How the data works
Everything on Safe Streets Map comes from public records. This page explains where they come from, how we turn them into hotspots, and what they can't tell you. Data last rebuilt 2026-09-23.
In numbers
- 32,086 pedestrian crashes off freeways, 2021–2025: 9,763 serious or fatal, 4,190 fatal.
- 30,133 bicycle crashes, 2021–2025: 4,459 serious or fatal, 816 fatal.
- City pages for 238 cities (walking) and 231 cities (cycling).
Sources
- Crashes: California Crash Reporting System (CCRS) on data.ca.gov, built from reports filed by the California Highway Patrol and local police. We use the crash, party and injured-person tables: where and when each crash happened, how badly people were hurt, what kind of collision it was, what the person on foot was doing, and whether a driver was turning or backing up.
- Streets, paths and bike lanes: OpenStreetMap contributors, shown through Mapbox.
How hotspots are found
- Every crash with map coordinates is placed on a grid of 150 m squares.
- Starting from the busiest square, neighbouring squares within 250 m are merged into one hotspot, so each hotspot centres on the worst spot.
- A hotspot needs at least 3 crashes. Fewer than that is too little to call a pattern.
- Hotspots are ranked by harm, not just count: each crash counts 1, a crash where someone was seriously hurt counts 3, and a crash where someone died counts 6.
- Each hotspot is named after the streets its crashes were reported on, and described from what the reports say happened, for example how many people were hit by a turning driver, or how many crashes happened after dark.
Pedestrian crashes on freeways are left out of the walking map and city pages, since they're mostly people stranded or walking on the freeway rather than crossing streets. Cities need at least 15 reported crashes to get a page.
What the numbers leave out
- Crashes without coordinates. Some city police departments send reports with street names but no map location. Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland are the worst: most of their crashes are missing here, and their pages say so.
- Unreported crashes. Many crashes, especially minor bike crashes, never get a police report.
- How many people use a street. A busy street shows more crashes partly because more people walk or ride there. The counts show where crashes happen, not the risk per trip.
- Recent changes. A street redesigned after 2025 may be safer than its history suggests. Newer crashes are added each time the data is rebuilt.
Using and citing the data
You're welcome to quote the numbers and link to any page. Please cite it as: “Safe Streets Map analysis of California Crash Reporting System data, 2021–2025” and link to the page you used. For corrections or data questions, email contact@safestreetsmap.com.