DDOT released some crash statistics from the period 2008-2010 and this is the first post based on that data. First up is the 10 most crash-prone intersections. I'm chosing not to use the word "dangerous" because that involve knowing the seriousness of the crash and the amount of traffic at that intersection. These counts are probably more indicative of places where there are many cyclists than places that are "dangerous". 14th Street has many of the top 10, but it also has bike lanes that attract a lot of cyclists.

One problematic thing about the data is that it often doesn't make sense. For one thing, there is no "type of collision" for hitting a cyclist. So it's always labeled as involving a pedestrian, such as "left turn hit ped" for example, which means a car hit a cyclist, not that a cyclist hit a pedestrian. In additon, sometimes the numbers don't add up. Some crashes involve 0 vehicles and 0 pedestrians. That doesn't sound like much of a crash. Others are labeled "left turn hit ped" but, elsewhere, as involving 1 vehicle and 0 pedestrians. So, there is some incomplete and inaccurate record keeping to work around. There are some crashes labeled as in the dark during daylight hours with clear skies. There are also a lot of crashes with a crash type of "other" or none. That's not real useful.

Another issue is that some terms of art are foreign to me. I'm not sure what a right angle crash is, for example.

My biggest conclusion from this is that filling in these crash reports is either too difficult for the average officer in the field, or isn't very important to them.

1. 16th, U and New Hampshire, NW - 7 crashes, 6 injuries. One crash was a cyclist riding on wet pavement who hit a stationary object. Two of the other crashes were at night and one was at dusk.

Types of collisions: 2 left turn hit vehicle, 2 right angle, 1 side-swiped, 1 left turn hit ped and 1 other.

2. 39th, Wisconsin and Van Ness, NW - 7 crashes, 4 injuries. 1 hit and run.

Types of collisions: 2 rear end, 2 other, 1 side-swiped, 1 left turn hit vehicle and 1 parked car

3. 14th Street and Perry Place, NW - 6 crashes, 4 injuries. 3 hit-and-runs. 4 crashes at night.

Types of collisions: 2 left turn hit ped, 2 side-swiped, 1 right angle , 1 left turn hit vehicle

4. 14th Street and Rhode Island, NW - 6 crashes, 3 injuries. 2 hit and runs. 2 crashes at night and 1 in the rain.

Types of collisions: 2 other, 1 side-swiped, 1 right angle, 1 left turn hit ped, 1 parked car

5(tie). 7th and H street, NW - 5 crashes, 4 injuries. 1 crash involved a commercial vehicle. 1 crash at night and 1 at dusk.

Types of collisions: 1 other, 1 side-swiped, 1 straight hit ped , 1 left turn hit ped, 1 parked car

5(tie). 14th and Euclid, NW - 5 crashes, 4 injuries. 1 hit and run. 1 crash at night.

Types of collisions: 2 right angle, 1 rear end , 1 left turn hit vehicle, 1 other

5(tie). 14th and R Street, NW - 5 crashes, 4 injuries. 1 crash at night

Types of collisions: 2 other, 1 right turn hit vehicle, 1 right turn hit ped, 1 right angle

5(tie). 15th and K Street, NW - 5 crashes, 4 injuries. 1 hit and run. 1 Commercial vehicle. 1 crash in the dark (at 9:30 am?).

Types of collisions: 2 other, 1 right turn hit vehicle, 1 left turn hit vehicle, 1 side-swiped

9(tie). 14th and P Street, NW - 5 crashes, 3 injuries. 1 Commercial vehicle. 1 crash at night.

Types of collisions: 2 right angle, 2 side-swiped, 1 none

9(tie). 31st and M Street, NW - 5 crashes, 3 injuries. 1 crash at night.

Types of collisions: 2 other, 1 side-swiped, 1 straight hit ped, 1 parked car

9(tie). Georgia Ave and Barry Pl, NW - 5 crashes, 3 injuries. 2 hit and run. 1 crash at night.

Types of collisions: 2 side-swiped, 1 right turn hit ped, 1 right turn hit vehicle, 1 parked car

9(tie). Columbia Rd and Ontario Rd, NW - 5 crashes, 3 injuries. 2 hit and run. 1 crash at night. This is where the WABA office is.

Types of collisions: 2 side-swiped, 1 right turn hit ped, 1 right turn hit vehicle, 1 parked car

For those who are spatial thinkers, here's a map of these locations.



View crashiest intersections - cyclists in a larger map

All of these crashes (and it's more than 10 due to a tie for 9th) happened in NW. The most crash prone intersection outside of NW is at North Capitol and H Street (4 crashes, 4 injuries).

By quadrant the worst intersections are:

NE - Florida Ave and West Virginia Ave, NE - 3 crashes, 3 injuries

SE - 2nd and Independence Ave, SE - 2 crashes, 2 injury (though 12th and East Capitol had 3 crashes, 3 injuries)

SW - 7th and Independence Ave, SW - 2 crashes, 2 injury

7th and Florida NW stands out as well. It had 4 crashes with 3 disabling injuries. Few injuries are labeled as disabling and no other intersection had this many.

<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=202465052168982466175.00049cabc2e39ae146386&ll=38.936264,-77.032731&spn=0.039623,0.118361&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small>View <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=202465052168982466175.00049cabc2e39ae146386&ll=38.936264,-77.032731&spn=0.039623,0.118361&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">crashiest intersections - cyclists</a> in a larger map</small>