COVID and Traffic Crashes/Impact on safety Targets

The public health emergency due to COVID-19 in March of 2020 significantly changed driving patterns and behaviors. Research is needed to assess how the pandemic has affected mobility patterns and the number of road fatalities. Travel was decreased for a period of time but speeds and fatalities increased. Determining the potential explanations for these differences and understanding the characteristics of the drivers, the engagement in high risk behaviors, and the continued impacts (current fatality estimates are still increasing) needed to be researched to better understand these safety impacts and how the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and other safety stakeholders may be able to address these underlying issues with proactive countermeasures, policies, programs and future target setting.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Michigan Department of Transportation

  Van Wagoner Building
  425 W. Ottawa Street
  Lansing, MI  United States  48909
• Performing Organizations:

  Michigan State University, East Lansing

  Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
  Institute for Community Development
  East Lansing, MI  United States  48824-1226
• Principal Investigators:

  Savolainen, Peter

• Start Date: 20240617
• Expected Completion Date: 20260717
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: COVID-19; Crashes; Driving behavior; Fatalities; Risk taking; Traffic characteristics
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01944234
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Michigan Department of Transportation
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 28 2025 2:34PM