On April 7, more than 60 activists and elected officials gathered to remember the lives of 17 bicyclists and pedestrians who lost their lives to car crashes in the past year. At the event, we premiered a dashboard to track bicyclist and pedestrian-involved car crashes that is a first-of-its-kind in our region. 

We cannot just mourn the lives of those lost. We have to take action together–as policymakers, individuals, and communities to address the rise in vulnerable road user fatalities and injuries. This dashboard will provide us with a real-time capability to analyze this data in order to promote policy solutions, identify problem intersections, and provide initial opportunities for outreach to communities that are disproportionately affected by car crashes. 

“This dashboard shouldn’t be necessary, but it is,” said Wade Johnston, Director of Tri-State Trails. “We don’t want to gather again next year to mourn lives lost, but we know we will. This dashboard is going to give us the tools we need to assess the data and make sure we can provide the best possible advocacy solutions for bicyclists and pedestrians in the region.”

The dashboard was the result of many hours of work aggregating and publishing data by Tri-State Trails’ Trail and Bikeway Coordinator, Rachel Culley, and Vision Zero NKY.

As more pedestrians and bicyclists head outside as the weather warms up, the entire Tri-State Trails team encourages you to remove just one distraction from your driving. “Put down your phone. Slow down. Recognize the humanity of other road users. These are all simple and radical acts that work to protect one another when we’re out on roadways,” said Tanner Yess, Tri-State Trails’ president.

You can explore the dashboard here. Please email [email protected] with any comments or feedback.