About

In 2022, there were over 300 car related fatalities in Los Angeles County. That's 300 plus lives whose journey through life ended abruptly due to car accidents; and thousands more left with the grief, physical trauma, and financial burden caused by these accidents. LA County has the highest number of car related fatalities in the country, and in 2022 had seen the highest number of deaths ever recorded in the county.

This site's purpose is to allow users to see where severe car crashes have occurred and to view information related to car accidents in LA County, with the hope that individuals make informed decisions that can help reduce and eliminate future car related fatalities.

The App

The map displays car crashes based on data obtained through the California Highway Patrol agency. The map displays the data in clusters that can be clicked on and expand the points, and each point contains data about the crash. The map has a feature to filter the data points based off certain criteria (ex. alcohol involved, pedestrian, involved, highway crashes). Users can see how their neighborhood, place of work, or other locations throughout the city compare to each other.

The Data

The Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) is a database that serves as a means to collect and process data gathered from a collision scene, operated by the California Highway Patrol and collected by local, city, county and state jurisdictions. The data was obtained through the California Public Records Act (CPRA) (Gov. Code, § 6250 et seq.), which allows public access to appropriate records and information possessed by State government.

Limitations

Data is recorded by a law enforcement agent at the site of the crash, and sometimes human error is present and not all data fields are completely recorded. Therefor, the map only displays points where a coordinate data (latitude, longitude) was properly recorded.