Michelaraki E., Sekadakis M., Katrakazas C., Ziakopoulos A., Yannis G., “A four-country comparative overview of the impact of COVID-19 on traffic safety behavior”, Proceedings of the 10th International Congress on Transportation Research (1-3 September 2021).

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a number of dramatic effects on typical patterns of movement, road crashes and driver behavior. The current research aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on driving behavior and road safety through the exploitation of data from smartphone sensors via smartphone applications developed by OSeven Telematics. A random dataset from its database from 29/12/2019 to 31/12/2020 for four countries (i.e.Greece, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus and Brazil) was analyzed. Results demonstrated that average driving speed, speeding percentage and harsh events (except for Cyprus) were increased during the lockdown period. A reduction in traffic volume and numbers of people walking in each country was also identified. The effectiveness of COVID-19 pandemic massive measures for controlling the spread of the disease can be an excellent example for massive measures for the improvement of road safety, everywhere in the world.