If ever there was a time to look for silver linings, it is now. The measures in place to minimize the impacts of Covid-19 on society are drastic. Most of us have never been through anything like this. Even though the situation is challenging, there are things we can be grateful for if we look for them.
Because travel has been greatly reduced, car traffic on the roads is much lighter than usual. While I know we’d prefer our lives to be back to normal as soon as possible, there are some positive outcomes to having fewer vehicles on the road. Here’s my list.
- Less air pollution from vehicles means cleaner air. Polluted air reduces life expectancy.
- Fewer cars on the roads means fewer collisions, fewer injuries, fewer deaths. In 2018, 1743 Canadians died in motor vehicle collisions and more than 152,000 were injured.
- Collisions between pedestrians and vehicles should be greatly reduced due to the lower number of both.
- It is safer for cyclists on the roads as there are fewer motor vehicles on the road. Since there’s less traffic, drivers of motor vehicles are more easily able to give cyclists space.
- Freight delivery is faster with fewer cars on the road.
- Car insurance premiums have been lowered by some companies as people aren’t driving nearly as much.
- A tank of gas lasts at least twice as long for me 🙂
While I want this pandemic to be over soon, I’d love to see some of these benefits last. It’s sad when we have to accept air pollution, traffic congestion, and thousands deaths and injuries every year as “normal”. Once the situation with Covid-19 improves, I hope we as individuals and a society can look at ways to hang onto some of the benefits that have come out of this crisis.
In the meantime, please stay well 🙂