The AUTOBUS project: Final webinar

How do ordinary road users interact with self-driving buses in ordinary road traffic? Join the final seminar to hear the results on April 28th at 9 AM (CEST).

The main purpose of the AUTOBUS project has been to study how ordinary road users interact with self-driving buses (AV shuttles) in ordinary road traffic, at three different locations in Norway, namely Forus, Kongsberg and Oslo. We have used repeated field surveys and video recordings to gather data, and a key research question has been whether the interaction changes over time when road users get used to the AV shuttles.

Some researchers have suggested that since these AV shuttles run so slowly and so defensively, other road users will take advantage of this and hinder their accessibility in traffic. So, is that what actually happens in real-life traffic with AV shuttles?

The program and Zoom link of the webinar can be found on toi.no »

International Transport Forum (ITF) Pre-Summit Research Day – call for papers

The International Transport Forum (ITF), together with the European Conference of Transport Research Institutes (ECTRI), the US Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTRS), are pleased to announce the holding of a Research Day on “Transport Innovation for Sustainable Development”. This Research Day will be held virtually on Tuesday 11 May and Wednesday 12 May 2021, in conjunction with the International Transport Forum’s 2021 Annual Summit.

The 2021 ITF Summit on “Transport Innovation for Sustainable Development: Re-shaping Mobility in the Wake of Covid-19” will discuss linkages between innovation in the transport sector in all of its dimensions (regulation; infrastructure design, MaaS; drones; air connectivity; IOT; algorithms etc.) and will cut across individual/passenger travel and freight logistics and supply chains. The 2021 Summit will also discuss the role of innovation in tackling the effects of COVID-19 that are now being felt across transport sector.

The Pre-Summit Research Day will limit its scope to four specific topics, with a special session dedicated to a discussion on how transport innovation can support Covid-19 recovery. In particular, in order to plan their actions for the coming years, policy makers need the input from researchers to provide knowledge and solutions on how to:
-Seize the opportunities offered by micromobility and active transport;
-Connect remote and rural areas with innovative sustainable transport solutions;
-Stimulate adoption of low-carbon vehicle technologies;
-Use innovation to promote sustainable urban mobility in post-Covid 19 recovery.

Abstracts shall be submitted by 29 March 2021 11pm (GMT): https://trb.secure-platform.com/a/page/2021_ITF_Pre-summit_Research_Day

FERSI Conference postponed to 2022

Unfortunately, due to the developments regarding COVID, FERSI has decided to postpone the FERSI conference until 2022. For FERSI as a network organisation par excellence, it was felt that meeting each other at a physical event is one of the key ingredients for a successful FERSI conference. The current developments regarding COVID could not provide sufficient certainty about the feasibility of such a physical event.

As FERSI continues to enhance road safety throughout Europe, FERSI aims to organise a virtual event in the run up to the conference in 2022. We hope to see you online before being able to meet again in person in 2022!

Please subscribe to the newsletter and/or follow the updates on Linkedin to receive updates on the conference (such as dates of virtual events and the conference in 2022). 

FPZ, Croatia joined FERSI

We are very pleased to announce a new FERSI member: the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences (FPZ) of the University of Zagreb, Croatia. FPZ is an iRAP Centre of Excellence and brings in a lot of  relevant knowledge and experience to FERSI on, among other things, traffic engineering. FERSI has now 22 members from an equal amount of European countries. 

In memory: Péter Holló

Our beloved colleague Prof. Dr. Petér Holló passed away. Péter was in FERSI for a long time, representing KTI Institute for Transport Sciences. He was Executive Board member for several years. A kind, helpful, wise and pleasant person, open for debate, a real scientist.

Péter served KTI for almost half a century as a road safety specialist, scientist and teacher. He helped shape the Hungarian road safety strategy and has been involved in many different European projects. 

Our thoughts are with Péter’s family and friends. He will be missed dearly.

Photo by Zoltán Író

ESRA2 webinar series: measuring global traffic safety cultures to support effective road safety policy development

ESRA2 is offering six free one-hour webinars in advance of the 2021 international conference (tentatively scheduled for March 2021). These webinars are hosted by the ESRA partners across the world who are organizing and analyzing the E-Survey of Road Users’ Attitudes.

New results from the ESRA2 data, collected at the end of 2019, will be highlighted throughout six one-hour webinars scheduled between September 2020 and February 2021. Two topic areas per webinar will be presented and focus on measuring traffic safety culture using global road safety performance indicators.

More information can be found on esranet.eu.

E-scooters in Europe: legal status varies, safety effects unclear

Based on the input from FERSI members, FERSI compiled a report on the legal status, usage and safety of e-scooters in 18 European countries. It shows that the legal status differs between countries, and that in general the information about their usage and safety is scarce. It is an issue, though, that increasingly receives attention from both governmental bodies and research institutes.

Download the publication »