A team comprised of BTA, PDOT, and the Bureau of Technology Services (BTS) reps is developing a web tool to report bicycle crashes and near misses. This close calls map should be ready for beta testing this March and the initial database will be populated with data from your comments to my “Wanted: your close calls” post.
This data – which has never been documented before – will help inform cyclists, bike advocates, law enforcement officials, road engineers and traffic safety experts about dangerous areas in our community.
Here’s more from Greg Raisman, traffic safety and mapping guru with PDOT:
“Our goal is to design a tool that is map based. The general vision is that someone could click on a map to identify where the incident occurred; then be prompted with a series of questions for feedback and information.”
That’s pretty cool, but here’s the best part:
“Once the tool is ready, we’d like to work with BikePortland.org to populate the tool with information you’ve gathered about close calls to initiate the effort.”
I’m excited that your input will be put to valuable use in launching this new tool. Thanks again for all your comments and look for more updates on this map in the months to come.
I’ll have to start keeping track.
Sweet! Portland got on the ball faster than I thought!
What’s the word on this? It’s late July now and…?
This tool would really help novice cyclists, and prevent accidents!
This is a rather brilliant way to mobilize the efforts of others and help planners as well as the average \”man-and-woman-on-the-street\” to improve safety.