An Analysis of the New York City Traffic Volume, Vehicle Collisions, and Safety Under COVID-19

The authors use the arguably exogenous intensity of COVID-19 as an instrument in order, to study the relationship between traffic volume and vehicle collisions in a large, metropolitan area. The authors correlate data from multiple sources, and consider a, time interval ranging from about one year before to one year after the pandemic, breakout, which allows to account for preexisting seasonal patterns as well as the, disruption brought by the pandemic. The authors identify that increased traffic volume, is associated with significantly more collisions with a robust elasticity varying, between 1.2 and 1.7. At the same time, higher traffic volumes are associated, with a significant reduction in casualties. Conversely, low traffic volumes are, associated with high speeds and with particularly dangerous collisions. In terms, of social cost, the authors separately calculated the cost of property damage and casualties. The authors measured that the reduction in the per-day social cost of collisions, during the COVID-19 period is approximately $453,000 in property damage., However, the increase in casualties from collisions at lower traffic volumes are, worth approximately $2.6 million in injuries and fatalities, entirely offsetting, any benefit from reduced collisions. This research provides valuable insights, that policy makers may take into consideration when shifting traffic volume in, relation to social cost and safety, such as congestion taxes.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2022.08.004
• Record URL:
  • http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022437522001098
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1800052
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2022 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Cappellari, Paolo
  • Weber, Bryan S
• Publication Date: 2022-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 57-65
• Serial:
  • Journal of Safety Research
  • Volume: 83
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0022-4375
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00224375

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: COVID-19; Crash causes; Crash rates; Fatalities; Traffic volume
• Geographic Terms: New York (New York)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01858937
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 26 2022 9:10AM