COVID-19 Pandemic and Mode Choice of Alabamian Truck Drivers’ Mobility to Grocery Shopping

Abstract

Background: In late December 2019, COVID-19, commonly referred to as the Coronavirus was identified in China because of the main explanation for recent human respiratory health cases. The virus was first detected in Wuhan City, and during a space of months, it had covered the whole globe. The virus has engendered huge drastic changes to world healthcare, economic, transportation, and education systems around the world. Purpose: The general purpose of this study was to investigate the intersection of demographic characteristics and how truck drivers view change in their grocery shopping (CGS) under the COVID-19 circumstances of selected counties in Alabama. Specifically, the objectives of the study are to (1) examine if there is any relationship between marital status (MS) and CGS and (2) know and assess the choice of transport mode used for grocery shopping during the covid-19 pandemic Methods: The research paper's goal necessitated the truck drivers’ views regarding commuting to the workplace. Following a summary of the literature review research phase, the researcher conducted a variety of semi-structured interviews with truck drivers in Alabama through Survey Monkey by a postgraduate student in June-July 2020. Overall, 50 truck drivers have completed the survey. The info was stored on Survey Monkey servers within the Center for Urban and Rural Research (CURR), Department of Community and Regional Planning, Alabama A&M University. Results: The data analysis reveals their main workplace before the COVID-19 pandemic 94% of the truck drivers residing in Alabama especially from Jefferson county provided information about commuting to workplaces, while 4% to the places of educations (lecture room0 and a couple of production sites. Furthermore, 92% of the truck drivers reported NO change within the means of transport in commuting trips during the COVID-19 pandemic, while 8% indicated changes within the means of transport. Implications: This research paper contributes important new empirical analysis of the truck drivers’ views regarding commuting to the workplace under the COVID-19 pandemic to some extent where there's an abundance of conceptual papers and opinion pieces but still scant evidence on the particular road safety of the pandemic for researchers to think about on potential person and situation factors related to COVID-19 that would affect road safety during and after the pandemic. Collaborative efforts by researchers and public and personal sectors are going to be needed to collect data and develop truck drivers' road safety strategies in reference to the new reality of COVID-19. Keywords: COVID‐19, health disparities, roadway safety, syndemics, truck driver