New Dashboard Shows Where, When Car Crashes Are Happening

New public facing data set on vehicle crashers in the county

A new public visualization of vehicle crashes is the latest government project rolled out as part of a wider, regional effort to curb reckless driving.

In recent years, Milwaukee area officials have already been advancing projects across the county aimed at improving road safety.

The City of Milwaukee implemented dozens of traffic calming projects in 2023 and is planning another 45 this year. County transportation officials are engaged in a multi-year planning project designing traffic safety projects in every municipality in the county. Mayor Cavalier Johnson and County Executive Crowley have come out in favor of red light cameras for dangerous intersections in the city.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley mentioned reckless driving in his annual State of the County speech again this year. “Reckless driving has reached dangerous levels in Milwaukee, directly affecting the overall health of our community,” the county executive said.

A Milwaukee Area Safe Streets Task Force has been assembled with members from academia, law enforcement, fire and EMS, and elected officials; and the task force recently unveiled a new public data tool keeping track of vehicle crashes across the county.

The Milwaukee County Motor Vehicle Collision Dashboard includes data breakdowns showing how many crashes occurred during a given time period, at what time of day, where the crash happened and its severity.

The dashboard also includes a map overlaying crash frequency on a geographic representation the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) social vulnerability scores. The effect shows many vehicle crashes in Milwaukee County are often occurring in areas where residents are struggling with poverty.

“Making informed, data-driven decisions has been a key tenant of my administration,” Crowley said when the dashboard was unveiled earlier this month. “To effectively combat reckless driving in Milwaukee County, we must know what we’re up against.”

There are approximately 25,000 vehicle crashes per year in Milwaukee County causing injury of death, said Dr. Ben Weston, chief health policy advisor for Milwaukee County.

“Until now, visualizing these 25,000 crashes has been challenging,” Weston said. “Though the data has been there, it is only as helpful as our ability to visualize, understand, and act upon it.”

The Milwaukee County Department of Transportation has committed to Vision Zero, which sets a goal of zero deaths by 2028. The county currently averages approximately 80 deaths a year, according to a recent assessment of traffic safety MCDOT.

“MCDOT commits to continuing our work on reducing traffic violence throughout Milwaukee County and will exhaust all funding options, technological innovations, infrastructure improvements and policy changes until we reach Vision Zero,” said MCDOT Director Donna Brown-Martin.