(Source: George Yannis, Associate Professor, National Technical University of Athens)
As the interconnection of mobility and road safety is more and more at the pipeline, we highlight some recent key road safety developments in Europe.
3rd International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention 2013
The 3rd International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention organised by the SAFER – Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre of the Chalmers University took place in Gothenburg on 4-6 September 2013, having brought together more than 150 Experts and stakeholders from more than 20 countries . Driver Distraction and Inattention Conference 2013 brought into the spotlight relevant developments in research from mainstream and neighbouring disciplines, and showcased new and emerging technologies, products and countermeasures. All papers, abstracts and presentations are now available.
Road Safety and Simulation Conference 2013
The Road Safety and Simulation 2013 (RSS 2013) Conference was organised by the University of Roma Tre and took place in Rome on 22-25 October 2013. A special emphasis was put on driving simulation and how this tool can improve roadway design and the study of emerging technologies that take into consideration human factors as well and their effects on safety. Specifically, the Conference’s focus and target was to:
-facilitate discussion on the latest methods and techniques in road safety analysis and management
-increase understanding of causality of crashes through the deployment of driver simulators, naturalistic driving, non-intrusive sensing technologies, and crash reporting
-help identify new directions in safety modelling and management.
Road Safety in Urban Areas – EU facts & figures 2012
Road Safety in Urban Areas 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. 10.837 people were killed in traffic accidents on urban roads in the EU countries in 2010, representing 38% of the total road traffic fatalities. Fatalities on urban roads were reduced by 39% between 2001 and 2010.
ETSC – The role of gender in road safety 2013
ETSC recently published a PIN Flash concerning the rate of collisions between men and women. Just fewer than 30.400 people were killed in 2011 in the EU27 in road collisions, approximately 7.200 females and 23.200 males. Females account for 51% of the total EU population but only 24% of road deaths. This percentage has changed by only one percentage point since 2001, but the reduction in female deaths since then has been four percentage points greater than the reduction in male deaths. Males account for 76% of people killed on the roads in the EU in 2011. Males have more than three times the death rate of females on the roads in the EU.
Green urban mobility and road safety 2013
A new book on Green Urban Mobility (in Greek) was presented in Athens, on September 26th, 2013, highlighting the European approach on current policies for sustainable urban mobility. This book was edited by urban planner Stavros Tsetsis and was presented by the European Parliament Deputies Daniel Cohn Bendit and Marietta Giannakou.
A special chapter is dedicated to the fundamental road safety choices of the modern city and the need for integrating road safety choices in the urban mobility plans.
Last modified on Tuesday, 15 October 2013
