Maryland Crash Data With Some Glimmer of Information
Well it looks like I was a victim of yet another upgrade to the Maryland Highway Safety Office website when I wrote complaining about the lack of crash data. Thanks to Chris Merriam for investigating where the data went but even though the state does publish some data it still lacks info that would help uncover behavioral issues, So to illustrate my point here are the crash types that can be found by querying FARS for 2011
| Crash Type | Road | Side Walk | Unknown |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motorist Lost Control - Other / Unknown | 1 | 0 | |
| Crossing Paths - Intersection - Other / Unknown Control | 0 | 1 | |
| Head-On - Motorist | 1 | 0 | |
| Parallel Paths - Other / Unknown | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 3 | 1 | 1 |
You'll note that FARS crash type "Bicycle ride through signalized intersection" was not a crash type for a Maryland cycling fatality in 2011. Just thought that needed to be said.
Now let's look for similar information from the State's data.
| Cross. Not at Inter. | 1 |
| Walk/Ride with Traff. | 3 |
| Other / Unknown | 1 |
| TOTAL | 5 |
|---|
Or maybe cyclists (ped) location will give us more information.
| On Rd. Not Crosswalk | 4 |
| Other / Unknown | 1 |
| TOTAL | 5 |
|---|
Hopefully you can see why I would be desirous of better data from the state. I also found it interesting that sidewalk riding showed up in FARS but not in the state data. Well with FARS I can look for more detail in a crash, so I looked into it a bit. I believe the state still uses the nearest cross street for the geolocation data so Hammonds Ln & Upland St may not be the exact location just the nearest location. Well Hammonds Ln is an interesting street, not what I would call bike friendly and there is only a sidewalk on one side, which does have a reputation for increasing crashes as too many have to cross at "not crosswalk" to get to the residences on the other side or vice versa. Now if you were a 90 year old man where would you ride? This is a major problem with too many streets, they do not accommodate the elderly or the young. So while they do not give who's at fault here I would be willing to bet it was the cyclist, when IMHO it was the road design which contributed heavily to this tragedy.
Good crash data is imperative for good safety advice and good advocacy. While we can get good information on fatalities, good data for general crashes is still hard to come by and a story about crash stats from Boston still cannot be writen about Baltimore or other parts of the state and that's my point.
And in case you are interested this is where all 5 (red pins) Maryland bicycling fatalities took place (note two are very close together just south of Baltimore in Anne Arundel County.)
