Study: Hudson Valley Travel Was Down 85% at COVID-19 Peak
If I told you that there were fewer drivers on the road during the COVID-19 outbreak, I don't think that news would surprise you but the actual number might. In an email from Kingston Creative we were told that the number of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VTM) in the Hudson Valley during the Pandemic was estimated to be 85 percent less than the same time frame last year.
Another interesting fact is that the VTM number in the Hudson Valley still remains below last year at this time as well. How do they know this? They are following a real-time website called Street Light Data. The email stated that the full data from mid-March through the end of May is available on the website of Mainetti & Mainetti, P.C. who are a Hudson Valley personal injury law firm. You would expect that they and along with local insurance companies would be keeping track of this information. This type of information is how insurance companies knew there with fewer of us on the road and in return gave so many of us discounts for our car insurance over the last two months.
Obviously, the reason the VTM number went down was due to people not traveling to work or play while the Hudson Valley was on Pause. You can add to that number the fact that we didn't have people traveling here on the weekends for entertainment. And now even through we are in Phase two as of today I am gonna hedge my bets that the roads still stay quiet compared to last year. More people are going to stay working from home and we have fewer events happening this summer. Without the festivals, concerts and country fairs I think we will see that fewer people will be driving on our Hudson Valley Roads.
Of course, this doesn't mean we have fewer potholes. That is a whole different topic. Drive carefully and stay safe.