Items Under Tag: motorcyclists

Sensor-Based Multi-Dimensional Approaches for Extracting Power-Two-Wheeler Driving Patterns in Various Road Environments and Lighting Conditions – 2016

A paper titled ‘Sensor-Based Multi-Dimensional Approaches for Extracting Power-Two-Wheeler Driving Patterns in Various Road Environments and Lighting Conditions’ authored by Eleni Vlahogianni, George Yannis and John Golias is now published in Advances in Transportation Studies. Data from a naturalistic Powered Two Wheelers (PTW) driving experiment are exploited using principalcomponent analysis to identify the critical PTW driving characteristics and their combinations with the finalaim to reveal useful insights on the PTW driving patterns emerging on the road. Data are collected indifferent road environments, ranging from urban road arterials to suburban roads. The analyses reveal three prevailing PTW driving patterns: i. Acceleration, ii. Maneuvering, and iii. Braking. These patterns areobserved in both inside and outside urban areas and regardless of the lighting conditions (daylight, dusk, andnight). Nevertheless, although acceleration and maneuvering patterns contain the same driving variables inall driving cases examined, braking is conducted in a varying manner with respect to the type of the area andthe time of day.

Safe2Wheelers – Accidentology and Motorcycle Simulator Workshop 2016

A workshop focusing on Accidentology and Simulators organised by Safe2Wheelers took place with great success on 27 April, 2016, in Würzburg, Germany. Safe2Wheelers COST TU1407 Research Action aims at improving Power Two Wheelers (PTW) safety with a holistic and integrated approach by acquiring, unifying and coordinating PTW safety research and ensuring broad dissemination towards PTW users, industry and public authorities. During the workshop, an overview of best practices and results from PTW accident investigationsand different existing motorcycle simulators was demonstrated and different technical solutions as well as potential use cases were discussed. The workshop was well attended by the industry and other researchers which discussed the latest scientific findings in the field of PTW safety.

Road Safety of Motorcycles and Mopeds – EU facts & figures 2015

Road Safety of Motorcycles and Mopeds in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2015 available at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission. These Traffic Safety Basic Facts contain a comprehensive series of statistical tables with the latest available data from the CARE database of the European Commission. In 2013, at least 741 riders (drivers and passengers) of mopeds and 3.862 riders of motorcycles were killed in the EU in accidents. As compared to 2004 these numbers have decreased by about 60% and 30% respectively.

Akis Theofilatos defended his PhD thesis on accident probability and severity 2015

Athanasios Theofilatos has successfully defended his PhD thesis titled: An advanced multi-faceted statistical analysis of accident probability and severity exploiting high resolution traffic and weather data. This PhD thesis was carried out at the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering at the School of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens under the supervision of Prof. George Yannis. The objective of this PhD thesis is the investigation of accident probability and severity exploiting high resolution traffic and weather data from urban roads and motorways, collected on a real-time basis, with specific focus on Powered-Two-Wheelers. For that purpose, an advanced mesoscopic multi-faceted statistical analysis was conducted in order to expand previous road safety work and contribute to the further understanding of the complexity of accident probability and severity. Linear and non-linear models were developed on the basis of 6-year accident data from urban roads as well as an urban motorway in Greater Athens area (Attica Tollway). Empirical findings indicate that high resolution traffic and weather data are capable of opening new dimensions in accident analysis in urban roads and urban motorways. The multi-faceted statistical analysis conducted in the thesis has revealed a consistent and strong impact of traffic parameters on accident probability and severity. It is interesting that weather parameters were not found to influence accident probability and severity when linear relationships are considered, however, the application of cusp catastrophe models demonstrated that it is likely that even small traffic and weather changes may have a critical impact on road safety in urban roads as sudden transitions from safe to unsafe conditions (and vice versa) may occur, especially for PTW traffic.

ITF – Improving Safety for Motorcycle, Scooter and Moped Riders 2015

The International Transport Forum (ITF) has recently released a Research Report on Improving Safety for Motorcycle, Scooter and Moped Riders. This Report summarises the findings of the work of the Working Group on the Safety of Powered Two Wheelers set up by ITF in 2010 aiming to review trends in powered two-wheeler crashes and examine the factors contributing to these crashes and their severity. In this Report are presented in a consolidated way, a set of countermeasures targeting user behaviour, the use of protective equipment, the vehicles and the infrastructure and discussion on motorcycle safety strategies in the context of a Safe System approach. NTUA has contributed actively to the preparation of this Report.

FEMA – 4th European Motorcyclists’ Forum – Brussels 2015

The 4th European Motorcyclists Forum, organised by the Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations (FEMA), hosted by the European Parliament members Inés Ayalá-Sender (S&D), and Wim van de Camp (EPP), Transport Committee Vice-Chairman Dominique Riquet (ALDE) took place in Brussels, on 2-3 February 2015. This year’s Forum focused on the question “How to tackle motorcycle safety challenges for the next decade?

After a series of presentations and discussions on the 2nd of February the second day was used to obtain views on the outcomes of the EU co-financed project RIDERSCAN– A European Scanning Tour for Motorcycle Safety, including the state of the art of motorcycle safety knowledge, access to powered two wheelers, the traffic and road environment, and how to convey safety messages to riding community, in order to set up a result-based PTW safety strategy. Subsequently, the Debate-Session in the Parliament took place in the morning of Tuesday 3rd of February and further expand on motorcycling safety in the context of the mid-term evaluation of Commission road safety policy orientations 2011-2020.

A review of Powered-Two-Wheeler behaviour and safety – 2014

A paper titled ‘A review of Powered-Two-Wheeler behaviour and safety‘ co-authored by Athanasios Theofilatos and George Yannis is now published in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion. Current research on PTW safety is not as extensive as for other road users (passenger cars, etc.) and this research provides a critical review of research on Power-Two-Wheeler behaviour and safety with regard to data collection, methods of analysis and contributory factors, and discuss the needs for further research. Both macroscopic analyses (accident frequency, accident rates and severity) and microscopic analyses (PTW rider behaviour, interaction with other motorised traffic) are examined and discussed in this paper. The research gaps and the needs for future research are identified, discussed and put in a broad framework. When the interactions between behaviour, accident frequency/rates and severity are co-considered and co-investigated with the various contributory factors (riders, other users, road and traffic environment, vehicles), the accident and injury causes as well as the related solutions are better identified.

Road fatalities by transport mode, Greece 2012

According to ELSTAT data, 29% of road fatalities are motorcycle riders, whereas 39% of road fatalities are passenger car occupants. Most car occupant fatalities occur outside built-up areas while most motorcycle and pedestrian fatalities occur inside built-up areas.

ACEM -New strategy to improve safety for motorcyclists in Europe 2014

ACEM has recently published ‘The safe ride to the future‘, its new road safety strategy to further improve safety levels for motorcyclists in Europe. The document has been presented at the 10th International Motorcycle Conference in Köln (Germany). As part of this new strategy, the motorcycle industry has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). With regard to training of riders, ACEM and the German Road Safety Council (DVR) have joined forces to promote high quality voluntary post-license training schemes across the EU through a DVR-ACEM Quality Seal. ACEM will also organise a series of workshops in different European countries to identify and promote measures to improve road safety at national, regional and local levels.

Motorcycle riding under the influence of alcohol: Results from the SARTRE-4 survey – 2014

A paper titled ‘Motorcycle riding under the influence of alcohol: Results from the SARTRE-4 survey‘, co-authored by Eleonora Papadimitriou, Athanasios Theofilatos, George Yannis, Julien Cestac and Sami Kraïem is now published in Accident Analysis and Prevention. This research investigates the factors affecting the declared frequency of drink-riding among motorcyclists in Europe and explores regional differences. Data were collected from the SARTRE-4 (Social Attitudes to Road Traffic Risk in Europe) survey, which was conducted in 19 countries. A total sample of 4483 motorcyclists was interviewed by using a face-to-face questionnaire. The data were analyzed by means of multilevel ordered logit models. The results revealed significant regional differences (between Northern, Eastern and Southern European countries) in self-reported drink-riding frequencies in Europe. In general,declared drinking and riding were positively associated with gender (males), increased exposure, underestimation of risk, friends’ behaviour, past accidents and alcohol ticket experience. On the other hand, it was negatively associated with underestimation of the amount of alcohol allowed before driving, and support for more severe penalties.

Relationship between motorcyclists’ attitudes, behaviour and other attributes with declared accident involvement in Europe – 2014

A paper titled ‘Relationship between motorcyclists’ attitudes, behaviour and other attributes with declared accident involvement in Europe‘ co-authored by Athanasios Theofilatos and George Yannis is now published in Traffic Injury Prevention. The objective of this study is to investigate patterns of road safety attitudes and behaviors of motorcyclists in Europe on the basis of the results of the pan-European questionnaire-based survey SARTRE-4, carried out in late 2010 in 18 European countries and Israel. It was found that motorcyclists who tend to have dangerous attitudes and behaviors as well as younger motorcyclists are more likely to have been involved in an accident. The findings of the study provide some insight into the association between attitudes, behaviors, and declared past accident involvement.

FEMA – 3rd European Motorcyclists’ Forum – Brussels 2014

The 3rd European Motorcyclists’ Forum was organised by the Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations (FEMA) in cooperation with the Motorcycle Industry in Europe (ACEM), hosted by MEP Bernd Lange and took place with great success in the European Parliament in Brussels on 5-6 March 2014. This year’s Forum focused on the question “ITS : Can powered two wheelers benefit from new technologies deployment?” in the context of Horizons 2020 EU research and innovation programme.

The current state-of-the-art of ITS for transport has not undergone any specific impact assessment with regard to positive or negative consequences for the specific mode of transport on powered two wheels (PTWs). Powered two wheelers, as vulnerable road users, need to be carefully integrated into ITS innovation and deployment policies to guarantee that they also “benefit” from new technologies. All presentations are available at the website of the Forum , together with the respective Forum Memorandum.

ACEM – Power Two Wheeler Market Statistics 2013

The Motorcycle Industry in Europe (ACEM) has just released data on power-two-wheelers (PTW) deliveries and registrations, circulating park, production and best sold models in a panel of European countries (data available as of January 2013). These tables and figures highlight the significant decrease in new PTW vehicles in most European countries since the beginning of the economic crisis.

RIDERSCAN’s new survey on Intelligent Transport Systems and Motorcycling Safety 2014

The RIDERSCAN project is a EU co-funded project, coordinated by the Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations (FEMA), aiming to gather existing information on motorcycle safety in Europe, to identify needs for action and to create a crossborder knowledge-based network. NTUA contributes to the various actions of the RIDERSCAN project as an activity partner. RIDERSCAN launched the 3rd and last survey targeting European motorcyclists. With the objective to draw a European map of rider awareness and acceptance of new technologies applied to the transport systems, the survey is asking riders to evaluate willingness to test, use, and buy systems, which are, for a wide majority of them, far from being introduced in the market. Motorcycle riders and stakeholders are invited to fill in this on-line survey, (in less than 15 minutes), available in several European languages: English

and Greek

Critical factors of motorcycle accidents in Greece 2014

A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Critical Factors of motorcycle accidents in Greece‘ was presented by Evita Alevizou in January 2014. For this thesis, appropriately processed data were used from the database of the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and loglinear regression models were developed. The application of these models led to the investigation of the influence of several parameters, such as region type, age, lighting, accident type etc on the number of fatalities and injuries. It appears that the number of vehicles involved in the accident is the most important factor of the fatalities model, while the accident type affects more the serious and slight injuries. This influence is greater on motorcycles than passenger cars.

Comparative analysis of factors affecting driving under the influence of alcohol of car drivers and motorcyclists 2014

A Diploma Thesis titled ‘Comparative analysis of factors affecting driving under the influence of alcohol of car drivers and motorcyclists‘ was presented by Dimitra Arvaniti in January 2014. The aim of this diploma thesis is to examine the factors affecting driving under the influence of alcohol of car drivers and motorcycles. To achieve this goal, the responses of a representative sample of Greek drivers of cars and motorcycles are examined from thepan-European research SARTRE 4 and are analyzed by the development of logistic regression models. The application of the models revealed that the factors affecting driving under the influence of alcohol are six for car drivers and seven for motorcyclists, four of which are common. The common parameters are: age, their opinion on whether most of their friends would be driving under the influence of alcohol, their opinion on whether a person is capable of driving carefully in case of consumption alcohol and their education level. Additional factors for car drivers are their view on the legal limit of alcohol consumption and their gender, and for motorcyclists it is their view on how dangerous driving under the influence of drugs is.

Detecting Powered-Two-Wheeler Incidents from High Resolution Naturalistic Data 2014

A paper titled ‘Detecting Powered-Two-Wheeler Incidents from High Resolution Naturalistic Data‘ co-authored by Eleni Vlahogianni, George Yannis and John Golias is now published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. During risky conditions, Powered-Two-Wheeler (PTW) drivers often alter their behavior from a regular driving pattern to an irregular chain of driving actions by braking, changing the throttle pressure, maneuvering and so on, or combinations of the above. However, both the actual and perceived thresholds of regular and irregular driving behavior differ among PTW drivers. A simple and flexible methodology is proposed in order to define PTW driving profiles by distinguishing between regular and irregular PTW driving behaviors using high resolution naturalistic data. “Irregularities” in driving behavior are consistently expressed as outlying values in the dataset of driving parameters. The detected irregularities are those that diverge from the centroid of the jointly considered driving parameters. These irregularities may be considered to define critical driving situations (incidents) that are further associated to typical driving events. Results indicate that the joint consideration ofvariables which are directly connected to the mechanical characteristics of PTW, such as front and rear brake activation, wheel speed, throttle and steering, are adequate to distinguish the regular from irregular PTW driving behavior.

Acceptability of rider assistive systems for powered two-wheelers 2013

A paper titled ‘Acceptability of rider assistive systems for powered two-wheelers‘ co-authored by V.Beanland, M.Lenné, E.Fuessl, M.Oberlader, S.Joshi, T.Bellet, A.Banet, L.Rößger, L.Leden, I.Spyropoulou, G.Yannis, H.Roebroeck, J.Carvalhais and G.Underwood is now published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. This study aims to understand general and system-specific factors that are likely to influence acceptability of PTW assistive systems, including barriers that may prevent uptake and proper use of systems, through a large-scale survey of European riders. The survey was available in seven languages and attracted 6297 respondents. Respondents were frequent riders, who rode primarily for leisure purposes and had high awareness of assistive systems. Overall acceptability was low, but riders who perceive greater risk in riding display higher acceptability. In general, riders believe that existing safety equipment (e.g., helmets, protective clothing) is more reliable, provides greater resistance, and is considerably cheaper than more sophisticated assistive technology.

Critical power two wheeler driving patterns at the emergence of an incident 2013

A paper titled ‘Critical power two wheeler driving patterns at the emergence of an incident’ co-authored by Eleni Vlahogianni, George Yannis and John Golias is now available in the Accident Analysis and Prevention Journal. The paper proposes a methodology based on Bayesian Networks for identifying the power two wheeler (PTW) driving patterns that arise at the emergence of a critical incident based on high resolution driving data (100 Hz) from a naturalistic PTW driving experiment. Results using data from one PTW driver reveal three prevailing driving actions for describing the onset of an incident and an equal number of actions that a PTW driver executes during the course of an incident to avoid a crash.

Road Safety of Motorcycles and Mopeds – EU facts & figures 2012

Road Safety of Motorcycles and Mopeds in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2012 available at the Road Safety Knowledge System of the DACOTA project within the framework of the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission. In 2010, 1.094 riders (drivers and passengers) of mopeds and 4.368 riders of motorcycles were killed in road traffic accidents in the EU countries, repersenting 15% of the total road traffic fatalities.

Road safety seminar in Cyprus 2012

The 14th road safety seminar “Motorcycles: we drive, we do not risk our lives” organised by the Traffic Police Section of Cyprus, took place on 29 November 2012, in Nicossia. NTUA Associate Professor George Yannis presented “Current Challenges on the Security of Motorcyclists in Europe”.

A statistical analysis of motorcycle helmet wearing in Greece 2012

A paper titled ‘A statistical analysis of motorcycle helmet wearing in Greece’ co-authored by G.Yannis, A.Laiou, S.Vardaki, E.Papadimitriou, A.Dragomanovits, G.Kanellaidis is just published in the Advances in Transportation Studies scientific journal. Helmet wearing in Greece was recorded through an on-site observational survey and data collected were used for the development of a binary logistic regression model. The independent variables used were time of the day, motorcycle type, road type and riders’ characteristics (gender, age and position on the motorcycle). Pseudo-elasticity values for all variables were calculated in order to quantify the impact of each one on helmet wearing. The survey revealed low helmet wearing rates. The rates are much higher in rural than in urban areas and for drivers of large motorcycles. Based on pseudo-elasticity values the variable with the greatest impact on wearing a helmet is being the driver.

The European Motorcyclists Forum 2012

A joint effort by the European Commission and the Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations, the European Motorcyclists’ Forum is a platform for discussion on safety, mobility and the future of two-wheel transport in Europe. The forum took place on in Cologne on 3rd October 2012 and it will be open to all stakeholders interested in two-wheel mobility, where it will be possible to assess the problems, explore solutions, raise awareness and set the conditions for implementing actions.

Road Safety of Motorcycles and Mopeds – EU facts & figures 2011

Road Safety of Motorcycles and Mopeds in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2011 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. In 2009, 1.209 riders (drivers and passengers) of mopeds and 4.905 riders of motorcycles were killed in road traffic accidents in the EU countries, repersenting 16% of the total road traffic fatalities.

Overview of critical risk factors in Power-Two-Wheeler safety 2012

A paper titled ‘Overview of critical risk factors in Power-Two-Wheeler safety’ co-authored by E.Vlahogianni, G.Yannis and J.Golias is just published in the Accident Analysis and Prevention scientific journal. The paper focuses on the PTW accident risk factors and reviews existing literature with regard to the PTW drivers’ interactions with the automobile drivers, as well as interactions with infrastructure elements and weather conditions. Several critical risk factors are revealed with different levels of influence to PTW accident likelihood and severity. A broad classification based on the magnitude and the need for further research for each risk factor is proposed. The paper concludes by discussing the importance of dealing with accident configurations, the data quality and availability, methods implemented to model risk and exposure and risk identification which are critical for a thorough understanding of the determinants of PTW safety.

User Forum on Power Two Wheeler Safety Research in Paris 2011

The User Forum on Power Two Wheeler Safety Research took place in Paris on December 14th, 2011. It was organised by the EC co-funded research project 2BESAFE (2-Wheeler Behaviour and Safety), which designed and implemented a broad-ranging research programme (including naturalistic riding experiments) that produced fundamental knowledge on PTW rider behaviour and on interaction between PTW riders and other road users. The produced knowledge was used to propose relevant countermeasures to mitigate PTW accidents’ related fatalities and injuries.

NTUA presented ‘Powered Two Wheeler critical risk factors: Behaviour – Infrastructure – Weather’.

Road Safety of Motorcycles and Mopeds – EU facts & figures 2010

Road Safety of Motorcycles and Mopeds in the EU is highlighted at the Traffic Safety Basic Facts 2010 recently released at the European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission as prepared by the DACOTA project. In 2008, 1.213 riders (drivers and passengers) of mopeds and 3.999 riders of motorcycles were killed in road traffic accidents in the EU countries, repersenting 17,7% of the total road traffic fatalities.

Road fatalities by road user type, European Union 2008

Car drivers are the largest road user group among road fatalities in all EU-23 countries. Together with car passengers they account for 50% of all fatalities. The proportion of motorcycle fatalities in Greece is 25%, the largest in all EU-23 countries.

Unprotected Road Users Left Behind 2011

In May 2011, ETSC published a PIN Flash concerning unprotected road users. At least 15,300 pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycle riders were killed in the EU in 2009, and 169,000 since 2001. Deaths among pedestrians and cyclists decreased by 34% between 2001 and 2009 and those among PTW riders by only 18%, compared with 39 % for car drivers.

MRSH – Crete motorcyclists urged to use helmets, Chania 2011

A new campaign to reduce road casualties by promoting use of motorcycle helmets has been launched on the island of Crete by Make Roads Safe Hellas with the support of the FIA Foundation, as the first European programme of the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative. This campaign has been preseneted at a conference held on the 24th of March 2011 at the Centre for Mediterranean Architecture in Chania.

Road fatalities by transport mode, Greece 2009

Almost half of fatalities are passenger car occupants. Another 28% of fatalities are motorcycle riders. Most car occupant fatalities occur outside built-up areas while most motorcycle and pedestrian fatalities occur inside built-up areas. Accident severity is higher outside built-up areas for all transport modes.

Transport Research in Lisbon 2010

The 12th World Conference on Transport Research was held in Lisbon, Portugal. At the road safety sessions quite a few interesting papers were presented, some of them concerning research carried out by NTUA.

NTUA road safety presentations concerned:

Modelling Intelligent Speed Adaptation

Road infrastructure and Safety of Power Two Wheelers

Pedestrian gap acceptance for mid-block street crossing

Cell phone use and traffic characteristics

Comparative analysis of junction safety in Europe

Action Pack for European Safer Urban Motorcycling 2010

The Spanish Directorate General for Traffic, organized an international conference about an Action Pack for European Safer Urban Motorcycling in Barcelona on the 12th of May. NTUA presented ‘Motorcycle safety actions in Greece’.

Protective Equipment for Riders 2010

ACEM, under the framework of eSUM project, has released a booklet in seven languages with indications on which equipment to choose. Motorcycling apparel can help motorcycle, scooter and moped riders reducing the effects of accidents. Nonetheless the benefits of good quality motorcycling clothing are still widely underestimated.

4th Pan-Hellenic Road Safety Conference 2009

The 4th Pan-Hellenic Road Safety Conference was organised by the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers and the National Technical University of Athens.

NTUA presented:

Characteristics of lorry and bus accidents in Greece

Application of the SUNflower methodology for the assessment of two-wheeler safety in Greece

Correlations of road accident and meteorological conditions time-series

Seat belt and helmet use in Greece

Powered Two Wheelers – A Road Safety Synthesis 2009

Road safety of Powered two wheelers has been highlighted at the recently released synthesis of the European Road Safety Observatory as prepared by the SafetyNet project. PTW’s are more popular in southern European countries. Greece has the highest ownership rate with 150 mopeds and 100 motorcycles per 1000 inhabitants.The total number of PTW fatalities in 2005 in Europe was 7030, which is 15% of all traffic fatalities. 50% of fatally injured moped riders were under the age of 25.

Safety implications of motorcycling in the European Union 2008

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.

Reducing motorcyclist deaths in Europe 2007

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.

Mobility patterns of moped and motorcycle riders in Greece 2007

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.

Setting stage for the European Road Safety Observatory 2007

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’.

WHO Helmets Safety Manual 2006

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.

Guidelines for safer road design for PTW users in Europe 2006

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.

Accident risk by vehicle characteristics, Greece 2004

Accident risk of PTW decreases with vehicle age. Accident risk of passenger cars is increased for new (<2 years) and old (>10 years) vehicles. Accident risk outside buitl-up areas at nights or at weekends is much higher, especially for PTW’s.

Accident risk by driver’s characteristics, Greece 2004

Accident risk of young drivers is 4 times the average for car drivers and 5 times the average of PTW riders. Drivers >65 years old are at increased risk, especially when riding mopeds or motorcycles. Accident risk decreases with driving experience. Vehicle age <1 year or >10 years is associated with increased accident risk. Male drivers (especially young ones) have much higher accident risk than females.

Driver age and vehicle engine size effects on fault and severity in young motorcyclists accidents 2004

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.