CrashStat 3.0 Will Build a Better Danger Map to Empower Safety Activists

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Fatal crashes in one portion of Queens City Council Member Eric Ulrich's district, 1995-2005. With the new CrashStat, you could specifically map City Council districts. Image: ##http://www.crashstat.org##CrashStat##

CrashStat, the interactive map of cyclist and pedestrian injuries and fatalities, is one of the most important tools for New Yorkers who want to make their streets safer. Nothing else lets you quickly access the safety stats for your community or visualize the injury rates at specific intersections and streets.

Transportation Alternatives is now looking to deploy a new and improved CrashStat, adding more kinds of data and giving users more flexibility in how they access it. Currently, you can see safety stats at the borough, community district, or intersection level. The upgrade will add legislative districts, police precincts, and neighborhoods, and users will also be able to see data within boundaries they draw themselves.

The new CrashStat will also make accessible additional information about each crash on the map. T.A. already has access to information like the age and sex of the victim, the collision type, and the contributing factors to the crash, and the new platform would put that data online.

“CrashStat 3.0 would allow you, for example, to look at speed-related crashes in a specific state assembly district,” said T.A. IT director Mike Infranco. That could allow local residents to petition their representative to support speed cameras. If most pedestrian injuries in a particular neighborhood were caused by motorists failing to yield at an intersection, said Infranco, that could inspire a community group to request leading pedestrian intervals.

Separate from the upgrade, T.A. is currently adding 2006-2008 data to CrashStat. CrashStat 3.0 would integrate 2009 and possibly 2010 crash data. T.A. also wants the new CrashStat to be embeddable onto other websites.

T.A. is currently asking for proposals from developers to build the new CrashStat. The deadline to submit a bid is February 28.

  • Holly

    I would like to see one that included what type of vehicle caused the crash (perhaps one color for automobiles, another for bicycles) so that when we make cases for more enforcement of traffic laws for cars we’ll have a nice visual to show just how few bicycles are responsible for killing pedestrians as opposed to cars.

  • Peter

    Out of curiosity, how is TA getting the data, and is there any way they can publish the data set in some portable format (e.g. XML)?

    I ask because this data is the kind of stuff that’s totally ripe for crowdsourcing and other manipulations/mashups beyond just what TA wants to do with it.

  • Jeff

    I’d like to see statistics on how many of the victims were wearing earbuds, on the cell phone or hand held device while crossing an intersection.

  • eveostay

    I don’t know that, Jeff, but the NYC DOT report at http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/nyc_ped_safety_study_action_plan_technical_supplement.pdf found that 78.5% of serious pedestrian crashes were primarily the fault of the motor vehicle driver.

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