Data-informing Vision Zero policies can often be difficult to come by. Crash reports from police departments are helpful, but can lack the necessary nuance about where people biking and walking feel unsafe and face conflicts with drivers. Following in the steps of cities like D.C., Denver and Philadelphia are now reaching out to residents about their own experiences, crowdsourcing their Vision Zero maps.
“Denver started by collecting and analyzing thousands of crash records and fatality and injury records from the police department, public health department, and hospitals and emergency medical services. That gave them a solid baseline, but Shimomura says they turned to crowdsourcing to fill in their knowledge gaps. Of course, it helps them find problem areas not shown in the city and county data sets, but it also helps them understand public perception of the streets and intersections shown to be dangerous by the data.”