Correlation of crash risk with driver capacity in coping with driving tasks complexity using machine learning, July 2023

An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Correlation of crash risk with driver capacity in coping with driving tasks complexity using machine learning” was recently presented by Spyros Tsigkos. A large set of  driving data under real-life conditions in Great Britain was exploited and eight Structural Equation Models (SEM) were developed. It emerged that increasing the complexity of the trip increases the risk of a crash, while the deteriorated condition of the driver and the vehicle leads to increasing the crash risk. Male drivers have more high-severity abrupt incidents while driving compared to female drivers, which confirms the international literature.  pdf5 ppt5

July 21st, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

Economic assessment of free public transport in Athens, July 2023

An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Economic assessment of free public transport in Athens” was recently presented by Chrysavgi (Chrysa) Vagdatli. For this purpose, a social-economic analysis, in the context of a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA), was conducted to assess the socio-economic impact of the FPT, up to the year 2030. In the framework of the CBA, four Scenarios for reduction of public transport tickets were examined. Consequently, a multinomial logistic model was developed to investigate for each of the three Scenarios the level preferring Athenians the FPT over private car, using data from a stated preference questionnaire survey. This social-economic analysis demonstrated that the introduction of FPT in Athens can contribute to social welfare mainly due to the modal shift from private cars to public transport.  pdf5 ppt5

July 21st, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

NTUA Thomaidion Award to NTUA Road Safety Researchers, 2023

Apostolos ZiakopoulosDimitris NikolaouArmira KontaxiEva MichelarakiVirginia PetrakiMaria G. OikonomouMarios Sekadakis, Thodoris Garefalakis, Research Associates of the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of NTUA were awarded with the NTUA Thomaidion Award for outstanding road safety publications in scientific journals. The awards for publications in Scientific Journals concerned:

  • Nikolaou D., Typa D.,  Yannis G., Investigation of traffic and safety behavior of pedestrians while talking on mobile phone, Advances in Transportation Studies, Special Issue, Vol. 3, 2022, pp. 73-82. doi
  • Ziakopoulos A., Petraki V.,  Kontaxi A.,  Yannis G.The transformation of the insurance industry and road safety by driver safety behaviour telematics, Case studies on transport policy, 10(4), pp. 2271-2279. doi
  •  Michelaraki E.,  Sekadakis M., Katrakazas C., Ziakopoulos A., &  Yannis G. (2023). One year of COVID-19: Impacts on safe driving behavior and policy recommendations. Journal of safety research, 84, pp. 41-60. doi
  • Petraki V., Papantoniou P., Korentzelou A.,  Yannis G.Public Acceptability of Environmentally Linked Congestion and Parking Charging Policies in Greek Urban Centers, Sustainability, 14(15), 9208. doi
  • Tympakianaki A., Nogues L., Casas J., Brackstone M., Oikonomou M., Vlahogianni E. I., Djukic T. &  Yannis G. (2022). Autonomous vehicles in urban networks: a simulation-based assessment. Transportation research record, 2676(10), pp. 540-552. doi
  •  Sekadakis M., Katrakazas C., Santuccio, E., Mortl, P., &  Yannis G. (2022). Risk factors linked with elderly, truck and office worker drivers: a literature review in light of automated driving, Advances in transportation studies,  pp. 3doi
  • Garefalakis T., Katrakazas C.,  Yannis G. Data-Driven Estimation of a Driving Safety Tolerance Zone Using Imbalanced Machine Learning, Sensors 2022, 22(14), 5309. doi
July 21st, 2023|Categories: Knowledge, News|

NTUA Thomaidion Award to NTUA Road Safety Researchers, 2022

Apostolos ZiakopoulosDimitris NikolaouArmira KontaxiEva MichelarakiMaria G. Oikonomou and  Marios Sekadakis, Research Associates of the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of NTUA were awarded with the NTUA Thomaidion Award for outstanding road safety publications in scientific journals. The awards for publications in Scientific Journals concerned:

  • Ziakopoulos A., Spatial analysis of harsh driving behavior events in urban networks using high-resolution smartphone and geometric data. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 157, 106189 (2021). doi
  • Ziakopoulos A.Nikolaou D., Yannis G.Correlations of multiple rider behaviors with self-reported attitudes, perspectives on traffic rule strictness and social desirability, Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, Vol.80, 2021, pp.313-327. doi
  • Kontaxi A., Ziakopoulos A., Yannis G.Trip characteristics impact on the frequency of harsh events recorded via smartphone sensors, IATSS research, 45(4), pp. 574-583. doi
  • Michelaraki E., Katrakazas C., Yannis G., Filtness A., Talbot R., Hancox G., Pilkington-Cheney F., Brijs K., Ross V., Dirix H., Neven A., Paul R., Brijs T., Fortsakis P., Frantzola E. K.,  Taveira R. (2021), Post-trip safety interventions: State-of-the-art, challenges, and practical implications. Journal of safety research, 77, pp. 67-85. doi
  • Ziakopoulos A., Oikonomou M. G., Vlahogianni E. I., & Yannis G. (2021). Quantifying the implementation impacts of a point to point automated urban shuttle service in a large-scale network. Transport Policy, 114, pp. 233-244. doi
  • Sekadakis M., Katrakazas C., Michelaraki E., Kehagia F., & Yannis G. (2021). Analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on collisions, fatalities and injuries using time series forecasting: The case of Greece. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 162, 106391. doi
July 21st, 2023|Categories: Knowledge, News|

PIARC – Specific Road Safety Issues in LMICs, July 2023

The World Road Association – PIARC recently published two Reports titled “Road Safety in LMICs: Identification and Analysis of specific Issues” in two parts Literature review and Illustrative Examples. The first part starts from the notion that road safety is a multifaceted problem which requires a multi-disciplinary approach. The safe system approach is generally considered as the central concept for this purpose and this starting point is also taken in this study. The second part is a follow up of an earlier literature review, in which were indicated which specific issues do need further attention in LMICs in the coming period up to 2030.  

July 12th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

PIARC – Boosting Road Safety in LMICs: Focus on Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs), July 2023

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 Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs), as presented by the PIARC Technical Committee 3.1 member Lawrence Chauke. Throughout the year, PIARC will focus on the Safe System approach, addressing safe roads and roadsides, safe road users, safe vehicles and safe speeds.  ppt5 video

July 6th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

The impact of cognition-affecting neurological diseases on reaction time and driving speed deviation, June 2023

A paper titled “The impact of cognition-affecting neurological diseases on reaction time and driving speed deviation” authored by Athina DiamantiApostolos 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.  doi

June 29th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

European Commission – Sustainable transport, June 2023

The European Commision welcomes the political agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council on a proposal made by the Commission in 2021 on the revision of the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Directive.  A smarter and interoperable transport system allows the more effective management of traffic and mobility across transport modes, enabling users to better combine the most sustainable modes of transport.  

June 29th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

PIARC – Boosting Road Safety in LMICs: Focus on Data, June 2023

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 Data, as presented by the PIARC Technical Committee 2.4 “Road Network Operation/ ITS” Secretary Kaouther Machta. Throughout the year, PIARC will focus on the Safe System approach, addressing safe roads and roadsides, safe road users, safe vehicles and safe speeds.  ppt5 video

June 20th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

A Review of Surrogate Safety Measures Uses in Historical Crash Investigations, May 2023

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. doi

May 20th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

PIARC – Boosting Road Safety in LMICs: Focus on Speed, May 2023

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.   ppt5  video

May 6th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

PIARC – Boosting Road Safety in LMICs: Focus on Vehicles, April 2023

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.  ppt5 video

April 26th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

Driving behaviour in depression based on subjective evaluation and data from a driving simulator, April 2023

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. doi

April 21st, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

PIARC – The Use of Big Data for Road Condition Monitoring Report, April 2022

The World Road Association – PIARC recently published a Report titled “The Use of Big Data for Road Condition Monitoring“. This work provides an overview of numerous big data sources and the data-processing methods that can be used to analyse data for road condition monitoring. It focuses on solutions that allow data to be collected quickly, in real time and repeatedly. Also included is a summary of several completed or ongoing projects that have utilised many of the big data sources described in this document.  

April 20th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

WHO – Advocating for emergency care a guide for nongovernmental organizations, February 2023

The World Health Oganisation (WHO) in collaboration with the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety recently developed a guide that clearly defines the role that nongovernmental organizations can have in advocating on behalf of people who need emergency care, including those injured in road traffic crashes.  This guide is especially targeted towards nongovernmental organizations that operate with limited resources. While those affected by injuries and other health emergencies have a range of physical, psychological and legal needs, this publication is focused on advocacy for the time-sensitive health care that can save millions of lives every year.

April 20th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

ETSC – Call to make ABS brakes mandatory on motorcycles under 125cc, March 2023

Τhe European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) is calling for the European Union and European national governments to make Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS) mandatory on all new motorcycles in a new report, titled Reducing Road Deaths among Powered Two Wheeler Users. This Report examines the state of motorcycling safety in Europe and revealed that 3,891 people died while riding a motorcycle or moped in the EU in 2021. That figure is 25% lower than a decade earlier but, over the same period, other road deaths fell by a third.  link pdf5

April 20th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge, News|

ETSC – Reducing Road Deaths among Powered Two Wheeler Users, 44th PIN Flash Report, March 2023

Τhe European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published the 44th PIN Flash Report titled Reducing Road Deaths among Powered Two Wheeler Users. This Report examines the latest data on PTW user road deaths from across the EU and other countries that form part of ETSC’s Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) programme. It also looks at the main measures for reducing the risks to PTW users including training, licensing, infrastructure, technical inspections, the use of protective equipment and new technologies. link pdf5

March 31st, 2023|Categories: Data, Knowledge|

Analysis of the acceptance and cost benefit analysis of reducing the speed limit to 80 km/h on the interurban road network in Greece, March 2023

An NTUA Diploma Thesis called “Analysis of the acceptance and cost benefit analysis of reducing the speed limit to 80 km/h on the interurban road network in Greece” was recently presented by Konstantinos Makrydakis. For the purpose of this Diploma Thesis, a special questionnaire was developed and answered by 408 travellers, from different parts of Greece, based on the stated preference method for 10 hypothetical scenarios with variations of the variables travel time, fuel consumption and probability of road accident with serious injury. The analysis calculated the investment costs and the impacts on traffic, road safety and the environment expressed in monetary units and showed that the reduction of the speed limit to 80 km/h on the interurban road network in Greece is considered to be economically very positive for the society, with a positive economic Net Present Value (ENPV=€170.7 million) and a high ERR (ERR=39.1%).  pdf5 ppt5

March 28th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

Investigating the influence of mobile phone use on driving behavior with Machine Learning analysis of imbalanced data, March 2023

A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Investigating the influence of mobile phone use on driving behavior with Machine Learning analysis of imbalanced data” was recently presented by Konstantinos-Eirinaios Kaselouris. For classification and regression of mobile phone usage, telematics data from the OSeven telematics company were used as collected from naturalistic driving measurements. Mobile phone use was defined as an indicator of risky behaviour and classification was performed on two levels of driving behaviour (risky and not risky). Variables related to travel speed were found to be the most significant independent variables, while according to the classification evaluation metrics, the most appropriate model was considered to be that of ‘Linear Discriminant Analysis’. pdf5 ppt5

March 28th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

Analysis of seatbelt and helmet use characteristics in Greece, March 2023

An NTUA Diploma Thesis called “Analysis of seatbelt and helmet use characteristics in Greece” was recently presented by Nikolaos Lagonikakos. For the purpose of this Diploma Thesis, data were collected from field observations during November-December 2021 in Greece and are related to seatbelt and helmet use, driver’s age and gender, the type of vehicle, the weather conditions, the time period and the road type in three areas (Athens, Thessaloniki and Larisa). Regarding the statistical models of seatbelt and helmet use by drivers, the results demonstrated that female drivers are more likely to use their seatbelt compared to male drivers. With regard to age, middle-aged and elderly drivers present lower probabilities of using a seatbelt while driving, compared to young drivers. Moreover, in adverse weather conditions the probability of using a helmet is lower in comparison with good weather conditions. pdf5 ppt5

March 28th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

An Evaluation of the Passing Process through Road – Vehicle Parameters Assessment, March 2023

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. doi

March 21st, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

European Commission – Guidance on Member States for sustainable urban mobility planning, March 2023

The European Commission adopted a Recommendation designed to help Member States support their towns and cities in cutting transport emissions and improving urban mobility. The Commission recommends putting in place national programmes to support urban mobility planning and implementation, managed by a dedicated office. Support for cities should include guidance materials, training programmes and capacity building, as well as technical expertise and financial support. Peer learning and networking between cities and towns will be encouraged through the sharing of good practices and that will lead to reinforcement of road safety.

March 9th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

ITF – Shaping Post-Covid Mobility in Cities, February 2023

The International Transport Forum (ITF) has recently published a new Report titled “Shaping Post-Covid Mobility in Cities“. This Report explores how urban mobility changed during the pandemic, focusing on changes in how people work, examining also implications on safety. Based on a review of international best practices, the report provides recommendations for better urban mobility in a post-Covid world. link pdf5

March 1st, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

ETSC/PACTS – Recommendations on Safety of E-scooters, February 2023

Τhe European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) together with the UK Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) recently published a new Report titled “Recommendations on Safety of E-scooters“. The Report is in response to the rapid growth of e-scooter usage over the last five years and an associated increase in deaths and serious injuries. It takes into account a wide body of available data, hospital studies, vehicle safety testing and research from across Europe and beyond. link

March 1st, 2023|Categories: Data, Knowledge|

Texting while driving: a literature review on driving simulator studies, February 2023

A paper titled “Texting while driving: a literature review on driving simulator studies” authored by Gheorghe-Daniel VoineaRazvan BobocIoana-Diana BuzduganCsaba 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 safetydoi

February 21st, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

PIARC – Boosting Road Safety in LMICs, February 2023

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.  video

February 20th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

iRAP – iRAP Safety Insights Explorer, 2023

iRAP with the suport of FIA Foundation and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) has created the iRAP Safety insights Explorer, which can shine a light on the true scale road crashes, the safety of the world’s roads, and the positive impact that can be made with investment. With the iRAP Safety Insights Explorer you can explore: Estimates of the numbers and types of injuries that occur for every country by age and sex, star Ratings and key design attributes for more than 502,000km of roads in 84 countries, the business case for investing in safer roads, including the life-saving impact of ensuring that most travel occurs on roads rated 3-stars or better for everyone for every country. 

February 20th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge, News|

PIARC – Well-Prepared Projects, 2022

The World Road Association – PIARC recently published a Report titled  “Well-Prepared Projects, A PIARC Collection of Case Studies“. This collection of case studies includes 17 cases from 10 different countries participating in this task force, plus one case dedicated to the use of the SOURCE platform in the preparation of transportation projects. The objective of this collection is to provide a variety of highly relevant examples from the real life. Each case outlines good practices in place in a country with a focus on a particular aspect of the project preparation.

February 13th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

PIARC – Documents Relevant to Road Infrastracture and Transportation Security, 2022

The World Road Association – PIARC recently published a Report titled “Documents Relevant to Road Infrastracture and Transportation Security“. This Literature Review is the first step in the development of a full technical Report on road infrastructure and transport security. The document contains a review of literature on road infrastructure and transport security. The review focuses on the following topics: Legislations and policies, Standards, Studies and researches, PIARC reports, Other reports, Manuals and books, Case studies and best practices, Events and situations. It is also completed with conclusions and recommendations, a glossary and appendices.

February 10th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

PIARC – Good Practices in Maintenance and Traffic Operation of Heavily Trafficked Urban Road Tunnels Report, 2022

The World Road Association – PIARC recently published a Report titled “Good Practices in Maintenance and Traffic Operation of Heavily Trafficked Urban Road Tunnels“. This Report makes amends in detailing the challenges and inherent good practices for maintenance and operation from traffic management, to design and renovation. It was cowritten by a panel of designers, owners, operators, policy makers in the field of tunnels, from around the world taking inspiration from previous PIARC Case Studies.

February 10th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

European Commission – EU Road Safety: Towards “Vision Zero”, 2022

A new publication titled EU Road Safety: Towards “Vision Zero” has been recently published by the European Commission. This publication presents a comprehensive overview of projects managed by CINEA and funded under Horizon 2020-the EU’s R&I programme that develop, test and exploit innovative solutions for a safer road transport. This document calls for a new approach to safe mobility to be achieved by 2030: one rooted in safety as a core value, and not one in which safety may come second to factors such as cost, speed, aesthetics, or profits. It draws on work done in the past few years by the H2020 funded projects.   pdf5

January 19th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

ITF – Improving motorcyclist safety: Priority actions for Safe System integration, December 2022

The International Transport Forum (ITF) has recently published a new Policy Brief titled Improving motorcyclist safety: Priority actions for Safe System integration. This Brief summarizes the current extent of PTW usage worldwide, highlights pressing safety issues for motorcyclists and presents priority actions for improving motorcycling safety. It results from a series of virtual workshops on motorcyclist safety held in 2021 and co-hosted by the ITF and key roadsafety partners. link pdf5

January 19th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

IRTAD – Road Safety Annual Report, 2022

The International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum(ITF/OECD) published the Road Safety Annual Report 2022 focusing on the development of road safety in the year 2021, the first year of the Second Decade of Action. The analysis draws on road safety data from 34 IRTAD member countries. It outlines short‑term trends for the year 2021 and long‑term trends for the period 2010‑19. The Report also presents provisional data on road deaths for the first semester of 2022 (January to June).  pdf5

January 9th, 2023|Categories: Knowledge|

ETSC – Progress in Reducing Drink-driving and other Alcohol-related Road Deaths in Europe, December 2022

Τhe European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has recently published a new Report titled “Progress in Reducing Drink-driving and other Alcohol-related Road Deaths in Europe“. This Report aims to provide an updated overview of the drink-driving situation in Europe, covering 30 countries: 25 Member States of the European Union together with the United Kingdom, Israel, Norway, the Republic of Serbia and Switzerland. It looks at country-by-country progress in reducing road deaths attributed to drink-driving over the past decade.  A range of recommendations for further tackling drink-driving are included for national governments and the EU institutions throughout this Report. link pdf5

December 30th, 2022|Categories: Data, Knowledge|

The transformation of the insurance industry and road safety by driver safety behaviour telematics, December 2022

A paper titled “The transformation of the insurance industry and road safety by driver safety behaviour telematics” authored by Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Virginia Petraki, Armira Kontaxi and  George Yannis, has been published in Case Studies on Transport Policy. The aim of the present research is to expand on the aforementioned topics based on trends from recently published research and discuss the transformation of the insurance industry by driver safety behaviour telematics. An overview of the relevant technological advancements is provided, followed by the integration practices of telematics adopted by the insurance industry.  doi

December 12th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

One year of COVID-19: Impacts on safe driving behavior and policy recommendations, October 2022

A paper titled “One year of COVID-19: Impacts on safe driving behavior and policy recommendations” authored by Eva Michelaraki, Marios Sekadakis, Christos Katrakazas, Apostolos Ziakopoulos and  George Yannis, has been published in Journal of Safety Research. This study presented a descriptive overview of several driving behavior indicators as well as road crash data in correlation with the strictness of response measures in Greece and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The results indicated that during the lockdown periods, speeds were increased by up to 6%, while harsh events were increased by about 35% in the two countries, compared to the period after the confinement. However, the imposition of another lockdown did not cause radical changes in Greek driving behavior during the late months of 2020.  doi

December 1st, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

ETSC – Education in Reducing Deaths among Children and Youngsters, November 2022

Τhe European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published the 2nd LEARN Flash Report titled “The Role of Education in Reducing Deaths among Children and Youngsters on European Roads“. This Report provides an overview of the road safety of children and youngsters across Europe. It focuses on the progress in reducing road deaths during the past decade (2011-2021) as well as differences in road safety between the different countries, age groups as well as genders. It also provides recommendations to improve the provision and quality of traffic safety and mobility education. link pdf5

November 21st, 2022|Categories: Data, Knowledge|

Impact analysis of gasoline price on traffic conditions in Athens, November 2022

An NTUA Diploma Thesis called “Impact analysis of gasoline price on traffic conditions in Athens” was recently presented by Stylianos Peithis. For the purpose of this Diploma Thesis, data concerning traffic conditions, gasoline prices and a wide variety of traffic shaping factors such as weather data was collected. In order to accomplish this thesis’ objective Linear Mixed Effects models with random effect intercept were deployed using as independent variables various metrics with explanative power about traffic volume’s fluctuations. The results showed that the rise of gasoline prices has a negative impact on traffic volume while the impact of other factors such as weather conditions like temperature and rainfall are also substantial. Schools’ vacations, weekends and public holidays also have a decreasing impact in traffic conditions. pdf5 ppt5

November 11th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Imbalanced learning analysis for driving behaviour prediction using naturalistic driving data, November 2022

An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Imbalanced learning analysis for driving behaviour prediction using naturalistic driving data” was recently presented by Antonis Kostopoulos. For the purpose of this Diploma Thesis data was collected through the telematics company OSeven, in order to classify and predict driving behaviour in terms of harsh accelerations and brakings occurences. More precisely this thesis intends to determine the most crucial predictors for the occurrence of harsh events, through a feature selection process and to identify two safety levels for harsh accelerations and brakings using Machine Learning techniques. The imbalanced classification results showcased that the total driving distance was the more impactful variable to harsh events occurence, whilst the best techniques for this particular imbalanced learning process, were achieved by Gradient Boosting and Multilayered Perceptrons algorithms. pdf5 ppt5

November 11th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Analysis of distraction characteristics due to mobile phone use in Greece, October 2022

An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Analysis of distraction characteristics due to mobile phone use in Greece” was recently presented by Marilena Merakou. The data used for the statistical analysis were collected from field measurements during November-December 2021 in Greece. The collected data are related to distraction measurements but also to driver’s age and gender, the type of vehicle, the weather conditions, the time period and the road type in three areas (in and around Athens, Thessaloniki and Larisa). The results demonstrate that old and middle aged drivers are less likely to use mobile phone while driving than younger drivers. It was also found, that van drivers tend to use mobile phone more often than drivers of any other vehicle type. pdf5 ppt5

November 11th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

PIARC – Utilizing Data to Optimize Road Network Operations Report, 2022

The World Road Association – PIARC recently published a Report titled “Utilizing Data to Optimize Road Network Operations“. This work builds on the “Big Data for Road Network Operations” report from the 2016-2019 PIARC work cycle by providing current, real world examples of current application of big data concepts. The case studies included in this Report represent the current state of practice and highlight the progress being made by road network operators to utilize the growing amount of data available for road network operations. 

November 8th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

VINCI Autoroutes – Sharing the Road: Europeans and responsible driving 2022 Edition, October 2022

The Fondation VINCI Autoroutes has recently published the results of a unique study on “Sharing the road”. This Ipsos survey offers an overview of the behaviour of Europeans dealing with the coexistence of different modes of transport. This includes drivers of cars and motorised two-wheelers, cyclists, users of personal light electric vehicles (PLEVs) and pedestrians. According to the results, Greece has the highest rate of drivers (77%) who use the phone while driving in Europe (EU average 66%). 89% of Greek cyclists are afraid of other road users’ behaviour and 58% of them wear helmet when cycling. Moreover, 98% of Greek motorised two-wheelers fear the behaviour of other road users. On the other hand, 26% of Greek drivers open the door without checking if a cyclist is coming, whereas the European average is 36%.   pdf5

November 4th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Digitalisation for Sustainable Infrastructure : The Road Ahead, October 2022

A new book titled “Digitalisation for Sustainable Infrastructure : The Road Ahead” has been published on October 2022, highlighting the importance of technology and digitalisation and the tremendous impact they have on infrastructure worldwide. This book was edited by Carlo Secchi and Alessandro Gili and was published by the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI).  NTUA Associate Professor George Yannis and Research Associate Apostolos Ziakopoulos actively contributed with the following chapters :

November 2nd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge, Uncategorized|

Global NCAP Fleet Safety Guide 2022

The Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP) has recently developed the Fleet Safety Guide 2022 , under the title “Global NCAP Fleet Safety Guide And Safer Vehicle Purchasing Policy”. Ensuring safer fleet purchasing decisions will not only help safeguard the safety of their staff, but also help accelerate the global uptake of safe vehicles and contribute to the United Nations (UN) Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 target to achieve at least a 50% reduction in road fatalities and injuries by 2030. This important guide provides recommendations on vehicle selection using NCAP ‘five star’ ratings and identifies the most important UN safety standards for passenger cars. Importantly, it also now includes recommendations for commercial vehicle categories and motorcycles.  pdf5

November 1st, 2022|Categories: Knowledge, News|

Investigating the Temporal Evolution of Driving Safety Efficiency Using Data Collected from Smartphone Sensors, May 2021

A paper titled “Investigating the Temporal Evolution of Driving Safety Efficiency Using Data Collected from Smartphone Sensors” authored by Dimitrios Tselentis, Eleni Vlahogianni and George Yannis, has been published in Accident Analysis and Prevention. Initial data analysis results to the most critical components of microscopic driving behaviour, which are used as inputs in the k-means algorithm to perform the clustering analysis. The main driving characteristics of each cluster are identified and lead to the conclusion that there are three main driving groups of the a) moderate drivers, b) unstable drivers and c) cautious drivers. doi

October 31st, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

ITF/OECD – Monitoring Progress in Urban Road Safety, October 2022

The International Transport Forum (ITF) has published a new Report titled Monitoring Progress in Urban Road Safety: 2022 Update. This Report tracks the progress in reducing the number of road traffic fatalities and serious injuries in cities between 2010 and 2020. It is a unique combination of traffic safety data collected in 32 cities participating in the ITF Safer City Streets network and compares trends in urban and national road safety. link pdf5

October 17th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

The role of values in road safety culture: Examining the relationship between valuation of freedom to take risk and accident risk among motorcycle riders and car drivers, August 2022

A paper titled “The role of values in road safety culture: Examining the relationship between valuation of freedom to take risk and accident risk among motorcycle riders and car drivers” authored by Tor-Olav Naevestad, Alexandra Laiou and George Yannis, has been published in Traffic Safety Research. The present study was based on survey data from car drivers and motorcycle riders from two countries with distinctly different road safety records: Norway and Greece. The results indicated that values focusing on freedom to take risk have an important role in road safety culture, presumably legitimizing and motivating risky driving/riding. doi

October 5th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

PIARC – State of the Art in Road Design Standards, 2022

The World Road Association – PIARC recently published a Report titled “State of the Art in Road Design Standards“. The document aims to identify similarities and differences between the approaches adopted in different countries and evaluates the possible need of their adaptation to the requirements of a rapidly changing world in the field of road transport systems: new technologies, changes in mobility modes (new propulsion techniques, new personal transport mode, and connected and autonomous driving) and availability of multiple diffused data sources. 

 

October 4th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

ETSC – Reducing Child Deaths on European Roads 43rd PIN Flash Report, September 2022

Τhe European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published the 43rd PIN Flash Report titled Reducing Child Deaths on European Roads. This report examines the latest data on child road deaths from across the EU and other countries that form part of ETSC’s Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) programme. It also looks at the main measures for reducing the risks to children including mobility policies and improved infrastructure, child restraint systems, vehicle safety, helmet use, pre-hospital care and licensing of young drivers who, in some countries, are able to ride a moped or scooter at the age of 14. link pdf5

September 26th, 2022|Categories: Data, Knowledge|

Evaluating Good Practices for the promotion of Electromobility using Multi Criteria Analysis Methods, September 2022

A paper titled “Evaluating Good Practices for the promotion of Electromobility using Mul-ti Criteria Analysis Methods” authored by Athanasios Zirganos, Foteini OrfanouEleni I. Vlahogianni and  George Yannis, is published in Case Studies on Transport Policy. For the purpose of this work , 20 Good Practices implemented in 9 European Regions aiming at diffusing electromobility were selected for applying the proposed methodology. The results showed that practices offering significant environmental benefits and improved energy systems, received higher scores than those contributing in raising public awareness or proving an advantage of electric vehicles over the conventional ones.  doi

September 22nd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Risk factors linked with elderly, truck and office worker drivers: a literature review in light of automated driving, June 2022

A paper titled “Risk factors linked with elderly, truck and office worker drivers: a literature review in light of automated driving” authored by Marios Sekadakis, Christos Katrakazas, Peter Mörtl, Erika Santuccio and George Yannis, has been published in Advances in Transportation Studies. This study tries to identify and review risk factors that impact road safety and driving performance focusing more on three types of users, namely elderly drivers, truck operators, and office workers. The literature review was conducted using popular databases such as Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Scopus using specific search terms and prioritization criteria for studies coming mainly from Europe and the U.S, and after 2005. The aforementioned review will be exploited by the HADRIAN project, like any other HMI stakeholder, in order to develop a human-centered assessment methodology that will evaluate the way the human interacts with potential HMI configurations. Finally, the reviewed risk factors could guide stakeholders in accomplishing a safer transition from manual to autonomous driving for all road users. doi

September 21st, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Investigation of traffic and safety behavior of pedestrians while talking on mobile phone, June 2022

A paper titled “Investigation of traffic and safety behavior of pedestrians while talking on mobile phone” authored by Dimitra Typa, Dimitris Nikolaou and George Yannis, has been published in Advances in Transportation Studies. This study aims to investigate how hand-held cell phone conversation affects the behavior of pedestrians at signalized intersections in terms of both safety and traffic. In order to compare the behavior of distracted and non-distracted pedestrians, an outdoor environment experiment was carried out in real road conditions. Various demographic and behavioral characteristics were recorded, including mobile phone use. Initially, multiple linear regression models were developed in order to identify how cell phone use affects pedestrians’ speed. The results of the developed statistical models showed that pedestrians’ main traffic and safety characteristics were negatively impacted by distraction from hand-held cell phone conversation, as mobile phone use not only reduces pedestrians’ speed but also increases the likelihood that they will be involved in a collision with an approaching vehicle. doi

September 21st, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Driving Behaviour and its correlation with COVID-19 response measures: A neural network forecasting analysis, October 2022

A paper titled “Driving Behaviour and its correlation with COVID-19 response measures: A neural network forecasting analysis” authored by Marios Sekadakis, Christos Katrakazas, Eva Michelaraki and  George Yannis, is published in Journal of Transportation Engineering. The NNAR modeling results showed that with higher stringency index, mobile use and driving speed tend to increase, whereas speeding duration demonstrates higher peaks. Interestingly, with stricter response measures, lower values were forecasted for speeding. According to the modeling outcomes, there is a direct effect of the COVID-19 response measures on driving behavior.  doi

September 21st, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

A state-of-practice Review on Crash Occurrence Analysis and Hazardous Location Identification, June 2022

A paper titled “A state-of-practice Review on Crash Occurrence Analysis and Hazardous Location Identification” authored by Paola Tiberi, Antonino Tripodi, Anastasios Dragomanovits, Katerina Deliali and  George Yannis, has been published in Advances in Transportation Studies. This study provided a state-of-practice review of the international literature on methods and applied practices for the identification of hazardous locations based on crash occurrence analysis. The analysis identified and summarized differences and similarities in the various methods and applied practices. Overall, this review is useful for practitioners so that they can identify potential ways of improving their applied crash occurrence methodology, while it will also inform researchers on paths for future research in the field of crash and safety analysis. doi

September 21st, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Cost benefit and acceptance analysis of reducing speed limits in Athens to 30km/h, July 2022

An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Cost benefit and acceptance analysis of reducing speed limits in Athens to 30km/h” was recently presented by Stella Roussou. This Diploma modeled Athenians preferences on speed limit reduction and performed the respective socio-economic cost benefit analysis (CBA) of the reduction of crashes and respective casualties, the costs incurred due to the increase in travel time and the benefit from reducing fuel consumption and environmental impact (CO2, NOx, PM emissions). The CBA revealed that the 30km/h speed limit is deemed economically highly viable and worth of implementing. pdf5 ppt5

September 19th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Critical factors of pedestrians self-declared behaviour and safety in Greece, July 2022

An NTUA Diploma Thesis called “Critical factors of pedestrians self-declared behaviour and safety in Greece” was recently presented by Alexandros Ntontis. For the purpose of this Diploma Thesis, two binary logistic regression models and a Structural Equation Model (SEM) were developed, using data from the second edition of the ESRA survey. The results showed that a pedestrian who will engage more frequently in crossing the road with red pedestrian light is more likely to also engage in crossing the road at places other than at a nearby pedestrian crossing. pdf5 ppt5

September 19th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

World Bank/GRSF – Motorization Management for Development Report, May 2022

The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) has published a Knowledge Report titled Motorization Management for Development: An Integrated Approach to Improving Vehicles for Sustainable Mobility. This Report presents the World Bank’s Motorization Management (MM) framework, which is intended to support client countries in the development of policies and measures aimed at managing vehicle stocks in a proactive, phased, and systematic manner to make them safer, cleaner, and more fuel efficient. The MM framework reflects a series of policy considerations and programs that can be implemented to improve the quality of fuels and vehicles in a country’s stock.  pdf5

September 5th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

CAREC/ADB – Road Safety Engineering Manual 5: Star Ratings for Road Safety Audit, June 2022

CAREC and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have recently co-published a Road Safety Engineering Manual titled “Star Ratings for Road Safety Audit“. This system, Star Ratings for Road Safety Audits, will help policy makers and practitioners involved in designing, upgrading, and rehabilitating roads to meet safety targets and reduce injuries from traffic accidentslink pdf5

August 26th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

ERTRAC – Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility Roadmap, February 2022

The European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC) published the Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility Roadmap, as part of the ERTRAC Roadmaps. According to the Report, in 2050, vehicles will have 100% real-time connectivity on the relevant road network and the transport management system will have the appropriate quality of service level, also for remote operation. All newly registered vehicles will have automation but in different levels.  link  pdf5 

August 23rd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Public Acceptability of Environmentally Linked Congestion and Parking Charging Policies in Greek Urban Centers, July 2022

A paper titled “Public Acceptability of Environmentally Linked Congestion and Parking Charging Policies in Greek Urban Centers” authored by Virginia Petraki, Panagiotis PapantoniouAsimina Korentzelou and George Yannis, is published in Sustainability. A structural equation model (SEM) was developed using data from a questionnaire survey which provided a sample encompassing 733 respondent drivers from three main urban centers of Greece: Athens, Thessaloniki and Volos. Several statistical relationships were detected and quantified correlating the two examined urban environmental charging policies with five latent unobserved variables. Based on the results, public acceptability of environmental congestion charging policies and the public acceptability of environmental parking charging policies were found to be positively correlated with each other, meaning that a driver who supports one environmentally linked transport charging policy is more likely to support the other one as well.  doi

August 22nd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Data-driven estimation of a driving safety tolerance zone using imbalanced machine learning, July 2022

A paper titled “Data-driven estimation of a driving safety tolerance zone using imbalanced machine learning” authored by Thodoris GarefalakisChristos Katrakazas and George Yannis, has been published in Sensors. This paper proposes a framework to identify the level of risky driving behavior as well as the duration of the time spent in each risk level by private car drivers. The results showed that Random Forests and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) outperformed the rest of the classifiers with 84% and 82% overall accuracy, respectively, and that the maximum speed of the vehicle during a 30-second interval, is the most crucial predictor for identifying the driving time at each safety leveldoi

August 22nd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Analysis of speeding characteristics in Greece, July 2022

An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Analysis of speeding characteristics in Greece” was recently presented by Spyridon Krouskos. The data used for the statistical analysis were collected in the period of November-December of 2021 in Greece, and were related to vehicle speed measurements, but also to the simultaneous recording of the type of vehicle, the type of road, the weather conditions and the time period. The results showed that motorcycle drivers are more likely to exceed the speed limit than passenger car drivers, while it was estimated that the opposite is true for the other types of vehicles. It was also found that drivers on urban roads are more likely to exceed speed limits than drivers on motorways. pdf5 ppt5

August 22nd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Detection of dangerous driver behavior with widescale data from smart recording systems and machine learning techniques, July 2022

A NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Detection of dangerous driver behavior with widescale data from smart recording systems and machine learning techniques” was recently presented by Hector Kamvoussioras. For the purpose of this Diploma Thesis, data were collected through a simulator experiment in order to classify and predict driving behaviour. Ridge classifier, Support Vector Machine, Random Forest and XGBoost models were developed. It was revealed that Random Forests and XGBoost models showed the most reliable results in the prediction ability, with 95% accuracy of the three driver categories (i.e. normal, dangerous, avoidable accident). Speed, headway and hands on the wheel found to be the most important variables to predict crash risk. pdf5 ppt5

August 22nd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Comparative analysis of socioeconomic indicators on road safety in the Greek Regions, July 2022

An NTUA Diploma Thesis titled “Comparative analysis of socioeconomic indicators on road safety in the Greek Regions” was recently presented by Nikolaos Papadopoulos. A cluster analysis was performed leading to four clusters: Islands, Western & Southern mainland Greece, Northern mainland Greece and Attica. The results depicted the different geographical characteristics, economic level, mobility patterns and road behaviors of the regions, which are also reflected in road safety outcomes.  pdf5 ppt5

August 22nd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

LEVITATE – Policy Support Tool for CCAM impacts, July 2022

The LEVITATE Policy Support Tool (PST) is publicly available as developed within EU Horizons 2020 research project LEVITATE with the active contribution of NTUA. The LEVITATE PST is the go-to, one-stop-shop to support decisions on Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) related interventions. It is designed as an open access, web-based system that provides interested users with access to LEVITATE methodologies and results. It contains Forecasting, Backcasting and CBA estimator capabilities as well as a rich Knowledge module serving as background and scientific repository supporting the ensemble of quantitative and qualitative estimates produced from the PST.  video

The related NTUA presentation was titled LEVITATE – Policy Support Tool  ppt5

July 26th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge, News|

Identification of driver’s risky behavior level and duration with machine learning techniques, March 2022

An NTUA Diploma Thesis called “Identification of driver’s risky behavior level and duration with machine learning techniques” was recently presented by Theodoros Garefalakis. For the purpose of this Diploma Thesis, high resolution data related to driving behavior were collected through a driving simulator experiment. In the first part of the analysis, four machine learning algorithms were developed to classify driver behavior into one of three risk levels, with the ‘Random Forests’ algorithm scoring the highest performance. In the context of investigating the influence of driving factors to identify driving behavior, the distance traveled, speed and speed limit emerged as the most important. In the second part of the analysis, the effect of driving characteristics on driving duration at different stages was examined through three regression algorithms. The results showed that the maximum speed was the most important variable, which negatively affects the driving duration at each safety levelpdf5 ppt5

July 23rd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Impact of Pandemic on National and International Air Transport Demand at Athens International Airport, March 2022

An NTUA Diploma Thesis called “Impact of Pandemic on National and International Air Transport Demand at Athens International Airport” was recently presented by Stamatios Tsakoulis. This Diploma Thesis investigated the factors of the pandemic that influenced the air transport demand at Athens Airport and revealed that the rate of vaccination coverage of the population is the most critical variable of recovery of air traffic while the severity of the lockdown is an important inhibitory factor. In addition to that, low-cost airlines showed the highest correlation with air traffic, while airlines with chartered flights in countries with temporary traffic had a significant influence. pdf5 ppt5

July 23rd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Free Public Transport in Attica Region, March 2022

An NTUA Diploma Thesis called “Free Public Transport in Attica Region” was recently presented by Vaggelis Goulas. This Diploma Thesis revealed that the possibility of changing means of free public transport depends largely on the cost, time, comfort, beliefs, transportation characteristics and demographic characteristics of the respondents. The faster and more comfortable the journey, regardless of cost reduction, the more likely it is to opt for free public transport instead of staying in the existing means of transport. pdf5 ppt5

July 23rd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Impact of texting and web surfing on driving behavior and safety in rural roads, June 2022

A paper titled “Impact of texting and web surfing on driving behavior and safety in rural roads” authored by Marios SekadakisFoteini Orfanou, Dimosthenis Pavlou, Maria Oikonomou, Christos Katrakazas and George Yannis, is published in International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology. For the purpose of the study, driving data were gathered through a driving simulator experiment with 37 young drivers. Additionally, a survey was conducted to collect their demographic characteristics and driving behavior preferences. During the experiment, the drivers were distracted using contemporary smartphone internet applications i.e., Facebook Messenger, Facebook and Google Maps. In the end, the results showed that driving behavior and safety among young drivers were both significantly affected by the investigated internet applicationsdoi

July 22nd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

European Commission – Launch of public consultation on vehicle roadworthiness rules, July 2022

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on a revision of the rules governing the roadworthiness of vehicles in the EU, planned for mid-2023. The results of the public consultation will feed into the revision of the EU’s roadworthiness rules, including those on periodic roadworthiness testing, roadside inspections for commercial vehicles, and vehicle document registration. The Commission invites all those interested to express their opinions on the impact of the current legal framework, as well on the possible policy measures that could be taken and the impact they may have 

 

July 19th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Innovative road safety measures, June 2022

A paper titled “Innovative road safety measures” authored by Stergios Mavromatis and  George Yannis, has been published in Advances in Transportation Studies an international Journal. Τhis editorial collection represents a snapshot of current advancements in innovative road safety measures focusing on roadway infrastructure, safety modelling, human
factors, vulnerable road users and automated driving. Some key conclusions arisen from the present Special Issue comprise of the need of co-consideration of all crash factors for accurate results, the importance of digitalisation and technological advancements on boosting road safety, and the significance of implementing innovative and evidence based road safety measures for multiplying the safety benefits. doi

July 12th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

European Commission – New Vehicle General Safety Regulation, July 2022

The European Commision put the new Vehicle General Safety Regulation into effect.  The rules for the advanced driver assistant systems will first apply to new vehicle types from 6 July 2022 and to all new vehicles from 7 July 2024. The new safety measures will enhance the protection of passengers, pedestrians and cyclists across the EU, expectedly saving over 25,000 lives and avoid at least 140,000 serious injuries by 2038.   pdf5

July 12th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

ITF – The Safe System Approach in Action, June 2022

The International Transport Forum (ITF) published recently a new Report titled The Safe System Approach in Action with the active participation of NTUA. Road crashes kill over 1.3 million people every year worldwide and seriously injure millions more. A Safe System approach to road safety can drastically reduce road deaths – but how can it actually be put in place? This Report provides experience-based guidance on implementing the Safe System approach worldwide.  link  pdf5

June 30th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

European Commission – European Road Safety Observatory, January 2022

The European Commission has added to its library of European Road Safety Observatory road safety data and analytical resources with the publication of Thematic Reports on the use of seatbelts and child restraint systemsserious injuries through road crashes and on driver impairment due to alcohol, drugs and medicines. The aim of these Reports is to aid understanding of the causes and impacts of road crashes, with the ultimate aim of achieving “vision zero” of zero road deaths or serious injuries in Europe’s roads by 2050. 

June 19th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

European Commission – Launch of EU pilot projects to assess safety of infrastructure, May 2022

The European Commission has launched EU pilot projects to assess safety of infrastructure. These pilot projects are carried out to test methodologies for the network-wide road assessments developed with the active contribution of NTUA, required under the Road Infrastructure Safety Management Directive (RISM). The Network-wide road assessments allow national authorities to identify those sections of road where the opportunities to improve safety are the greatest and where targeted investment should deliver the biggest improvements. 

June 19th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

European Commission – International Level Crossing Awareness Day, June 2022

The European Commission marked the International Level Crossing Awareness Day. Almost 300 people per year die in crashes at level crossings, representing around 30% of all railway deaths. The Commission has published a thematic report on this issue, setting out the situation regarding collisions at level crossings and measures the that could be taken to prevent them. In the Western Balkans region, the Transport Community has launched an awareness campaign to try to reduce the number and severity of collisions at railway crossings

June 19th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

World Bank/GRSF – Detecting Urban Clues for Road Safety Report, May 2022

The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) has published a Report titled Detecting Urban Clues for Road Safety: Leveraging Big Data and Machine Learning Report. The Report presents opportunities to use new technologies to improve current methods for data collection and analysis for various road safety assessments. This guidance note provides a practical guide for using new data sources and analytical methods for road safety analysis in different types of projects that may impact road infrastructure or risk-related factors.  pdf5

June 19th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

WHO – Road Safety Manual on Drink-Driving, May 2022

The World Health Oganisation (WHO) recently published the revised edition of the Manual on Drink-Driving: A Road Safety Manual for Decision-Makers and Practitioners. The Manual provides guidance for decision-makers and practitioners to reduce the prevalence of drink driving and associated road trauma. It draws on experience from countries that have succeeded in achieving and sustaining reductions in alcohol-related road trauma, and includes recommendations for developing and implementing drink driving legislation, and advice on how to monitor and evaluate progress.  pdf5

June 19th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Modelling the relationship between covid-19 restrictive measures and mobility patterns across Europe using time-series analysis, May 2022

A paper titled “Modelling the relationship between covid-19 restrictive measures and mobility patterns across Europe using time-series analysis” authored by Marianthi Kallidoni, Christos Katrakazas and George Yannis is published in European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research. Data on walking and traffic were exploited and several time series analysis models were developed, in order to estimate mobility during pandemic in 25 EU countries. School closing was found to be the most important exogenous factor for describing driving or walking, while “Stay at home” orders had not a significant effect on the evolution of people movements. doi

May 31st, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

European Commission – Prevention of Driving under the Influence of Alcohol and Drugs Study, February 2022

The European Commission published a Study titled Prevention of Driving under the Influence of Alcohol and Drugs. Among its conclusions, the Study argues in particular that taking steps to mitigate drink driving, such as lower permitted blood alcohol levels or alcohol interlocks, would be particularly relevant for young or novice drivers and for drivers of heavy goods vehicles. However, it also finds that there is a lack of data on drug-driving fatalities and a need to develop more accurate and usable drugs screening devices

March 28th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

World Bank/GRSF – Road Safety in Africa Reports, March 2022

The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) has published 4 Reports on Road Safety in Africa: Road Safety Data in Africa, Africa Status Report on Road Safety in Africa, Road Safety Strategies for African Cities and Road Safety Culture in Africa (with the active contribution of NTUA), analysing findings for road safety on the African continent. The main goal of these Reports is to support the quest for reaching the target of a 50% reduction of road fatalities in the Africa by 2030   

March 22nd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

World Bank – Saving Lives Through Private Investment Report, March 2022

World Bank published a Knowledge Report titled Saving Lives Through Private Investment in Road Safety. This Report examines the enabling environment for structuring investable road safety projects in a sample of countries, looking at the barriers and opportunities, and proposing risks and mitigation strategies, like blended finance mechanisms and stable revenue sources, for long-term sustainability of road safety investments.  pdf5

March 22nd, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

HADRIAN – Newsletter, March 2022

The Horizon 2020 project HADRIAN  (Holistic Approach for Driver Role Integration and Automation Allocation for European Mobility Needs) issued recently the 2nd Newsletter, with updates on the main project activities, focusing on studying the effects of haptic feedback, optimized head-up displays, adding predictability of the automated drive, and improved visual and auditory display elements and many more – all in the context of a holistic view on automated driving

March 16th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

IRTAD – Road Safety Strategies and targets for the Decade 2021-2030, Webinar, March 2022

The International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) organised with great success the Road Safety Strategies and targets for the Decade 2021-2030 Webinar, which was held online, on 10 March 2022. The Webinar focused on new road safety strategies and targetsNTUA contributed actively with the following presentation:

March 15th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

ETSC – How Traffic Law Enforcement Can Contribute to Safer Roads 42nd PIN Flash Report, March 2022

Τhe European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has published the 42nd PIN Flash Report titled How Traffic Law Enforcement Can Contribute to Safer Roads with the active contribution of NTUA. Exceeding speed limits, drink- or distracted- driving, and failure to wear a seatbelt are among the important factors leading to death and serious injury on European roads. Road safety laws have been adopted to guide drivers in their behaviour. Many comply with them willingly. Others, however, would be less likely to comply if it were not for fear of being detected and sanctioned. This is where traffic law enforcement comes in. This Report gives an overview of the current state of road traffic enforcement across the EU, with recommendations for action.  link pdf5

March 15th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

TSR – Report on Driver Attitudes Towards Vehicle Safety Technology, March 2022

Together for Safer Roads Global Coalition published a Report titled Driver Attitudes Towards Vehicle Safety Technology.  Fleet Managers now have access to GPS-based telematics and in-cab driver assistance technology that is often paired with in-cab dash cameras—all of which can keep drivers and the public safe. Since many drivers and even some managers are critical of the technology, significantly impacting adoption and use, this Report helps to better understand what makes drivers reluctant to adopt in-cab camera technology and identify what can be done to positively influence perceptions.

March 8th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Spatial predictions of harsh driving events using statistical and machine learning methods, June 2022

A paper titled “Spatial predictions of harsh driving events using statistical and machine learning methods” authored by Apostolos ZiakopoulosEleni Vlachogianni, Constantinos Antoniou and George Yannis is published in Safety Science. Spatial models including Geographically Weighted Poisson Regression, Bayesian Conditional autoregressive models (CAR), and variations of EXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) are implemented. The purpose is to: (i) explore parameters affecting frequencies of harsh driving events through causal spatial models in an urban road network and (ii) assess the predictive performance of models by testing the transferable components of these models in a new urban network test area. The models are trained and evaluated in terms of accuracy and transferability for Harsh Breaking (HB) predictions in separate areas of Athens, Greece. Findings indicate key geometrical characteristics affecting HB frequencies per road segmentdoi

February 25th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Development of a Roadmap for the Implementation of a Sustainable Mobility Action Plan in University Campuses of Emerging Countries, January 2022

A paper titled “Development of a Roadmap for the Implementation of a Sustainable Mobility Action Plan in University Campuses of Emerging Countries” authored by Tormo-Lancero M., Valero-Mora P., Sanmartin J., Sánchez-García M., Papantoniou P., Yannis G., Alonso F. and Campos-Díaz E. is published in Frontiers in Sustainable Cities. In this paper a customizable standardized Roadmap design is proposed, which consists of two documents: a tactical document that provides a global and sequential vision of the entire plan, and an operational document that details the actions for each strategic line. This roadmap is accompanied by a catalog of objectives, measures, and cost and impact indicators. This design might be instructive for universities because of its universal characteristics in Emerging Countries. To ensure this, it is necessary to apply this roadmap and carry out the corresponding evaluation. doi

February 25th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

World Bank – Guidelines for Conducting Road Safety Data Reviews, February 2022

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.  

February 21st, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Driving and Alzheimer’s Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment: A systematic review of the existing guidelines emphasizing on the neurologist’s role, November 2021

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. doi

February 20th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

The role of values in road safety culture: Examining the valuation of freedom to take risk, risk taking and accident involvement in three countries, January 2022

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, Tova Rosenbloom, Rune Elvikand  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. doi

February 18th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

HMIT – New Information System of Transportation Services, February 2022

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. 

February 18th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

ITF – Streets That Fit: Re-allocating Space for Better Cities, February 2022

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.  pdf5

February 17th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

ITF – Road Safety in Cities: Street Design and Traffic Management Solutions, February 2022

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.  pdf5

February 17th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

PIARC – Road Related Data and How to Use it Report, 2020

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. 

January 17th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

PIARC – Smart Roads Classification Report, 2021

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. 

January 17th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

PIARC – Improving Road Tunnel Resilience Report, 2021

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. 

January 17th, 2022|Categories: Knowledge|

Eltis – Topic Guide on Safe Use of Micromobility Devices, December 2021

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).  pdf5

December 28th, 2021|Categories: Knowledge|

IRTAD – Road Safety Annual Report 2021

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.  pdf5

December 28th, 2021|Categories: Knowledge|

International Encyclopedia of Transportation, May 2021

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: 

 

December 19th, 2021|Categories: Knowledge|