, attitudes, habits and the demographic characteristics of the respondents. The faster and the more economical is the trip and the more familiar is the traveler with e-scooters is, the more likely he/she is to choose them over other means of transport.
