Coronavirus Drove NYC's Massive Traffic Collision Drop: Study

New York City NY

11 December, 2020

10:05 AM

Description

NEW YORK CITY — Empty streets in New York City during the first months of coronavirus lockdown drove a 38 percent decline in traffic collisions, a new study found. The city's crash dip between April and October led all other metro areas in the country, according to a study by INRIX released Tuesday. But the risky roads study — "COVID-19 Effect on Collisions on Interstates and Highways in the US" — didn't find the pandemic was all roses for traffic safety. Motorists apparently saw empty streets as an invitation to speed — they jumped 41 percent between April and July in the city, according to the study. "Between April and July, fatality rates skyrocketed to levels last seen in 2006, while crash rates decreased," the study states. New Yorkers who stayed in the city during the pandemic's early days in the spring can attest to its eerily empty streets. The city's riskiest collision hotspot — the lower level of the George Washington Bridge, according to the study — saw a 41 percent decrease starting in April. But restrictions began to lift in the summer and life began to return to relative normal. The study found starting in August that traffic collisions, in New York City and elsewhere, began to tick back up. They increased 57 percent nationwide, the study states.