The decline in crashes, collisions, better air quality and lower noise pollution are some good things happening during the pandemic. In recent transportation history, this has been a large change in vehicle movement around the states.
There has been a notable change in the air and weather after the lockdown due to corona virus scare. People have changed their daily behavior that has drastically impacted the nature in a good way. California in the US has most registered vehicles on the road, recording one of the highest numbers of fatal crashes due to auto accidents annually.
A report by the Road Ecology Center at the University of California has said that the shelter-in-place order that was handed down on March 20 has cut down the traffic accidents and crash-related injuries and deaths to half. The drop in accidents have saved the state $40 million per day since the shelter-in-place order came into practice.
The number of vehicles on the California’s usually busy highways has fallen. Also the noise pollution has gone down by 55%. In early April the collisions had spiked due to heavy rains. But now the collisions including injuries or deaths have also decreased. They have roughly gone from 400 to 200 per day. The crashes have plunged from about 1,000 to 500 per day since the order came into effect.
Using the Federal Highway Administration’s equivalent costs for different types of incidents the researchers used the data and found out the money that was saved by the state which includes property damage, treatment of injuries, lost time at work, emergency responses, insurance claims, and the equivalent cost of a life.
This has been seen around US. People have saved a lot of money due to reduction in number of collisions. The auto insurers have made billions in additional profits as they have to fewer claims. Nobody is on the road, thus no accidents and insurance companies are making fortune.
