Effect of Covid-19 lockdown on traffic and the crash rate of national highway: Evidence from Bangladesh

This study aims to evaluate the impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on traffic volume of national highways connecting Dhaka with other divisional cities considering pre, during and post-lockdown periods during COVID-19. Bangladesh Government imposed countrywide lockdown at different steps in different timeline, based on the dissemination rate of COVID-19 virus. As a part of controlling measures, the first lockdown was imposed on March 2020 and vehicular movement on highways connecting capital Dhaka with other divisional cities got banned. Thus, the vehicular traffic contributing to Dhaka using different highways got lessened over period. Before imposing every movement ban, people migrated and left cities. Considering all these scenarios, traffic volume has been studied for the eight National Highways (N1-N8). Along with this, the change in road crash rate over these periods has also been studied. Although it seems that, with the reduction of vehicular movements on road the crash rate would also be lessened, but the observed scenario is opposite. For example, on N1 from March 9 to March 25, 2019, the crash number was 3 and the fatality rate was 4, however in 2020, the numbers were 4 and 18. Moreover, the crash number on N5 was 6 during the shutdown period from March 26 to May 29, 2020, and it was 5 in 2019. The fatality rates were the same in both times, indicating that the travel restrictions did not reduce the number of crashes. The main causes of these collisions during the lockdown were mostly irresponsible driving and high speeds due to comparatively low traffic volume. On the other hand, the crash number on N7 was 17 after shutdown from 30 May 2020 to 28 November 2020, and it was 15 in 2019. It appears that, because passenger vehicle movement was restricted for a long period, vehicular mobility was exegeted, resulting in a rise in ADT values on national highways, as well as an increase in crash counts. Each year, many unexpected crashes occur on these national highways due to uncontrolled driving, overtaking, and high speeds. The study findings can help policy makers to understand the factors behind roadway crashes on the highways during the COVID-19 period. It would eventually govern reliable, efficient roadway system ensuring mobility with safety.