Investigating the Effect of COVID-19 on Driver Behavior and Road Safety: A Naturalistic Driving Study in Malaysia

Abstract

The spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 resulted in unprecedented worldwide countermeasures such as lockdowns and suspensions of all retail, recreational, and religious activities for the majority of 2020. Nonetheless, no adequate scientific data have been provided thus far about the impact of COVID-19 on driving behavior and road safety, especially in Malaysia. This study examined the effect of COVID-19 on driving behavior using naturalistic driving data. This was accomplished by comparing the driving behaviors of the same drivers in three periods: before COVID-19 lockdown, during COVID-19 lockdown, and after COVID-19 lockdown. Thirty people were previously recruited in 2019 to drive an instrumental vehicle on a 25 km route while recording their driving data such as speed, acceleration, deceleration, distance to vehicle ahead, and steering. The data acquisition system incorporated various sensors such as an OBDII reader, a lidar, two ultrasonic sensors, an IMU, and a GPS. The same individuals were contacted again in 2020 to drive the same vehicle on the same route in order to capture their driving behavior during the COVID-19 lockdown. Participants were approached once again in 2022 to repeat the procedure in order to capture their driving behavior after the COVID-19 lockdown. Such valuable and trustworthy data enable the assessment of changes in driving behavior throughout the three time periods. Results showed that drivers committed more violations during the COVID-19 lockdown, with young drivers in particular being most affected by the traffic restrictions, driving significantly faster and performing more aggressive steering behaviors during the COVID-19 lockdown than any other time. Furthermore, the locations where the most speeding offenses were committed are highlighted in order to provide lawmakers with guidance on how to improve traffic safety in those areas, in addition to various recommendations on how to manage traffic during future lockdowns.

The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Distribution of Traffic Accident Hotspots in New York City

“…Their research showed that the traffic volume decreased dramatically during the stay-at-home order in Maine, and drivers responded to the change by increasing their speed, with speeding largely contributing to the increase in fatal and serious injury crashes. In Malaysia, Al-Hussein et al [41] studied the impact of COVID-19 on driver driving behavior using naturalistic driving data. The findings showed that drivers committed increased infractions and swerved more aggressively during the pandemic than at any other time.…”

Impact of Post-Covid-19 on driver behaviour: A perspective towards pandemic-sustained transportation

“…Knowing the information of surroundings and road-agents is a driver skill that contributes to driver situational awareness level. During the Covid-19 lockdowns, on empty road, young drivers were thrilled in speeding and involved in various motor vehicle collisions ( Sekadakis et al, 2022 ; Al-Hussein et al, 2022 ). The main causes behind were poor driver situation awareness, careless driving, and over-confidence.…”

Housing and the Pandemic: How Has Covid-19 Influenced Residents’ Needs and Aspirations?

“…Much research has already been done on the Covid-19 pandemic and the various social and psychological problems associated with it, presented in scientific publications (Graziani et al, 2022;Al-Hussein et al, 2022;Moon & Jo, 2022;Stecuła, & Wolniak, 2022;Pfledderer et al 2022;Paridanset al, 2022). However, the Covid-19 pandemic has also forced us to reconsider how we live and erect our dwellings.…”