Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

One of the fringe benefits of the coronavirus-related restrictions, recommendations and closings is police are seeing much lighter traffic and reduced numbers of accidents and violations.

“Traffic is much lighter,” Clark County Sheriff Berl Perdue Jr. said, “especially in town. It seems, listening to the radio, we’re having fewer accidents.”

Rainy days will typically bring more accidents, he said, as well as other circumstances.

Winchester Police Capt. Harvey Craycraft said he and his officers are seeing similar reductions as well.

“We haven’t had any issues,” he said. “Everyone seems to be compliant.

“From my personal experience, the (traffic) is really light. Obviously everyone’s working from home.”

There may be another factor at play as well.

“There’s nowhere to go,” Perdue said.

Craycraft said accidents will still happen, but the numbers have seemed to drop.

“I won’t say it’s been greatly reduced,” he said. “We’re still going to have a few with wet surfaces and other conditions.”

Perdue said his office’s call volume is down significantly, he said, though that may change as the pandemic continues.

“As time goes on, people will get stir crazy and it will increase,” he said.

His deputies are holding up well, isolating themselves in their cruisers and handling as many calls as they can over the telephone.