New Episode of Resources Radio: “Driving Behavior: How COVID-19 Pumped the Brakes on Transportation, with Abel Brodeur”

WASHINGTON, DC—Resources for the Future (RFF) today released a new installment of Resources Radio: “Driving Behavior: How COVID-19 Pumped the Brakes on Transportation, with Abel Brodeur.”

In this episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Abel Brodeur, an associate professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Ottawa. Brodeur discusses his recent research into the far-reaching effects of lockdown orders in the United States, which notably include a steep reduction in car crashes as more people stay home. Because lockdown orders have economic consequences far beyond the spread of the pandemic, Brodeur contends that policymakers should consider these additional costs and benefits when making decisions about protecting public health.

Listen here.

Notable quotes from the podcast:

• Car crashes have been less frequent during lockdowns: “Car crashes in the United States in March, April, were going down by 50 percent in states and counties where there was a lockdown implemented, in comparison to other states [and counties] at the same moment of time that didn't have a lockdown implemented … It's going down because people are staying at home.” (5:49)
• The total economic costs of car crashes are staggering: “Now, the question is: How much money is [lost] when there's a car crash? If you talk to insurers, they can give you an estimate of fixing the cars. The claim is going to be something like $5,000, maybe on average, for a car crash. Well, 300,000 [car crashes] times $5,000 is a lot, but that's obviously very incomplete. There are many other costs. There are costs related to lawyers' fees. There's congestion. There's traffic jams. Everybody arrives late to work. And then there's the doctors, the firefighters—there's so much going on. Some estimates say that maybe a car crash is $10,000; maybe it's $15,000.” (12:32)
• Speculating about the economic impacts of COVID-19 and the future of lockdowns: “Is it going to be a depression that's going to last for years? It depends on how many other waves we're going to get [of the virus]. In the northeast of the United States and in Canada right now, things are a bit more relaxed, but there might be another wave in September. If you look at the IMF [International Monetary Fund], we see that they keep revising down their prediction for growth. Now, it's minus 7 percent this year—it used to be minus 2 percent. So, I think people are getting more and more pessimistic, which means that there will be more lockdowns, which means that there will be less car crashes.” (20:23)