Impact of COVID-19 on road crashes in Thailand

Abstract

The main goal of this study is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on road crashes in Thailand using time series and interrupted time series analysis. To achieve the goal, road crash data from the Department of Highway (DOH), which includes total crashes, single vehicle crashes, fatalities, fatal crashes, speeding crashes, and drunk driving crashes, was obtained to conduct Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) time series models and Interrupted Time Series (ITS) models. SARIMA models were applied to forecast the number of crashes in the absence of COVID-19 then compare them to the observed values to identify the difference. The impact of a policy change aimed at addressing the spread of COVID-19 was assessed using ITS models on a time series accident dataset. The goal was to ascertain if the intervention had a meaningful and causative impact on the outcome. The result showed that the first wave of COVID-19 caused a significant reduction in all road crash indicators instead of skyrocketing to a peak. After releasing the lockdown measures from the first wave of spreading, an increase was found in all of the crash indicators as well. However, the third wave of COVID-19, which lasted longest for nearly 7 months, also caused a decrease in the number of crashes, but not as much as the first wave of the outbreak. Moreover, the result from the interrupted time series also revealed that curfews and the closure of entertainment places are associated with a significant decrease in the number of speeding crashes and drunk driving crashes from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., respectively. It can be observed that the COVID-19 countermeasures, such as curfews and bans on the sales of alcoholic beverages, led to a drop in the number of speeding and drunk driving crashes.