COVID-19 lockdown and reduction of traffic accidents in Tarragona province, Spain

Òscar Saladié; Edgar Bustamante; Aaron Gutiérrez

doi:10.1016/j.trip.2020.100218

COVID-19 lockdown and reduction of traffic accidents in Tarragona province, Spain

Transp Res Interdiscip Perspect. 2020 Nov:8:100218. doi: 10.1016/j.trip.2020.100218. Epub 2020 Sep 6.

Authors

Òscar Saladié^{1

2}, Edgar Bustamante¹, Aaron Gutiérrez²

Affiliations

¹ Chair of Sustainable Development Dow/URV, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Joanot Martorell, 15, 43480 Vila-seca, Spain.
² Department of Geography, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Joanot Martorell, 15, 43480 Vila-seca, Spain.

Abstract

This paper analyses the impact that the lockdown decreed by the Spanish Government to combat the spread of COVID-19 has had on traffic accidents in Tarragona province (Spain). During the studied period of the lockdown (March 16 - April 26 2020) the number of accidents per day fell by 74,3% in coparison with those in February 14-20 (reference week) and 76% in respect to the equivalent period in 2018-2019. This reduction of accidents has been higher than the decrease of mobility during the same reference period (62.9%). This suggests a multiplicative positive effect of traffic reduction on roads safety. Our findings provide new evidences of the disruptive effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on transportation and of how it could be used as a catalyst to promote more sustainable and secure transport systems.

Keywords: COVID-19; Lockdown; Tarragona; Traffic accidents.