Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the implementation of traffic and movement restrictions as governments were trying to limit the spread of the virus. Tourism has been affected by these travel restrictions. We examine the impact of curfews and the re-opening of borders on road traffic accidents. We investigate the effects of lockdown on motor vehicle collisions by analyzing recorded car accidents in 58 districts in Greece. We employ a difference-in-differences approach to compare motor vehicle collisions in 2020 with the previous five years. We reveal a decline in road traffic collisions during the curfew period (with 1617 fewer collisions). This is followed by an increase after the re-opening of borders (168 more vehicle collisions in tourist-popular areas despite the decline in tourist arrivals), compared to what would have been expected in the absence of the pandemic restrictions.

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