Analyzing Effects of The COVID-19 Pandemic on Road Traffic Safety: The Cases of New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston

TL;DR

This study investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions affected road traffic safety in New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston by analyzing accident hotspot shifts and underlying network factors.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of traffic accident hotspot shifts before and after COVID-19, highlighting the pandemic's impact on traffic safety patterns in major US cities.

Findings

Accident hotspots shifted location and time during the pandemic.

Traffic safety patterns changed significantly in the studied cities.

Road network characteristics influence hotspot locations.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant social and economic impacts throughout the world. In addition to the health consequences, the impacts on traffic behaviors have also been sudden and dramatic. We have analyzed how the road traffic safety of New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston in the U.S. have been impacted by the pandemic and corresponding local government orders and restrictions. To be specific, we have studied the accident hotspots' distributions before and after the outbreak of the pandemic and found that traffic accidents have shifted in both location and time compared to previous years. In addition, we have studied the road network characteristics in those hotspot regions with the hope to understand the underlying cause of the hotspot shifts.