| Summary: | During COVID-19, curfews spread like wildfire. Although their impact on curbing the spread of disease remains to be proven, curfews have the potential to bring about costs to society in multiple domains. This paper investigates the impact of curfews on road safety in an urban setting. It shows that they lead to large reductions in crashes during the curfew hours when cars are off the road, but that these reductions can be fully offset by an increase in crashes during the hours before the curfew when people rush to get home. These findings forewarn that the use of curfews in future crises and pandemics should be carefully scrutinized and designed to minimize unintended negative effects
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