The European Transport Safety Council presented recently a Review on vulnerable riders and safety implications in the EU, including recommendations on how to improve PTW safety in Europe.
A research titled ‘Testing a framework for the efficiency assessment of road safety measures’ co-authored by G.Yannis, V.Gitelman, E.Papadimitriou, A.S.Hakkert and M.Winkelbauer was published in the Journal Transport Reviews in May 2008. An exhaustive review of standard methodologies and practices related to cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses was carried out. Moreover, a number of case-studies are performed, concerning the efficiency assessment of various road safety measures in different countries. The procedures and barriers involved in the use of efficiency assessment techniques at different levels of decision-making are also highlighted, by means of feedback received during and after the various case-studies. 
The third good practice manual, titled ‘Speed management: A road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners’, jointly prepared by GRSP, WHO, the FIA Foundation and the World Bank, on speed management, was launched by GRSP ahead of the United Nations General Assembly discussion on road safety later this month. Speed has been identified as a key risk factor in road traffic injuries, influencing both the risk of a road traffic crash as well as the severity of the injuries that result from crashes. 
In April 2008, CEDR published a report titled ‘Best Practice for Cost-Effective Road Safety Infrastructure Investments‘. The report was drawn up by the NTUA. This Synthesis can be considered as a complete proposal for best practice on road safety investments, which could be used as a reference by any Road Authority for the selection of the most appropriate road safety interventions.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Impact of mobile phone use on vehicle speed’ was presented by Xenia Karekla and Froso Kontodima in March 2008. An experimental process in real road conditions was carried out. Linear and lognormal regression methods were used to investigate the influence of mobile phone use and certain other parameters in the variable examined. From the models application it appears that the mobile phone use leads to statistically significant decrease of traffic speed. Furthermore, men and women drivers reduce the traffic speed similarly when they are using mobile phone. 
In February 2008, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning motorway safety. Over 3,200 people are killed annually on EU motorways. The number represents just 8% of the total number of road deaths in the EU and has been going down steadily. The motorways are safest in Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Great Britain, where less than two people are killed on average for every billion km driven. The number of deaths on EU motorways has been decreasing in 2001-2006 by 5% yearly, yet it has clearly tended to increase in Greece, Sweden, Hungary and Slovenia.
A research titled ‘Assessment of pedestrian safety measures in Europe’ co-authored by G.Yannis, G Kanellaidis, J.Dimitropoulos and N. Muhlrad was published in ITE Journal in December 2007. An extensive hierarchical inventory of pedestrian safety measures took place, classifying them according to the functions served and the main safety problems addressed. This comprehensive synthesis showed that mechanisms should be ensured for converting policy into practice at the level of “street design” and guaranteeing coordination between actors of different responsibilities and disciplinary backgrounds.
A research titled ‘A mixed logit model for the sensitivity analysis of Greek drivers’ behaviour towards enforcement for road safety’ co-authored by G.Yannis and C.Antoniou from NTUA, was published in the Journal European Transport in December 2007. Traffic violations are among the leading causes of road accidents. In this research, the sensitivity of Greek drivers to a hypothetical intensification of police enforcement for speed violations and improper overtaking is analyzed, using stated preference data. It can be argued that while the “typical” Greek driver may not be particularly risk-prone, there are segments of the population that show a tendency to violate traffic laws.
In December 2007, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning roads safety of motorcyclists. In 2006 at least 6200 Powered Two-Wheeler (PTW) riders were killed in road crashes in the EU representing 16% of the total number of road deaths while accounting for only 2% of the total kilometres driven. Norway, Switzerland, Denmark and Finland are the least dangerous places to ride, with average rider deaths between 30 and 45 per billion kilometres. While Greece, among other countries, is just below the EU average of 86 riders killed per billion km.
A research titled ‘Mobility patterns of moped and motorcycle riders in Greece’ co-authored by G.Yannis, J.Golias, I.Spyropoulou and E.Papadimitriou from NTUA, was published in the Journal Trasportation Research Record in December 2007. A nationwide travel survey targeted at two-wheeler and passenger car active drivers was carried out. The results of the survey were exploited in two ways; first, the usage of the examined vehicle types in Greece was investigated in relation to driver characteristics, through the calculation of the respective sample distributions. The results demonstrated a clear difference between vehicle ownership rates and vehicle usage rates per vehicle type.
A research titled ‘Modelling crossing behaviour and accident risk of pedestrians’ co-authored by G.Yannis, J.Golias and E.Papadimitriou from NTUA, was published in the Journal of Transportation Engineering in November 2007. A methodology for modeling pedestrians crossing behavior along an urban trip is presented, as well as an algorithm for the estimation of accident risk along the trip. For that purpose, existing models are exploited and further developed.
The European Commission has recently adopted the proposal for a Directive on Road Safety Infrastructure Management dealing with a package of instruments ensuring that safety is integrated in all phases of planning, design and operation of road infrastructure.
A research titled ‘Measuring accident risk exposure for pedestrians in different micro-environments’ co-authored by S.Lassarre, E.Papadimitriou, G.Yannis and J.Golias was published in the Journal Accident Analysis and Prevention in November 2007. A model of pedestrians’ crossing behaviour along a trip is developed, based on a hierarchical choice between junctions and mid-block locations and taking account of origin and destination, traffic characteristics and pedestrian facilities. A complete framework is produced for modelling pedestrians’ exposure in the light of their crossing behaviour. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated on an artificial network and a first set of results is obtained from the validation of the models in observational studies.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has launched the Road Safety Legislation Database, containing information on legislation around a number of risk factors for road traffic injuries – speed limits, seat belt and child restraint use, helmet use, blood alcohol limits, daytime running lamps, mobile phone use.
The second IN-SAFETY workshop took place in Brussels in October 2007. The overriding objective of the workshop was to gather the views of the audience on the near-final results of the IN-SAFETY project. This provided an overview of the pilot tests undertaken in a real traffic environment in Athens, Turin and Stuttgart and in a driving simulator in Sweden.
A research titled ‘Effects of driver nationality and road characteristics on accident fault risk’ co-authored G. Yannis, J. Golias and E. Papadimitriou from NTUA, was published in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion in September 2007. Data from the national accident database of Greece were used to calculate accident relative fault risk rates under induced exposure assumptions. A log-linear analysis was then used to examine first- and higher-order effects within three or more variable groups. Results clearly indicate that foreign drivers in Greece are at increased risk.
The European Union Road Federation (ERF), the Brussels programme of the International Road Federation (IRF), issued a discussion paper highlighting all aspects of Safety on Motorway Workzones, containing not only analyses but also best practices, proposals for all stakeholders and complete references to existing work in the field.
A research titled ‘Road casualties and enforcement: distributional assumptions of serially correlated count data’ co-authored by G.Yannis, C.Antoniou and E.Papadimitriou from the NTUA, was published in the Journal Traffic Injury and Prevention in September 2007. Road safety data are often in the form of counts and usually temporally correlated. Using the generalized linear model framework, four distributional assumptions are considered: normal, Poisson, quasi-Poisson and negative binomial, and appropriate models are estimated. Monthly casualty and police enforcement data from Greece for a period of six years (January 1998–December 2003) have been used.
A research titled ‘Road Safety in Greece’ authored by G.Yannis from NTUA, was published in September 2007 in the Journal of IATSS. Basic characteristics such as population, road network length and development of the car ownership for the last ten years, road accident and casualty trends are presented. Moreover, the trends related to the enforcement of driving infringements related to road safety are presented. Road accident characteristics by road user characteristics and area type as well as road accident risk rates by vehicle type, age and gender of the driver and vehicle type and area type are finally presented.
The World Road Association (PIARC) presented recently the Guidelines for Road Accident Investigation for Road Engineers, aiming to assist road engineers detect the road infrastructure deficiencies that influence an accident’s occurrence, and to guide them in the implementation of appropriate improvement measures.
A research titled ‘Accident risk of foreign drivers in various road environments’ co-authored by G.Yannis, J.Gollias and E.Papadimitriou from NTUA, was published in the Journal of Safety Research in 2007. Data from the national accident database of Greece are used in a hierarchical log-linear analysis. Results confirm that foreign drivers in Greece are at increased risk. However, immigrant permanent residents appear to have a lower risk compared to tourists, regardless of the road environment.
According to a recent NTUA research co-authored by G.Yannis, E.Papadimitriou and J.Gollias from NTUA, published in Accident Analysis and Prevention Journal, dealing with the ‘Multilevel modeling for the regional effect of enforcement on road accidents’, the effect of the intensification of Police enforcement of drinking and driving on the number of road fatalities at national and regional level was investigated, demonstrating that there are significant spatial dependences among road accidents and enforcement, which are interpreted better by qualitative similarities of the regions than geographical adjacency.
The Handbook of Road Safety Measures is the published final outcome of the ROSEBUD European research project dealing with Road Safety and Environmental Benefit-Cost and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis for Use in Decision-Making.
The New Road Code prepared by the Hellenic Ministry of Transport has been voted by the Parliament and it is in force. The new Road Code is summarized in a specially designed leaflet, prepared with the scientific support of NTUA.
A workshop on setting the stage for the European Road Safety Observatory organised by the Dutch Institute for Road Safety Research (SWOV) took place in Amsterdam in June 2007, aiming at addressing the connection between policy questions, knowledge and data.
NTUA presented ‘Powered two-wheelers road safety’.
The European Transport Safety Council presented recently a Review on the social and economic consequences of road traffic injury in Europe, highlighting the completeness and accuracy of official road accident statistics, the long-term impacts of traffic injury and the social disparities in road accident risk.
In April 2007, ETSC published the PIN Flash. This report indicates that in Europe improvements in drink driving contribute their share to enhancing road safety. However, in nine countries, insufficient progress on reducing drink driving deaths has slowed down overall improvement over the last decade.
The European Commission presented the first ever complete edition of road safety performance indicators prepared by the European Road Safety Observatory within the SafetyNet integrated project. Country profiles as well as country comparisons provide among others an insight to the reasons of the low level of road safety in Greece.
In February 2007, ETSC published the PIN Flash. Seat belt wearing in the front seats of cars varies among European countries from less than 70% to more than 95%. The ranking showed that France, Germany and Malta reach rates of over 95% seat belt use among front seat occupants. Also Sweden, Norway, the U.K. and the Netherlands showed good levels of 90% and higher. In Hungary, Italy and Belgium, on the other hand, rates were only around 70%, while no rates at all were available from Greece, Lithuania and Slovakia leaving room to assume even lower usage.
The Eurostat issued the yearly update of the road safety regional differences demonstrating that not only the three EU regions with the lowest road safety performance are Greek but also that 7 Greek regions are among the 10 EU regions with the lowest road safety performance.
The 3rd IRTAD Seminar took place in Brno – Czech Republic in November 2006.
NTUA presented:
Building the European Road Safety Observatory – SafetyNet
A comprehensive set of road safety basic statistics
Enhancement and exploitation of the existing European road accident data
The Road Safety PIN Talk was organized by the European Transport Safety Council and the Road Safety Institute Panos Mylonas in Athens on November 15th, 2006. This Road Safety PIN Talk enters within the framework of the Road Safety Performance Index of the European Transport Safety Council, having as objective to monitor and boost progress of road safety policies at national and EU level.
NTUA presented ‘The role of Performance Indicators in the implementation of Road Safety Programmes’ .
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Correlating macroscopic road safety parameters in the European Union’ was presented by Anna Tsoumani in November 2006. Linear and non-linear regression models were developed and resulted in quantification of the impact of each variable to the number of fatalities in road accidents. The ratio of the number of road fatalities to the number of vehicles reduces by the increase of the ratio of the number of vehicles to population and secondly, the shape of the fatalities curve (ascending, stable and descending) depends on the ratio of the number of vehicles to population.
In June 2011, ETSC published a PIN Flash concernig seat belt use. In Sweden, nearly 70% of new passenger cars were equipped with seat belt reminders for the driver seat. In Luxembourg, this percentage is estimated to be 64% and in Germany 63%. In the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Italy and Greece, this is however less than half of the new passenger cars.
In October 2006, SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research reliesed the National Road Safety Outlook for 2005-2020, Advancing Sustainable Safety. Sustainable Safety is an answer to the lack of rad safety. It is a type of aproach that, incidentally, has been commonplace in other types of transport modes for much longer time under the name of ‘inherently safe’.
In September 2006, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning EU countries road safety performance. The first ranking under the Road Safety Performance Index showed that some countries are contributing fully to the European target, even though the majority do not. During the period 2001-2005 France has achieved an outstanding 35% drop, closely followed by Luxembourg with 34%. In Belgium, the reduction has been of the order of 27%. The reduction for Greece was 16%.
In July 2006, ETSC published the first Road Safety PIN Flash. The Road Safety Performance Index (so-called “Road Safety PIN”) will compare Member States’ performance in promoting safe road user behaviour, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as sound and evidence-based policymaking.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Correlation of pedestrian safety impact parameters’ was presented by Marianna Aggelidaki and Manos Vernandos in July 2006. The use of log-linear analysis was chosen and applied for the statistical analysis of data from roadaccidents involving pedestrians for the period 1996 – 2003 in Greece. The results of the analysis suggested that children under 15 years old and elderly over66 years old appear to have higher probabilities of fatal injury, while no relationship wasproved between the probability of fatal injury, gender and nationality of the pedestrian.
The manual ‘Helmets: a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners‘ is one of a series of documents produce by an informal consortium (GRSP, WHO, the FIA Foundation and the World Bank) that aims to provide guidance to countries on how to implement some of the recommendations identified within the World Report, and thus improve their overall road safety record. This manual provides practical advice to road safety practitioners on how to achieve a much higher proportion of users of two-wheeled vehicles wearing helmets.
The OECD/ECMT have published a joint report titled Young Drivers: the road to safety, according which road crashes are the single greatest killer of 15 – 24 year-olds in OECD countries. Young drivers account for about 27% of driver fatalities across OECD countries, although people in the same age group represent only about 10% of the population.
The European Transport Safety Council presented recently a Review on the accident data in the enlarged EU. The review examined the situation in the 25 countries of the EU in relation to data on road safety and draws up to concrete set of actions for improving these data. It covers all aspects from data collection, gathering and entry into databases, to theis processing, analysis and dissemination of results.
In April 2006 ACEM Publications released a handbook that describes the specific needs of riders and contains guidelines for those responsible for road design and road maintenance. Powered Two Wheelers differ in their use of the road in a number of ways from other vehicles and riders have different needs. The handbook includes recommendations and examples from all over Europe.
A research titled ‘Perception of road accident causes’ co-authored by W.Vanlaar and G.Yannis was published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention in 2006. The objective of this study was to validate this model empirically to answer three questions: How do European drivers perceive the importance of several causes of road accidents? Are there important differences in perceptions between member states? Do these perceptions reflect the real significance of road accident causes?
A high level expert meeting on road safety, organised by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology took place in Vienna in January 2006.
NTUA presented ‘The use of efficiency assessment tools: Solutions to barriers’.
Efficiency Assessment Tools are the Methods used to judge the efficiency of an intended measure/policy based on the highest return in monetary terms.
A paper titled ‘Designing the European Road Safety Observatory’co-authored by P.Thomas, A.Morris, G.Yannis, P.Lejeune, P.Wesemann, G.Vallet and W.Vanlaar was published in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion in December 2005. The European Commission has decided to meet the demand for traffic accident data and road safety information by establishing a new European Road Safety Observatory.
The European Commission published the Road Safety Country Profiles, containing key road safety statistical data and development in all EU countries. NTUA has contributed to the country profile for Greece, in which all recent road safety trends are highlighted, together with the key issues addressed at the national strategic plan prepared by NTUA.
An ad-hoc Meeting on Traffic Performance was organised by UNECE and the Danish Delegation and took place in Copenhagen in December 2005.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Comperative investigation of risk parameters in the Greek motorways’ was presented by Antonis Chaziris in October 2005. Data concerning the number and the characteristics of participants in traffic accidents were used, as well as raw accident data, which became available from NTUA’s Traffic Accident Database. The results of this research consisted of four mathematic regression models and two polynomial relations of cross-correlation of the accident indicator and the traffic volume, concerning the motorway of Attiki Odos.
In May 2005, the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers reported an approach towards road safety in Greece and internationally. About 120 people are killed each day in Europe after being involved in a road accident. Measures should be taken in order to reduce the number of people killed in the roads of the EU.
A research titled ‘Modelling driver choices towards accident risk reduction’co-authored by G.Yannis, A.Kanellopoulou, K.Aggeloussi and D.Tsamboulas from NTUA, was published in the Journal Safety Science in April 2005. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted and the stated preference method was used to develop an explanatory model. the application of the model revealed that absolute value of additional trip time – not its percentage change – seems to play the most important role in driver choice towards accident risk reduction independently of the trip duration.
A research titled ‘Driver age and vehicle engine size effects on fault and severity in young motorcyclists accidents’ co-authored by G.Yannis, J.Gollias and E.Papadimitriou from NTUA, was published in the Journal Accident Analysis and Prevention in November 2004. Data from the national accident database of Greece were used to calculate accident severity and relative fault risk rates. Accident severity modelling revealed a significant second-order interaction between severity, driver age and two-wheel engine size. On the contrary, no second-order effects were identified in fault risk modelling. Moreover, a significant effect of driver age on accident fault risk was identified. The effect of engine size was not significant.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Parameters affecting Greek drivers’ willingness to pay for the avoidance of road accidents’ was presented by Apostolia Salata and Emmanouil Androulidakis in October 2004. The “Stated Preference Method” was developed along with a questionnaire-based survey followed by a statistical analysis. The outcome has shown that the individual willingness to resort to paying depends on driving experience, reasons of driving outside urban areas, perceived risk, age, annual family income, number of children and reduction of the probability of being involved in a road accident.
The World Health Organization (WHO) released the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention, which emphasizes the role of public health in the prevention of road traffic injuries and covers the fundamental concepts and prerequisites of road traffic injury prevention, the intensity and impact of road traffic injuries, key determinants and risk factors, intervention strategies, and recommendations.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Macroscopic correlation of weather conditions and accident risk and severity in the interurban road network of Greece’ was presented by Theodore Nikolopoulos in July 2004. The use of lognormal regression has been adopted and applied on the disaggregate road accident data for the period of 1992 – 1999 on the Patra – Athens – Thessaloniki – Evzoni road axis. The results suggested that low temperature leads to reduction in the number of accidents and the severity of accidents whilst it increases the risk for the 2-wheel vehicles.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Investigation of pedestrian behavior in crossing an urban road section’ was presented by Kostantinos Makris in July 2004. The models used are Multinomial Logit Model, Discrete Choice Model and Nested Logit Model. The Nested Logit Model is the most appropriate for the description of pedestrian behavior, the application of which has led to the identification of the parameters’ impacts on the pedestrian choice.
A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Time series analysis of basic road safety parameters in selected groups of European Countries’ was presented by Anastasia Pnevmatikou in July 2004. For this analysis a detailed database was developed containing disaggregate road accident data from 15 EU Member States, while another data base was developed containing aggregate accident data for the 25 EU Member States for the period 1991-2001. The results lead to the conclusion that the increased traffic participation of two-wheel motor vehicles and pedestrians in southern countries of Europe as well as the passenger car motorization increases in the east countries, have a negative impact on road safety level of these countries.
