Traffic study finds a public health ‘silver lining’ amidst the pandemic

As a result of stay-at-home orders at the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, fewer drivers took to the roadways. Early research indicated not just a global reduction in daily CO2 emissions, but large decreases in traffic accidents involving injury, distracted drivers, and ambulance dispatches.

A new study led by Alex R. Piquero, chair and professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology and Arts & Sciences Distinguished Scholar at the University of Miami, analyzed data from Miami-Dade County to examine changes in alcohol-related crashes and driving under the influence (DUI) arrests.

The study, “A COVID-19 Public Health Silver Lining? Reductions in Driving Under the Influence Arrests and Crashes in Miami-Dade County,” was recently published in the journal Deviant Behavior.

Piquero and his research team used a regression discontinuity model, inputting data from January 2016 through March 2021 to examine how the pandemic lockdown and subsequent reopening potentially changed the course in both drunk driving crashes and DUI arrests.

“While we observed immediate reductions in both crashes and arrests as a result of the March 2020 lockdown, more importantly over the duration of the following year we observed a staggering reduction of more than 800 fewer driving under the influence arrests and almost 150 fewer alcohol-related motor-vehicle crashes,” Piquero noted.

In their publication, the researchers note that these findings contribute a silver lining to the current public health crisis, as alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes historically represent approximately 35 percent of the total number of vehicular crashes in the United States.

The study was coauthored by Justin Kurland, director of research at the University of Southern Mississippi's National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security; Nicole Leeper Piquero, professor of sociology and assistant dean in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami; and Steven K. Talpins, chief assistant state attorney with the Miami-Dade County Office of the State Attorney.