COVID-19 Lockdown and Decline in Road Accidents in Bangkok, Thailand
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Abstract
This study presents the distribution of road accidents in Bangkok, Thailand, during the COVID-19 outbreak (162 days) using spatial statistics. The findings show that the number of road accidents fell by 28.53% during the lockdown period (March 26 to June 14, 2020) compared to before the lockdown period (January 5 to March 25, 2020). There was also a considerable decrease in road accidents by approximately 4.96% compared to the same period in 2019 (January 4 to June 14, 2019). High accident incidence areas were located in central and southwestern Bangkok, and this pattern was also observed before and during the lockdown as well as in 2019. The findings revealed the numbers and patterns of road accidents that occurred during the COVID-19 outbreak. This information can be useful in minimizing and limiting the impact and damage caused by road accidents in Bangkok.
Keywords: COVID-19; lockdown; road accident; Moran’s I; spatial autocorrelation
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E-mail: narong_p@buu.ac.th
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