Here’s a map of the city of Minneapolis taken from the recent report that put together a massive amount of city-wide crash data.
Here’s one of the maps in the study, which shows the crash density for the key “concentration” corridors where the bulk of the city’s crashes are located:
The study has a lot of data on crashes, and where they are located with detail about specific modes like bike and pedestrian crashes. It even breaks down patterns by speed limit and traffic volume.
Here are two more interesting charts and maps that are good examples of the others in the report:
It turns out that speed is dangerous, and so are the County streets like Franklin Avenue. These conclusions are not really anything most people didn’t already know. Most of the worst streets are Hennepin County arterial roads, badly designed four-lane “death roads” like NE Broadway or one-way streets like 26th and 28th Streets South.
The report ends with a list of the “Six Es”, e.g. education, enforcement, engineering… And ends with the following conclusion:
This Vision Zero Crash Study documents the trends in bicycle and vehicle crashes in the City of Minneapolis. The Pedestrian Crash Study documented the trends in pedestrian crashes in the City of Minneapolis. The studies inform where and what types of crashes are occurring on city streets, and this information can be used to identify improvements to existing infrastructure such that crashes can be prevented in the future. Specific action items in response to the trends identified in this study will be created in the upcoming Vision Zero Action Plan. This Vision Zero Action Plan will be a collaborative effort that combines the data presented in this study with public and internal city feedback to create measurable and specific next steps for the City of Minneapolis to eliminate fatal and severe injury crashes.
Even if the report is not a call to arms or a big change in direction, having all this data at one’s fingertips does give some hope that Hennepin County Public Works might soon, after decades of inaction, make Minneapolis’ streets safer for people.