With less traffic on roads, collisions across the state are down 67% from last year

A new study shows that car accidents in the Washington are down 67 percent compared to this time last year as more people are telecommuting and staying home during the COVID-19 outbreak. A new study shows that car accidents in the Washington are down 67 percent compared to this time last year as more people are telecommuting and staying home during the COVID-19 outbreak. Photo: Peter Stark Via Getty Images Photo: Peter Stark Via Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close With less traffic on roads, collisions across the state are down 67% from last year 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

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Despite having the reputation as one of the country's most congested cities, Seattle is currently experiencing an unprecedented eerily different traffic pattern during the COVID-19 outbreak. On top of the closure of all nonessential businesses and schools until April, residents are being urged and pleaded with to stay home.

As more and more citizens heed the warnings of Governor Jay Inslee, the roadways are quieting further save for the few remaining buses, grocery shoppers and emergency services, and the familiar rush hours and bumper to bumper log jams are now drastically quieter than usual.

Obviously one bright silver lining from the many workers telecommuting is less congestion, traffic and accidents.

And the data is in. A new study from Seattle's Davis Law Group analyzed the data from Washington State Patrol for the same recent five-day work week in 2020 compared to 2019 (March 16-20, 2020 and March 18-22, 2019).

The study found that during the week in 2019, there were 327 accidents in Seattle, but then this year in 2020 there were only 78 car accidents reported -- a 76% reduction. And when looking at the data from the same time periods across all of King County, there was a 75% reduction in automobile crashes.

The entire state of Washington saw a 67% decrease in automobile collisions during that third week of March, and the number of crashes on Interstate 90 fell a staggering 81%.

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