Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions in NW of Spain

ABSTRACT: Wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) in many places have a significant impact on wildlife management and road safety. The COVID-19 lockdown enabled the study of the specific impact that traffic has on these events. WVC variation in the Asturias and Cantabria regions (NW of Spain) because of the COVID-19 lockdown reached a maximum reduction of -64.77% during strictconfinement but it was minimal or nonexistent during "soft" confinement. The global average value was -30.22% compared with the WVCs registered in the same period in 2019, but only -4.69% considering the average throughout the period 2010-2019. There are huge differences between conventional roads, where the traffic reduction was greater, and highways, where the traffic reduction was lesser during the COVID-19 lockdown. The results depend on the season, the day of the week and the time of day, but mainly on the traffic reduction occurring. The results obtained highlight the need to include the traffic factor in WVC reduction strategies.This research was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU), the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union (ERDF, EU) through the project HOFIDRAIN-MELODRAIN, Re. RTI2018-094217-B-C32, financed y MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ERDF “A way to make Europe”