Russell Neches, a blogger in Davis, California, produced a beautiful and compelling map of bike crashes in the city over four years, 2004 through 2008. He also mapped data from all traffic accidents in the city, including those that did not involve bicycles. The map represents high-accident areas in red, as hot zones. Areas with a lower incidence of accidents are depicted in cooler yellow, green, and blue. The purpose of the exercise is more than a flat informational report. Neches says in an accompanying blog post:
“In particular, this is map is intended to examine bicycle accidents. I hope people will look at this map, and think about how they behave on the roads, weather on foot, on a bicycle, or in a car. How you behave on the road has direct, and sometimes dire, consequences for you and for other people.”