WKYT Fact Check | Collisions, traffic stops decline in Lexington as folks stay 'healthy at home'
Published: Apr. 23, 2020 at 12:22 PM EDT
Many people are staying "healthy at home" as much as they can during the coronavirus pandemic, and that is making a noticeable difference on Lexington streets and roads.
According to the Lexington Police Department's
for the month of March, nearly every category is down compared to the same time last year.
Among the notable trends:
- Total crashes were down 30 percent in March 2020 compared to March 2019. That's 363 fewer crashes.
- Total crashes were down 10 percent year to date through the end of March 2020 compared to 2019. That's 368 fewer crashes.
- Deadly crashes were down 63 percent year to date through the end of March 2020 compared to 2019. Ten fewer people died in crashes in that same time period.
- Alcohol-involved crashes dropped just over 11 percent in the month of March 2020 compared to March 2019.
It's also interesting to look at when the bulk of these crashes happened.
- The first two weeks of March saw about 250 crashes each week. In the third week, that dropped to 133.
- The first half of March saw about 34 crashes each day. In the second half of March, that was down to 22.
Traffic stops and traffic charges were also down.
- Traffic stops dropped nearly 55 percent in March 2020 compared to March 2019. Police made 1,880 stops in March 2020 compared to 4,163 the year before.
- Traffic charges dropped nearly 52 percent in March 2020 (2,354 total charges) compared to March 2019 (4,877 total charges).
- DUI arrests were down by about 38 percent in March 2020 (72 DUI arrests) compared to March 2019 (117 DUI arrests). That's 45 fewer DUI arrests compared to last year.
