Holiday Caution Urged Despite Less Traffic.

• Position: VEHICLE CRASHES

Caution is urged for drivers over the holidays because although there have been fewer crashes reported during the pandemic, there have been more fatal crashes than traffic patterns would suggest, according to the University of Alabama Center for Advanced Public Safety (CAPS).

The holidays still are expected to bring increased risks for crashes and fatal crashes even as pandemic traffic patterns likely mean less people traveling.

Notes study director David Brown: "The primary assumption is that drivers in general will not significantly change their driving behaviors over the holiday season. Obviously, some of the typical difference over the holidays that we have documented in the past will occur."

The study employed the Critical Analysis Reporting Environment, or CARE, a software analysis system developed by CAPS to mine information from existing databases automatically.

Since March 10, reported traffic crashes have decreased by 18.4%, compared to before the pandemic, which comes from reduced traffic, Brown indicates However, traffic levels are nearly back to normal heading into the holidays, he cautions.

Fatal crashes have increased during the pandemic by about 4.2%. The biggest causes come from...