Back in December 2020, before getting sworn in as Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC) for 6E01, I found the Crashes in DC dataset on DC’s open data website. Immediately I knew I wanted to download this data and develop a way to get the relevant information into the hands of ANC commissioners and neighborhood traffic safety advocates.
I did some post-processing to add the ANC Single Member District (SMD) IDs to the crash records, and to link them to individual Roadway Block GIS data file available from the open data site. This data is essential to help advocates tell more compelling stories. Saying “cars speed down my block” can only resonate so much with elected officials. Saying “there have been 100 speed-related crashes in my neighborhood over the past three years” paints a much clearer and more actionable picture of a problem ready to be solved.