Note that deaths per vehicle mile traveled (VMT) went up during Covid. Reducing commuting time doesn't necessarily reduce deaths under that metric -- just the opposite! Commuter trips are probably the safest per VMT since they're the most familiar.
There were stories about this effect, even as total collisions went down because of the bigger drop in VMT[1]. I speculated that this was a combination of
a) the above effect (stripping out the safer commuter trips), plus
b) the roads being dominated by people least willing to follow the advice to stay home, which correlates with being anti-social and reckless (mean though that sounds! [2])
My facebook friends suggested
c) the immense stress of coping with the Covid world made the average person less able to concentrate.
I also suspect:
d) traffic enforcement was reduced and drivers gradually started branching out into more aggressive maneuvers as they became aware of this.
Note that people saw their car insurance rates go down during covid because the typical personal policy only cares about accidents per unit time, and rarely adjusts for miles driven.
But I don't know why it hasn't regressed to the pre-covid levels -- probably because WFH hasn't completely reversed.
There were stories about this effect, even as total collisions went down because of the bigger drop in VMT[1]. I speculated that this was a combination of
a) the above effect (stripping out the safer commuter trips), plus
b) the roads being dominated by people least willing to follow the advice to stay home, which correlates with being anti-social and reckless (mean though that sounds! [2])
My facebook friends suggested
c) the immense stress of coping with the Covid world made the average person less able to concentrate.
I also suspect:
d) traffic enforcement was reduced and drivers gradually started branching out into more aggressive maneuvers as they became aware of this.
Note that people saw their car insurance rates go down during covid because the typical personal policy only cares about accidents per unit time, and rarely adjusts for miles driven.
But I don't know why it hasn't regressed to the pre-covid levels -- probably because WFH hasn't completely reversed.
[1] https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/0...
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39179818