Cambridge Releases Crash Report For The Year

Summary, lots of new riders, so more crashes, but crash rate down.  Overall good news, as the number of riders has skyrocketed the crash per-capita has gone down, meaning that more riders have lead to safer riding.

Still a lot of work to go, but its moving in the right direction (at least in Cambridge it is)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Crime Analysis Unit at the Cambridge Police Department (CPD) has conducted analysis of the traffic crashes occurring within the CPD jurisdiction over the past 15 years. The available data includes crash calls for service (any call requesting police assistance related to a traffic collision), crash reports (any collision that is severe enough to require a police report), and incidents requiring transport to the hospital by Emergency Medical Services (EMS).

The Unit’s primary goal has been to understand trends in crash incidents in the context of population growth and changes in ridership (i.e., increasing numbers of bicyclists). This analysis resulted in the following conclusions:

x The total number of crashes occurring in the city has declined since the early 2000s, even as population and number of road users have increased. x While total crashes have declined, crashes involving cyclists increased by 28% from 2000 to 2015, corresponding with an increase in bike ridership. Normalizing for increases in bike ridership, the bike crash rate has declined since 2010, with more variability prior to 2010.

x A small portion of crashes required an EMS transport to the hospital – about 20% of crashes since 2010. Approximately half of crashes requiring EMS transport involved non-motorists.

x Crashes are distributed broadly across the city, with notable hotspots along Massachusetts Avenue from MIT to Central Square, the Harvard Square area, Massachusetts Avenue near Porter Square, and the Inman Square area.

x Two locations have had a particularly high incidence of crashes requiring EMS transport to the Hospital: Hampshire Street from Inman Square to Tremont Street, and Massachusetts Avenue from Vassar Street to Bigelow Street. These two locations accounted for 22% of all crashes requiring EMS transport in 2015 and 2016. These areas are heavily trafficked by cyclists and pedestrians, the road users most vulnerable to injury in the event of a crash. Other notable locations include the Kendall Square area near Broadway and Hampshire Street, along John F. Kennedy Street and Massachusetts Avenue near Harvard Square, and on Cambridge Street near 5th and 6th Streets

Read the full thing here (pdf)

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Cambridge Crash Data Visualized

The Social Computing Group at the MIT Media Lab launched a website this month featuring maps of various cities around the country including a map of reported bicycle crashes in Cambridge.

They write, “This map helps to show where crashes tend to happen, like Mass Ave and Cambridge Street and Hampshire Street, in the hope that those streets might be made safer for riders.”

Knowing where, when and how a crash occurs best equips planners and decision makers to prevent these similar crashes in the future. Check out the map visualization of the 746 reported bike crashes in Cambridge from 2010-2013.

Its pretty damn amazing, you can get a break down by street (no surprise the streets with the most cyclists have the most crashes), by location, and you can get a street view image of every intersection.  This sort of data visualization is vital to designing safer streets.  Check it out.

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