HONK Technologies Releases Roadside Assistance Data for Vehicle Traffic Volume Trends in California, Texas and Georgia During COVID-19 Pandemic

LOS ANGELES, June 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- HONK Technologies today released roadside assistance data for three states — California, Texas and Georgia — that show traffic volume trends from March 2 - May 16, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though these three states have enacted, lifted and loosened stay-at-home orders on different dates, the traffic trends are similar. Changes in traffic volume trends do not align with the dates of stay-at-home orders, indicating that people are changing their travel patterns independently of state orders.

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HONK provides a roadside assistance platform that connects drivers, towing professionals and insurers, enabling drivers to request on-demand service via mobile devices. The company tracks data on the frequency and location of roadside assistance requests. These service requests provide data on the location and frequency of roadside assistance incidents which can be used to show vehicle traffic trends. The data presented below show 7-day moving averages of daily service requests for each state, along with 7-day moving averages of all HONK service requests nationwide.

Key findings

• Traffic trends began to fall before any stay-at-home orders were enacted
  California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a stay-at-home order on March 19, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued his on April 2, and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp issued his on April 3. Nevertheless, all three states saw traffic begin to fall much earlier, with Texas' decline starting on March 8, Georgia's on March 9 and California's on March 11.
• Traffic trends began rising before any stay-at-home orders were lifted or loosened
  Though these three states lifted or loosened their stay-at-home orders at different times, traffic trends began to rise before any states had changed their quarantine policies. Georgia significantly loosened its stay-at-home order on April 24, Texas did so on May 1 and California's governor allowed counties to begin loosening their quarantines on May 8.However, traffic volume trends began rising in Georgia on April 16, in Texas on April 17 and in California on April 1.
• As of May 16, traffic volume trends were still significantly below pre-pandemic levels
  California was 28% below the pre-pandemic baseline, Georgia was 34%, and Texas was 20%.

Findings by state

California's traffic volume trends began dropping dramatically starting March 11, just over a week before its stay-at-home order was issued. Trends hit their lowest point on March 28 at 40% below the baseline. Traffic volume trends began to slowly recover on April 1, rising to a peak of 23% below baseline on May 11. 

Georgia's traffic volume trends began falling on March 9 and had the sharpest decline of these three states, bottoming out at 49% below baseline on April 15. Georgia's traffic volume trends began to rise slowly the next day, hitting a peak of 29% below baseline on May 6 before declining back down to 34% of baseline by May 16.

Texas' decline began on March 10, bottoming out at 45% below baseline on April 12, after which traffic volume trends steadily rose to 21% of baseline on May 6. Traffic volume trends declined slightly over the next week before hitting its high point at 20% below baseline on May 15-16.

HONK details this information on its blog here. See graphs depicting traffic volume trends here.

About HONK Technologies
HONK's mission is to ensure that vehicle-related problems don't interfere with the things that matter most: getting motorists back on the road and to their final destinations, quickly and safely. HONK connects motorists in need with high-quality towing service professionals through its unique platform that combines both advanced technology and expert human assistance. With the largest GPS-enabled network of service vehicles in the U.S. and Canada, HONK brings fast, accessible, transparent roadside assistance to individuals, automobile manufacturers, insurance carriers and fleets, cutting wait times by over 50%, providing live tracking maps with real-time service progress, and dramatically improving customer satisfaction and NPS. HONK Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA with operations throughout North America. To learn more, visit https://www.honkforhelp.com 

SOURCE HONK Technologies Inc