An overview of the impact of COVID-19 on road traffic safety and travel behavior

• Published in: Transportation engineering (Oxford) Vol. 9; p. 100119
• Main Authors: Ebrahim Shaik, Md, Ahmed, Samsuddin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2022; The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd; Elsevier
• Subjects: COVID-19; Lockdown; Overview; Review; Road safety; Travel behavior; COVID-19; Lockdown; Road safety; Overview; Travel behavior
• ISSN: 2666-691X; 2666-691X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.treng.2022.100119

•An overview of the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on road traffic crashes, deaths, and injuries, as well as road travel behavior.•Initial studies reveal a decrease in traffic flow and a rise in risky driving behaviors.•The magnitude of COVID-19 was found to result in fewer crashes and injuries, as well as a reduction in road safety performance, but substantially greater serious accidents.•Public transportation usage decreased, while personal vehicle usage, including bicycling and walking, increased.
The COVID-19 epidemic caused global roads and highway networks to be disrupted to historic proportions. While the world is focused on combating COVID-19 pandemic, people are still dying and being injured as a result of traffic collisions on the highways owing to movement restrictions. Although the impact of shutdown mechanisms on traffic safety is still being studied, initial studies reveal a decrease in traffic flow and a rise in risky driving behaviors. On the other hand, it is important to investigate how the epidemic has influenced travel behavioral characteristics in order to design mobility regulations for the post-COVID-19 future. Considering numerous investigations, the present study attempts to provide an overview of the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on road traffic crashes, deaths, and injuries, as well as road travel behavior. The magnitude of COVID-19 was found to result in fewer crashes and injuries, as well as a reduction in road safety performance, but substantially greater serious accidents. According to a study of many papers, Travel objective, method of transportation, mileage traveled, and numbers of trips for principal travel were considerably different before and during the epidemic. The result of this study have significant legislative ramifications and also can help to guide how further lockdowns are managed in terms of traffic safety and travel behavior.