Thursday 7 February 2013
Otago Researchers Create Online Injured Cyclist-Door Crash Map
A searchable online map showing where in New Zealand cyclists have been injured as a result of car doors opening has
been created by University of Otago injury prevention researchers.
The researchers hope that the publicly available tool (accessible from https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/ipru/research/cyclistdooringmap), which overlays data extracted from New Zealand Traffic Crash Reports from 2007-11 onto Google Maps™, will help city
planners and traffic engineers identify streets and connected routes that have high numbers of injuries resulting from
“dooring” type collisions.
University of Otago Injury Prevention Research Unit Director Professor Hank Weiss says the interactive map, which
appears to be the first of its kind to cover an entire country, will also let cyclists and safety advocates see where
the local dooring hazard areas are.
“By highlighting particular problem areas we can look at what kind of solutions can make these streets safe and
convenient for all road users. While this may involve compromises, we need to pay special attention to the vulnerability
of cyclists who wish to ride in safer environments.”
The map shows the approximate location of 245 cycle dooring injuries over this period and indicates their seriousness
and the direction the cyclist was travelling.
Users can also click through to a Street View™ of the crash area to see a photograph of the way the road side might have
looked.
About 20% of the 245 the cyclists ‘doored’ were seriously injured and two died. Twice as many males as females were
reported to have been in a dooring crash.
Professor Weiss says the 245 incidents over the five years is very likely an undercount as it would not necessarily
include cyclists injured after swerving to avoid doors and many such events go unreported to police. Still, he says, “it
is great to have such fine detail about the crash type and location for so many cases.”
Professor Weiss was prompted to develop the tool following the 2010 death of a cyclist on Auckland’s Tamaki Drive. This
roadway shows up on the map as one in which there has been a cluster of crashes. Other larger city dooring hazard areas
already revealed through the tool include Victoria St in Hamilton, and Riccarton Rd in Christchurch.
Access to the map, its description, and discussion of issues around dooring and its prevention is available in the
research section of the IPRU web site: https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/ipru/research/cyclistdooringmap
ENDS