Governments’ Responses to the Coronavirus Pandemic clears the Road for their Responses to the Traffic Pandemic

Abstract

Governments all over the world have been instrumental in limiting the devastating effects of the highly infectious COVID-19 pandemic. Although the success rate of a plethora of completely novel legislations is still yet unknown, there can be little doubt about the intensity of political will and resources allocated to fight the spread and effects of the pandemic. In this perspective piece, a comparison is made between governmental responses worldwide to COVID-19 and their responses to a much longer-lasting and even more devasting pandemic, the catastrophe of road traffic crashes. Comparing these two pandemics highlights the negligible level of attention road traffic crash prevention has received in the past and the valuable lessons that can be drawn for the future.