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State listing of dangerous intersections is missing many Boston intersections because city doesn't report its data

WGBH reports that while the city does collect crash data, it does so only from EMS calls, not BPD logs, and doesn't send any of it to the state.

In an email, a spokesperson for Walsh told WGBH News that the records-keeping system used by the Boston Police Department is incapable of generating reports compatible with the state’s crash data analysis program.

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I think in Canada, insurance companies weigh-in on the problem intersections and work toward design changes to make them safer.

Of course, a little enforcement is going to come up in this thread....

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Do you have a link to the list or perhaps a summary of the info?

Anything?

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Boston's crash information (cars, bikes, pedestrians) is readily available at this link:
https://apps.boston.gov/vision-zero/

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MassDOT wants this data reported directly to them, not put on a website.

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The intersection directly next to my house has had dozens of crashes in the years since I've moved there, including the crash where I was hit by a car rolling through a stop sign.

The city's Vision Zero link only reports 2 other crashes there, aside from my incident. Absolute joke.

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The data used for that map only includes "incidents requiring public safety response". So if no one called 911 or no ambulance was dispatched, it's probably not in the set.

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There have been crashes at my intersection that had public safety responses that exceed the 3 reported here.

Also the whole point of this article is the State is missing data for many Boston intersections because city isn't reporting the data, so who cares what the website says.

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How does this relate to the state listings?

In all honesty, I wrote what I wrote with the hope that Adam would notice that he only posted a headline and nothing else and write a bit more.

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Boston's Vision Zero data is incomplete, since it's based on EMS reports rather than police crash reports.

And even this data isn't sent to the state. The only Boston intersections on the state list are on state highways.

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Thanks for sharing.

One stretch of road I researched was the VFW Parkway in West Roxbury. Pedestrians illegally cross that road to travel between the trailer park and stores ( namely a smoke show) across the street. There's fencing built to prevent such crossings, but holes have been cut into that fence.

Surprised to see NO accidents there, a least in 2018.

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if that stretch of road is city or state. The VFW Parkway from Centre to 109 is under DCR. That it is under the state might account for no accidents showing on the city's site. The same goes for the Arborway. State Police list many more accidents there than the city does.
.

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one stretch of road I researched was the VFW Parkway in West Roxbury. Pedestrians illegally cross that road to travel between the trailer park and stores

In the early 80s, some kind soul cut a hole through the chain link divider so people dining at Lum's could cross over to Skippy White's bowling alley.

Those. Were. The. Dayyyyyyyyyys!

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But for about 40 years I have driven down it probably once or twice a week. I don't think I've ever seen someone cross there where you are saying (I usually go 109/Bridge St.)

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I'm assuming it's this one or a similar one - from WGBH

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A few years ago, using grant money, the city did hire a data analyst for the Boston Police Department, but the funding ran out — and the position vanished.

A spokesperson for the Boston Mayor’s Office told WGBH News in an email that the police department “is currently working with a vendor to be able to automatically populate a crash report that will be submitted to MassDOT.” WGBH

Did the BPD really only have one data analyst who lost funding? Where do the accident reports filed by the Boston police officers get sent to? Nothing would surprise me since "written warnings" for traffic violations go nowhere and are usually shredded after a while. We used to bluff to the motorist that "three warnings will lead to a suspended license" knowing full well the RMV never got the data.

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The irony is at some point they RMV did start getting the data, but people had a right to contest the suspension, and the RMV didn't have the manpower to hold all the hundreds of hearings. So they got the legislature to repeal the law about warnings leading to a suspension.

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Of course there is the raw data of the individual reports, but there needs to be someone to key things in and populate it with metadata. What were the coordinates? Was a pedestrian or bicycle involved? These are but 2 items that would be needed for a proper database to be constructed.

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And the thing cost millions and I believe can’t sent reports to the registry they say they want them sent. The RMV of course should have access to the exact same reports because the car owners should be sending them any way. A lot of cities and towns don’t send the RMV these reports vpbecasue of the computer systems. It’s been about 10 years now where the RMV also wanted citations sent electronically. They had the system in place on their end, but couldn’t find a department/company that could get every department on board for the citations either. I be,ive the state police can print out crash reports in their cruisers but I’m not 100% sure as the tecnology seemed cheap from when I saw them (kept breaking down)

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Ban all cars until further notice. Can't report accidents? Don't get to have open roads.

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