Surprise drop in lockdown road injuries - Herald Sun/Sunday Herald Sun/Home Magazine (Melbourne, Australia) - May 14, 2024 - page 8

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EXCLUSIVE The number of injuries from road crashes has fallen in the past few years – and experts believe work-from-home trends may be partly the reason.

Even though the road toll has increased since the Covid lockdowns to even higher levels than before the pandemic, the rate of injuries requiring hospital treatment has remained low. A Monash University study found the number of road-crash injuries was about three-quarters of pre-pandemic levels.

The study reviewed data from TAC claims involving hospital treatment and deaths in Victoria from July 2016 to May 2023.

Study lead author Andy Lim, adjunct senior lecturer in Monash’s School of Health Sciences, told the Herald Sun: “My hypothesis, and similar authors have thought, that there is a reduction in actual volume of road users during lockdown and afterwards.

“Even though there’s a reduction in the volume of traffic, perhaps that could translate to faster speeds and emptier lanes and therefore more severe crashes.” Dr Lim said the Victorian study reflected findings from other parts of the world.

The number of crashes also had implications for health services, he said. “If we’re going to be staying at 75 per cent just for this brief period, before all the employees suddenly start to go back to work in the office, does that mean we’re going to have one-third rise in demand for hospitalisation in road trauma?’’ The seven-year study was published in the Emergency Medicine Australasia journal.