The North Main St Crash Data project started in Spring 2024 as a key initiative of the Coalition’s research and advocacy projects. PSC wishes to raise greater awareness and understanding of the traffic violence that has occurred on North Main St in the City of Providence over the past decade.
Data Summary:
- Vulnerable Road Users (VRU) Collisions by mode:
- Bicycle: 32
- Pedestrian: 46
- Mobility device: 2
- Scooter: 4
- Collisions by vehicle action:
- Continuing straight on North Main Street: 32
- Entering North Main Street from a side street or parking lot: 27
- Exiting North Main Street: 10
- Crossing North Main Street: 9
- Two pedestrian collisions involved pedestrians walking in the roadway because sidewalks were obstructed by snow or snowbanks. One of these collisions resulted in a fatality.
- 27 VRUs were hit in a crosswalk, 5 on the sidewalk.
- 30 crashes occurred at a signalized crossing.
- 16 crashes (19%) were hit-and-run – substantially below the citywide average of 28%
The aim of this project aligns with PSC’s goal of advocating for safer, people-friendly streets.
In 2024, the Providence Streets Coalition identified crashes involving persons not in automobiles occurring in the North Main Street corridor using our city-wide Providence Crash Map.
PSC requested full accident reports from the City of Providence for these crashes. Using the narrative descriptions of each incident, we refined GPS coordinates to the highest level of precision we could determine.
In some cases, the coordinates in the original report pointed to the middle of an intersection, but the description indicated a collision in a specific crosswalk. Where appropriate, we updated the coordinates. We coded for the direction of motion for the pedestrian/cyclist and vehicle. The direction of motion is represented on the map using cardinal points of origin and destination, using the assumption that North Main Street runs north to south, and side streets east to west.
85 crashes are represented on this map, covering 2010 through 2022. The 3 fatalities and other incidents in 2023 are not part of this data set.
PSC hopes this application will spark further awareness/conversations with the community at large to help drive PSC’s mission forward.
We want to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to everyone in the Providence community who has assisted with this project, in particular the Providence Police Dept and the City’s Department of Planning and Development.
