Over the years, near my own house there seems to be a few intersections where accidents crop up more than other places. Have you ever noticed this near your place?
Well, here’s a great tool for looking up crash incidents in our area in Oregon (put together by the Oregon Department of Transportation).
The mapping tool allows you to zoom in on our nearby areas Hillsboro, Beaverton, Forest Grove, North Plains, you name it. You can zoom in and see where the hotspots are.
Moreover, the map provides surprisingly specific information on crashes. For instance, you can search by the severity of injuries, whether pedestrians or bicyclists were involved, whether alcohol and drugs were involved, and even time of day.
As always, there are limits to the data. For instance, it doesn’t give us a sense of the baseline amount of traffic. This keeps us from being able to assess whether particular areas are more dangerous on a per vehicle basis. In other words, the tool shows thousands of crashes, but it doesn’t show you the hundreds of thousands of safe trips, when no crashes happen. Even so, it still gives a reasonable idea of where the accidents happen.
Our car insurance rates here in Oregon are pretty good compared to elsewhere, but even so, a few moments with this tool shows why insurance companies use location as one of the rating factors in setting car insurance rates.
Although car insurance companies each use their own blend of data sources (one of many reasons pricing can be different between carriers), this tool clearly shows you that certain areas experience more crashes. Also, certain areas experience more severe crashes that involve major injuries, which often become the costliest claims to resolve.
At any rate, if you’re curious, take a few moments to poke around our area. It’s kind of crazy to think how much activity goes on right around us every single day!
And if you’d like us to put together an auto, home, and umbrella insurance comparison for you, consider reaching out; we’d love to help.
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