Introduction
To conduct various types of research, it is necessary to be able to select quality sources. They should not only correspond to the studied topic but also have several other criteria. For example, the most common standard for selecting articles is the date of their writing. Besides, they must be peer-reviewed and published either in well-known journals or in large databases. Finally, it is necessary to carry out a qualitative and critical assessment of the text, for which various kinds of tools, such as CASP, can be used. The purpose of this presentation is to select an article on the topic of road traffic accidents, a summary of it, and a critical assessment using the tool above.
The road safety situation is a complex problem, which is simultaneously influenced by many factors. However, over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic is the largest global factor affecting all areas.
The economic one has suffered the most from these changes since, in many countries, the disease has led to the establishment of quarantine and lockdown. Accordingly, thanks to these measures, the roads have become significantly empty, and road traffic has decreased.
However, road safety is still relevant since reduced traffic simultaneously allows better compliance with traffic rules and provides dangerous driving opportunities.
The purpose of this paper is to develop questions for professionals about the impact of COVID-19 on road safety now and in the future.
Economic Downturns
The economy is directly related to road safety performance because, in an environment of increased risk of injury and death, economic communication cannot develop at a normal pace. However, the reverse is also true, as with reduced economic activity, traffic on the roads decreases.
In general, research suggests the following positive effects of economic downturns: reduced vehicle mileage, fewer drivers, more careful driving due to lesser consumption of alcohol, and fewer cars sold.
Research on the relationship between COVID-19 and road travel is sparse and contradictory. In different states, statistics say both increases in mortality and a significant decrease in road accidents. This difference is due to different topographic conditions, driving culture, police work, and other factors that must be taken into account and investigated to obtain accurate data.
Unprecedented Nature
However, to apply such data to the study of the current traffic situation, it is necessary not only to combine various regional factors but also to consider the peculiarities of the problem with COVID-19. Since all available research was carried out under normal conditions unrelated to a pandemic, it cannot be fully applied.
First of all, this is due to the economic crisis scale and the unprecedented drop in global GDP.
Secondly, the current situation is strongly influenced by the closure of state borders and the introduced social distancing measures. In the context of COVID-19, some groups of people are more sensitively affected by the economic downturn, such as emergency workers, who are at greater risk due to the need for contact.
Therefore, a detailed analysis of this situation requires using an interactive model that explores personal and situational factors to identify research questions about the impact of the pandemic on road safety.
Personal Factors
The news is full of regular speeding, stunt driving, news reports conducted mostly by young people. Statistics show that there has been a 30% increase in the number of drivers exceeding 100 miles per hour in the United States.
First of all, such risky behavior is associated with low traffic, which allows you to speed up more safely and perform various tricks without fear of affecting the surrounding stream.
On the other hand, there is the problem of novice drivers, for whom COVID-19 is a sudden change in the environment on the roads.
This factor can also be considered from two sides since the coronavirus simultaneously makes it possible to learn how to drive safely in a more relaxed environment but does not prepare drivers for heavy traffic conditions.
Other personal factors need to be addressed, such as the impact of COVID-19 on older drivers’ skills or the increased risks to children.
Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the general factors of mortality and violations of the law and trends related to gender, age, and belonging to one or another subgroup.
Situational Factors
General factors of the situation are manifested, for example, in the rejection of public transport, since it is difficult to maintain social distancing in it. Consequently, people use private vehicles, but it is unclear if people will return to using buses after the pandemic.
Besides, at the moment, the number of small vehicles like motorcycles, which are objects of increased danger, is rising.
The coronavirus situation also affects police units, whose staff is being cut due to illness, which reduces overall road safety. In addition, in an accident, people may be afraid to receive help from medical facilities due to the dangers of exposure to COVID-19.
Thus, it is necessary to investigate this situation at various groups to analyze the coronavirus’s impact on them concerning road safety. This requires a massive analysis of the case from the perspective of different vulnerable societies.
Limitations and Strengths
This study raises many important questions and highlights the difficulties in analyzing traffic about COVID-19.
Economic factors are just one of many that can affect road safety. In addition to them, it is necessary to consider personal characteristics, including from the point of view of gender, age, culture, and situational, linking various subgroups of society with the general situation.
Studying these areas will allow road safety specialists to optimize both the current situation and develop measures for further work. Underlining a lot of problems and setting a lot of tasks is the strength of this paper.
Thanks to this work, many studies can be carried out that will help stabilize the traffic situation. However, this review suffers from a lack of statistics to back up the authors’ words. On the other hand, such data exist in minimal quantities, so the authors use other sources and previously developed concepts, citing many of them, which is also a strong point.
CASP (A, B)
This paper is not a randomized controlled trial; however, it meets part of the points for it.
The study addressed a directed question to analyze the factors affecting the traffic situation connected with COVID-19 to develop strategies to improve the situation.
By using a large number of sources, the potential for bias was eliminated.
All used sources included in the paper were taken into account after the study.
Since there were no specific participants, it is impossible to talk about someone’s “blindness.”
The sources reviewed were documents of various sizes; however, each was taken into account and considered with the same degree of attention due to a precise sequence of research and reasoning.
CASP (C, D)
All available research results were addressed intelligibly and detailed through careful analysis of each source.
However, it should be noted that some critical data are missing to help address this situation in more detail. In particular, there are no statistical results from studies on the impact of the economic downturn due to COVID-19 on road safety.
However, all results were analyzed as clearly as possible, and no prejudice or misunderstanding was revealed. Therefore, it can be noted that the advantages of the method used outweigh its cost.
Finally, the results identified can indeed help solve some of the problems at the local level. While the strategies identified are more applicable globally, if properly managed, they can be applied within the people of the system. Besides, due to the small number of studies on this topic, the current research is likely to be very useful for the study population.
Conclusion
Therefore, this article describes methods and strategies to improve the traffic situation concerning the effects of COVID-19. This area is mostly unexplored, so research on economic downturns was used for this analysis.
However, for the full development of effective methods, it is also necessary to consider the personal and situational impact of COVID-19, expressed in such factors as driving culture, age, and gender, the influence of specific groups of people in the general context. Collaborative efforts of researchers and public and private sectors are needed to collect data further, develop, and implement tactics in the realities of COVID-19.
Although this article is more of a systematic analysis, it can still be assessed for the most part using the CASP tool. This work has a defined question, although it does not correspond to the RCT type. It allows a specific study using a particular methodology, namely a systematic analysis of available sources. The results obtained have been correctly processed and are valuable for both local and global societies and populations.
Reference
Vingilis, E., Beirness, D., Boase, P., Byrne, P., Johnson, J., Jonah, B., Mann, R.E., Rapoport, M.J., Seeley, J., Wickens, C.M., & Wiesenthal, D.L. (2020). Coronavirus disease 2019: What could be the effects on Road safety?. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 144, 105687. Web.