In 2017, DataKind completed a multi-year project in partnership with Microsoft helping the cities of New York, New Orleans and Seattle leverage data science to improve traffic safety and support their local Vision Zero efforts. In New York, we partnered with the NYC Department of Transportation to develop models to estimate traffic volumes on streets across the city and allow city officials to test how different street characteristics impact the number of injuries at specific locations. Check out the video below for an overview of the project.
Since completing the project, we’ve heard from a number of cities nationwide interested in learning more about the work we did and how they might be able to apply it to support their own Vision Zero efforts using data science and machine learning. To help, we created the Vision Zero Tech Report, which provides a detailed summary of the technical methodology that was used for the City of New York. Aimed at data scientists and technical staff working in city governments or civic tech and transportation advocacy organizations, we hope this report will serve to both inspire and inform others about how machine learning might be leveraged to improve traffic safety in their local communities.