Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road: Preliminary Data Analysis in March 2020 During Covid-19 Emergency in Italy

Abstract

The work proposes a preliminary analysis of the transport of dangerous goods in Italy during the lockdown caused by COVID-19 in March 2020. Using a monitoring network able to detect the orange panel (UN and KEMLER number), it was possible to analyze the data related to the gates near Brescia (Regione Lombardia) and Trecate (Regione Piemonte). The first gate is located on area which is one currently most affected by COVID-19 in the whole of Italy. The second gate is placed in a suburban area near the city of Trecate in the province of Novara. This gate can be considered significant because it is close to an important industrial pole where there are several chemical plants also for the processing of hydrocarbons. The analysis was performed considering three representative substances: gasoline, diesel fuel and oxygen. The first substance could reasonably be associated with the transport of people (motor vehicles), the second with the transport of goods (heavy vehicles) while the third could be even used in the medical and hospital sector as a result of the greater number of people having contracted COVID-19. Several analyses were carried out in order to compare the number of transits of hazardous goods detected with a reference period.