Decreased traffic volume during COVID-19 did not reduce roadkill on fenced highway network in Japan

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reduced human activities through city lock-downs and restricted traffic flows. It had been suggested that roadkill occurrences are strongly associated with traffic volume. I evaluated the association between traffic volume and roadkill during COVID-19, from March to May 2020, using 26,130 roadkill data points recorded from the highway network in Hokkaido from 2010 to 2020, Japan. Results showed that there was a significant positive correlation between roadkill numbers and traffic volume over the past decade. However, the roadkill during COVID-19 restricted human activity did not diminish, although traffic volume decreased during this period.