Abstract:
With nearly every country in the world battling to cope with outbreaks of the Covid-19 virus, the way of living and travel has changed dramatically in the last six months. The health pandemic has created significant implications on every aspect of our economy and lives. The impact on travel behaviour and mobility is no exception where various levels of lockdowns have forced change that has never been experienced in recent history. Most of the effects have been negative, but some have been positive, not the least being the opportunity to consider the effects on travel behaviour & road safety due to various levels of restrictions.
The research presented in this thesis aimed to investigate the impact on travel behaviours and road safety during the Covid-19 pandemic in New Zealand (NZ). It explored whether these changes were short-term effects returning to pre-pandemic levels or whether fundamental behaviour change will be more permanent. Both quantitative and qualitative data relating to travel and road crashes before, during, and after Covid-19 restrictions were collected during 2020 to assess the implications of Covid-19. This data was analysed via descriptive and statistical analysis methods.
The results obtained from analysis demonstrated that although Covid-19 significantly impacted the travel behaviours during the lockdown periods in NZ, most of the effects were only temporary. In terms of road safety outcomes, a positive impact was seen in overall crash numbers as they significantly decreased during 2020 due to the reduced risk of exposure caused by travel restrictions. Covid-19 makes a good case study where a substantial reduction in exposure to risk can result in reduced overall crash rates and death & serious injury crashes. This was supported by the statistical analysis results as vehicle km travelled was proven to be a major factor influencing crash occurrence. Overall, this research has shown once Vehicle Km Travelled (VKT) levels return to normal, the overall crash numbers and the proportion of Death & Serious Injury (DSI) crashes will tend to rise unless a significantly different approach is taken to mitigate these effects as opposed to the current practices in place.
The learnings from this research will provide several insights for policymakers to be able to proactively plan to reduce crash rates taking NZ a step closer towards achieving the targeted 40% reduction in death or serious injury crashes by 2030. And in the process of doing so, it may also achieve the added benefits of better aligning the transport system to achieve a net-zero carbon emission by 2050.