Sure, reducing deaths by reducing travel makes sense - but it's kind of like reducing acne via decapitation. Yes, technically it does solve the problem, but it's a total non-starter.
If there's any point to the research, how do you extrapolate it, what's the long-term solution - rolling street closings just to make travel less convenient? That's not happening.
I think it would be more constructive to analyze how deaths can be prevented without decreasing the total number of person-miles traveled. And there are ways to do that.