Thursday, March 20, 2008

Santa Clara County bicycle fatality locations

The San Jose Mercury News created this Google Maps map showing the location of bicycle fatalities over the past decade in Silicon Valley. Click on the markers to see details about the location and victim.


View Larger Map


The related article notes that many crashes (not necessarily fatalities) occur on six stretches of road: El Camino Real near Stanford Avenue, Palo Alto, nine crashes; Arastradero Road near Foothill Expressway, Palo Alto, 17 crashes; El Monte Road near Foothill Expressway, Mountain View 10 crashes; McLaughlin Avenue near Story Road, San Jose, 15 crashes; Snell Avenue near Blossom Hill Road, San Jose, 15 crashes; and Austin Way near Highway 9, Saratoga, 11 crashes.
The intersections nearby are high-traffic areas and popular with cyclists. Many of them are near schools and colleges. When drivers cruise through these spots, CHP officer Todd Thibodeau said they have to realize where they are, as well as what is going on in front of them.

"You've got to be aware that it is a bike route," he said, and be on the look out for cyclists.

In about 20 percent of crashes, drivers slide over the double-yellow or other dividing lines and strike cyclists.
Read the full article in the San Jose Mercury News.

2 comments:

Grendel said...

Has anyone done a similar map showing motor vehicle fatalities and/or pedestrian fatalities? This could go a long way towards determining where the roads need re-engineering or the vehicle statutes need tighter enforcement. Just showing one class of road user really doesn't give enough detail about what is causing the fatalities.

Yokota Fritz said...

A similar map showing motorist fatalities over the past decade would be covered in those little markers. In Santa Clara County alone there are 12,000 collisions per year resulting in over 10,000 injuries and 100 deaths -- that's in a single year, while the map shows a decade's worth of cyclist fatalities. The leading factor in motor vehicle fatalities in the county is DUI.