WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — There are less drivers on the roads, that means less crashes.
The Iowa State Patrol said, because of the pandemic, citations dropped by 50 percent in April of this year compared to 2019.
Sgt. Alex Dinkla, with the Iowa Patrol, told Local 5 traffic is down 40 percent on all roadways in Iowa.
However, there was a spike on July 4th.
"In April, May, and June we averaged about 20 fatalities each of those months," said Dinkla. "So far, here in July, we've had 32 fatalities."
Since the pandemic, local mechanic shops like the Valley West Corner have been impacted.
“Before the covid and everything it seems like we had, maybe, 5 to 10 cars a day coming in or calling us about a crash or something going on on the side of the road," explained Shawn Staley, a lube tech.
As more people start traveling back to work and for summer vacation, "We are down from what we, usually, do, but it's going back up."