DC will publish #opendata on traffic crashes every 24 hours

D.C. is taking open data to the streets.

Starting Monday, Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office said the District will have fresh crash data available every 24 hours.

The dataset will be made available in an open, geocoded format on the District’s open data portal. According to Bowser’s office, it includes info on every crash that’s been reported. Details include who was involved, injuries, what kinds of vehicles were hit and whether a ticket was issued.

DC says it will start publishing geo-coded crash data every 24 hours on @opendatadc, per press release. Pretty good #VisionZero step.

— Adam R (@a_rssll) June 28, 2017

Releasing the data is designed to help encourage a future where the dataset has fewer entries. The District has a goal of eliminating all traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2024. Called Vision Zero, the campaign’s website has its own analysis. But they want more help.

“Evaluation of safety data is critical in improving the District’s street design, education, and enforcement efforts,” Bowser said in a statement. “With this near real-time publication of open data, data scientists, coders, and civic hackers in the District and worldwide can aid the District in safety analysis and get us closer Vision Zero.”

City departments including the Office of the Chief Technology Officer, Metropolitan Police Department and District Department of Transportation worked together on the release.

It’s one of the first announced additions to the portal following the release of a new open data policy during InnoMAYtion. The policy has the goal of streamlining internal government processes for adding datasets, and mandates that all agency data is open “by default to the fullest extent consistent with safety, privacy, and security.” After a lot of structural moves to restart momentum, it appears new data is starting to flow.