University of Minnesota's Center for Excellence in Rural Safety (CERS) has unveiled a new web site using Google Maps to display 2006 NHSTA motor accident data. SafeRoadMaps.org's widget lets you search the accidents by state or street address. [NB: The site's just been launched; it's a bit slow and kludgy.] The data shows the type of vehicle involved, whether or not a seatbelt or helmet was used, the presence or absence of alcohol, and speeding. CERS is hoping to "create greater levels of awareness, commitment, and informed decision making at all organizational levels, contribute to a change in thinking about the nature of the problem of road traffic injuries and what constitutes successful prevention, and strengthen institutions and create effective partnerships to deliver safer road traffic systems." Whew! But why the emphasis on rural safety? "Half of the 42,000 crash-related fatalities in the United States each year occur on two-lane rural roads."
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very very very slow
U of M is in Ann Arbor MI, U of Minn?
Although currently in need of work, this could be a very useful tool.
Many roads / areas are more dangerous. Ontario, Canada posts signs designating dangerous roads/intersections and the number of people killed recently. OTOH, NY State law prohibits such signs.
I wonder how long until Google is able to post real-time, average vehicle speed on its road maps?
It’ll be interesting to see whether this info makes it onto GPS receivers – would be interesting to see if having junctions with more than one accident at them etc. red flagged would make drivers more alert near them.
This could be the start of something very useful.
driving course:
Something like a “route me around certain death” voice command feature? I think you could be on to something. Imagine the excitement you would feel saying that out loud next to an uninitiated passenger…
Scittie,
Minnesotans refer to the University of Minnesota as the U of M, though outside the state an N is usually added (U of MN) to avoid possible confusion with other M-state schools, especially Michigan.
Glad to see something like this coming out of my alma mater. Go Golden Gophers! (Yes, it’s just about the worst mascot ever.)
# tony-e30 :
July 28th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
driving course:
“Something like a “route me around certain death” voice command feature? I think you could be on to something. Imagine the excitement you would feel saying that out loud next to an uninitiated passenger…”
I’d prefer it the other way: TomTom asks me if I want to avoid toll charges. When asked if I’d like to avoid certain death, I’d like to be able to look over at the passenger, look back toward my GPS and say, “No.”
Any other GoogleMaps tricks you folks know? I have seen that their maps show real time traffic bottlenecks if you have a PDA-phone.
I use them on my Nokia N810 to make route using Linux Mapper. No real time info b/c it is not a phone though I could set up a bluetooth connection to a plain old cell and get real time info that way. Don’t need it so I don’t.
It’s the merging of all the free info that makes some really useful utilities.