Nahomi Amberber
School of Occupational and Public Health, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
Andrew Howard
Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada; Departments of Surgery & Health Policy, Management & Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Meghan Winters
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada
M. Anne Harris
School of Occupational and Public Health, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Ian Pike
British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, Canada; Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Alison Machperson
School of Kinesiology and Health Science, Faculty of Health, York University, Toronto, Canada; The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Canada;
Marie-Soleil Cloutier
Centre Urbanisation Culture Société, Institut National de la recherche scientifique, Montréal, Canada
Sarah A. Richmond
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Applied Public Health Science Unit, Injury Prevention, Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Canada
Brent Hagel
Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Pamela Fuselli
Parachute Canada, Toronto, Canada
Linda Rothman
School of Occupational and Public Health, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada; Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Abstract
Road traffic injury, one of the leading causes of preventable morbidity and mortality in Canada, declined substantially as an indirect outcome of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health policies encouraging people to ‘stay at home’ and ‘practice physical distancing’ precipitated shifts in vehicle volumes and speed, transportation mode, and collision rates. Toronto data from January to June 2020 showed a decrease in road transportation, and a simultaneous decrease in road traffic collisions. However, reduced traffic volumes also led to increased vehicle speeds which can result in an increase in injury severity involving pedestrians and cyclists. As the pandemic progresses, an emphasis on safe, active transportation and equitable distribution of street infrastructure throughout the city is essential. A public health approach to road safety includes implementation of evidence-based road safety infrastructure enabled by access to timely transportation data to evaluate changes made.
