Boulder touts the dashboard as a way to enhance transparency as well as build awareness of where traffic crashes are happening. The tool includes filters for crash severity, bicycle-and-pedestrian crashes, alcohol- and/or drug-related crashes, types of crashes and more.
"The data tells us that the top causes of crashes in the city are speeding and left-hand turns, especially in our high-traffic areas," Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold pointed out in a statement. "This dashboard will further help the community understand our most challenging locations, why they’re a problem, and how we can all work together to better share the road."
Like Denver, Boulder is a participant in Vision Zero, a program whose goal is to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Boulder officials plan to update the community's Vision Zero action plan in 2023, identifying and prioritizing safety improvements to be implemented over the next five years.
So far in 2022, according to the dashboard, authorities in Boulder have counted approximately 1,400 crashes, or just over four per day on average. Of these, one was fatal — a much better record than in Denver, which is drawing near to last year's record of 84 traffic deaths. Another forty Boulder accidents resulted in what's dubbed "incapacitated injury."
Fifty-eight of the incidents involved bicycles, and fifty were related to pedestrians. But the site goes beyond general categories in order to present statistics with impressive specificity. Boulder, for example, has registered just one crash this year involving a traffic barrier, as well as single cases of collisions with a delineator post, a mailbox, a fence and vehicle/cargo debris.
Approximately 67 percent of severe crashes occurred on what Boulder has identified as high-traffic arterial streets, and that's the case for overall incidents, as well. Of the 22 intersections with at least ten crashes this year, seven involve 28th Street, five focus on Broadway and four cross Foothills Parkway. The intersections with the most crashes tend to be clustered around the Pearl Street Mall, University Hill and the University of Colorado Boulder campus, as seen in this screen capture:
City of Boulder
The list should help residents and visitors to Boulder — including new CU Buffs head football coach Deion Sanders — understand where the dangers are at their highest.
22. 28th Street/Canyon Boulevard
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 10
21. 28th Street/Colorado Avenue
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 10
20. Regent Drive/Colorado Avenue
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 10
19. 33rd Street/Arapahoe Avenue
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 10
18. Walnut Street/11th Street
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 11
17. Canyon Boulevard/Broadway
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 13
16. South Broadway/Table Mesa Drive
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 13
15. 30th Street/Valmont Road
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 13
14. 28th Street/Valmont Road
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 13
13. Iris Avenue/28th Street
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 15
12. Broadway/20th Street
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 17
11. Regent Drive/Broadway
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 17
10. Table Mesa Drive/Foothills Parkway
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 17
9. 28th Street/Walnut Street
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 19
8. U.S. Highway 36/Baseline Road
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 19
7. Baseline Road/Broadway
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 19
6. 30th Street/Arapahoe Avenue
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 20
5. Baseline Road/Foothills Parkway
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 21
4. 28th Street/Pearl Street
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 22
3. Foothills Parkway/Valmont Road
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 28
2. Foothills Parkway/Arapahoe Avenue
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 29
1. 28th Street/Arapahoe Avenue
Crashes in 2022 through December 5: 30
