A Descriptive Analysis on the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Road Traffic Incidents in Sydney, Australia

COVID-19 has had tremendous effects worldwide, resulting in large-scale death and upheaval. An abundance of studies have shown that traffic patterns have changed worldwide as working from home has become dominant, with many facilities, restaurants and retail services being closed due to the lockdown...

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Autores principales:	Sai Chand, Ernest Yee, Abdulmajeed Alsultan, Vinayak V. Dixit
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	COVID-19 crashes safety duration Medicine R
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f3acdcbe218a454db118713b67a0cb49
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f3acdcbe218a454db118713b67a0cb492021-11-11T16:46:43ZA Descriptive Analysis on the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Road Traffic Incidents in Sydney, Australia10.3390/ijerph1821117011660-46011661-7827https://doaj.org/article/f3acdcbe218a454db118713b67a0cb492021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11701https://doaj.org/toc/1661-7827https://doaj.org/toc/1660-4601COVID-19 has had tremendous effects worldwide, resulting in large-scale death and upheaval. An abundance of studies have shown that traffic patterns have changed worldwide as working from home has become dominant, with many facilities, restaurants and retail services being closed due to the lockdown orders. With regards to road safety, there have been several studies on the reduction in fatalities and crash frequencies and increase in crash severity during the lockdown period. However, no scientific evidence has been reported on the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on traffic incident duration, a key metric for crash management. It is also unclear from the existing literature whether the impacts on traffic incidents are consistent across multiple lockdowns. This paper analyses the impact of two different COVID-19 lockdowns in Sydney, Australia, on traffic incident duration and frequency. During the first (31 March–28 April 2020) and second (26 June–31 August 2021) lockdowns, the number of incidents fell by 50% and 60%, respectively, in comparison to the same periods in 2018 and 2019. The proportion of incidents involving towing increased significantly during both lockdowns. The mean duration of crashes increased by 16% during the first lockdown, but the change was less significant during the subsequent lockdown. Crashes involving diversions, emergency services and towing saw an increase in the mean duration by 67%, 16%, and 47%, respectively, during the first lockdown. However, this was not reflected in the 2021 data, with only major crashes seeing a significant increase, i.e., by 58%. There was also a noticeable shift in the location of incidents, with more incidents recorded in suburban areas, away from the central business area. Our findings suggest drastic changes in incident characteristics, and these changes should be considered by policymakers in promoting a safer and more sustainable transportation network in the future.Sai ChandErnest YeeAbdulmajeed AlsultanVinayak V. DixitMDPI AGarticleCOVID-19crashessafetydurationMedicineRENInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 18, Iss 11701, p 11701 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	COVID-19 crashes safety duration Medicine R
spellingShingle	COVID-19 crashes safety duration Medicine R Sai Chand Ernest Yee Abdulmajeed Alsultan Vinayak V. Dixit A Descriptive Analysis on the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Road Traffic Incidents in Sydney, Australia
description	COVID-19 has had tremendous effects worldwide, resulting in large-scale death and upheaval. An abundance of studies have shown that traffic patterns have changed worldwide as working from home has become dominant, with many facilities, restaurants and retail services being closed due to the lockdown orders. With regards to road safety, there have been several studies on the reduction in fatalities and crash frequencies and increase in crash severity during the lockdown period. However, no scientific evidence has been reported on the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on traffic incident duration, a key metric for crash management. It is also unclear from the existing literature whether the impacts on traffic incidents are consistent across multiple lockdowns. This paper analyses the impact of two different COVID-19 lockdowns in Sydney, Australia, on traffic incident duration and frequency. During the first (31 March–28 April 2020) and second (26 June–31 August 2021) lockdowns, the number of incidents fell by 50% and 60%, respectively, in comparison to the same periods in 2018 and 2019. The proportion of incidents involving towing increased significantly during both lockdowns. The mean duration of crashes increased by 16% during the first lockdown, but the change was less significant during the subsequent lockdown. Crashes involving diversions, emergency services and towing saw an increase in the mean duration by 67%, 16%, and 47%, respectively, during the first lockdown. However, this was not reflected in the 2021 data, with only major crashes seeing a significant increase, i.e., by 58%. There was also a noticeable shift in the location of incidents, with more incidents recorded in suburban areas, away from the central business area. Our findings suggest drastic changes in incident characteristics, and these changes should be considered by policymakers in promoting a safer and more sustainable transportation network in the future.
format	article
author	Sai Chand Ernest Yee Abdulmajeed Alsultan Vinayak V. Dixit
author_facet	Sai Chand Ernest Yee Abdulmajeed Alsultan Vinayak V. Dixit
author_sort	Sai Chand
title	A Descriptive Analysis on the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Road Traffic Incidents in Sydney, Australia
title_short	A Descriptive Analysis on the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Road Traffic Incidents in Sydney, Australia
title_full	A Descriptive Analysis on the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Road Traffic Incidents in Sydney, Australia
title_fullStr	A Descriptive Analysis on the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Road Traffic Incidents in Sydney, Australia
title_full_unstemmed	A Descriptive Analysis on the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Road Traffic Incidents in Sydney, Australia
title_sort	descriptive analysis on the impact of covid-19 lockdowns on road traffic incidents in sydney, australia
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/f3acdcbe218a454db118713b67a0cb49
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A Descriptive Analysis on the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Road Traffic Incidents in Sydney, Australia

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