BikeBingle - Bicycle Accident tracking

[lock]

Hi,

Thought I'd post BikeBingle up here, hopefully you guys will find it
interesting and maybe even consider contributing, not that I'm saying
you guys are accident prone or anything ;-).

http://bikebingle.appspot.com/

It's a web application that allows users to log and geo-tag bicycle
accidents. The idea behind it is that over time a large global
database will be established that will enable some interesting
statistics to be extracted from it. There's a more detailed
description on the help tab of the app and the associated blog
( http://bikebingle.blogspot.com/ ) if you're after more info.

The interface is pretty simple at this stage, many features planned
for the future but I'll wait to see if people find it a useful
resource before wasting any more time on it.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks,
lock

[[email protected]]

Lachlan Hurst wrote:

> Thought I'd post BikeBingle up here, hopefully you guys will find it
> interesting and maybe even consider contributing, not that I'm
> saying you guys are accident prone or anything ;-).

http://bikebingle.appspot.com/

> It's a web application that allows users to log and geo-tag bicycle
> accidents. The idea behind it is that over time a large global
> database will be established that will enable some interesting
> statistics to be extracted from it. There's a more detailed
> description on the help tab of the app and the associated blog (
> http://bikebingle.blogspot.com/ ) if you're after more info.

> The interface is pretty simple at this stage, many features planned
> for the future but I'll wait to see if people find it a useful
> resource before wasting any more time on it.

> Any feedback would be greatly appreciated,

That won't give much useful data because people reporting incidents
are not independent and, as you see in these newsgroups, the scenario
generally places fault for the incident at someone else's feet.

Jobst Brandt

[lock]

On Dec 15, 2:22*pm, wrote:
> Lachlan Hurst wrote:
> > Thought I'd post BikeBingle up here, hopefully you guys will find it
> > interesting and maybe even consider contributing, not that I'm
> > saying you guys are accident prone or anything ;-).
>
> *http://bikebingle.appspot.com/
>
> > It's a web application that allows users to log and geo-tag bicycle
> > accidents. *The idea behind it is that over time a large global
> > database will be established that will enable some interesting
> > statistics to be extracted from it. *There's a more detailed
> > description on the help tab of the app and the associated blog (
> >http://bikebingle.blogspot.com/) if you're after more info.
> > The interface is pretty simple at this stage, many features planned
> > for the future but I'll wait to see if people find it a useful
> > resource before wasting any more time on it.
> > Any feedback would be greatly appreciated,
>
> That won't give much useful data because people reporting incidents
> are not independent and, as you see in these newsgroups, the scenario
> generally places fault for the incident at someone else's feet.
>
> Jobst Brandt

Isn't it always someone elses fault ;-) .

The apps not really about recording who's at fault, as a cyclist you
tend
to accept the consequences regardless of who caused the accident.

Its really more about raising awareness. Say for example a series of
doorings
had been reported along a given stretch or road, would you not on
seeing this
data be more likely to ride out of the door zone. Of course that's an
example
relevant to newer cyclists, the more experienced would realize riding
in the door
zone is not such a good idea.

I'll admit there are weaknesses in the concept though, I can't
guarantee the data
isn't just made up and there's the issue that the apparent danger
zones will
accumulate around locations that cyclists frequent.

Still I hope its of use to some, even if it is just to satisfy
curiosity. Thanks
for the remark.

[Jym Dyer]

http://bikebingle.appspot.com/

> Any feedback would be greatly appreciated,

=v= Would you consider replacing the word "accident" with
"crash" or "collision?" The word "accident" is in common
use in a car-centric society because it stresses a lack of
intent (usually true) and responsibility (usually false).
There's a movement to use the more accurate term.
<_Jym_>

[[email protected]]

Jym Dyer wrote:

>> Any feedback would be greatly appreciated,

> Would you consider replacing the word "accident" with "crash" or
> "collision?" The word "accident" is in common use in a car-centric
> society because it stresses a lack of intent (usually true) and
> responsibility (usually false). There's a movement to use the more
> accurate term.

I prefer the word "incident" in such cases, because whether it was
accidental or not begs the question, similar to the phrase: "As a
matter of fact" when trying to establish facts.

Jobst Brandt

[lock]

On Dec 17, 11:00*am, wrote:
> Jym Dyer wrote:
> >> Any feedback would be greatly appreciated,
> > Would you consider replacing the word "accident" with "crash" or
> > "collision?" *The word "accident" is in common use in a car-centric
> > society because it stresses a lack of intent (usually true) and
> > responsibility (usually false). *There's a movement to use the more
> > accurate term.
>
> I prefer the word "incident" in such cases, because whether it was
> accidental or not begs the question, similar to the phrase: "As a
> matter of fact" when trying to establish facts.
>
> Jobst Brandt

Agreed on the terminology, IMO 'proper accidents' are a rare
occurrence.

I haven't reviewed the documentation on the site for a while, but
believe it may be a little inconsistent (accident,crash, incident)
might be due for a cleanup.
As Jobst suggested I'll probably go with incident, it's a nice
general term that works well with some future plans.

I'm considering adding an additional field to the BikeBingle
database that allows users to specify that an incident was
a 'near miss' and not an actual collision. The main reason
being to build up the database quicker and engage users
on a more frequent basis (IME near misses are more frequent
than actual collisions, thankfully). My main concerns are that
this dilutes the information contained within the database
(although in future the user would be able to filter out the
near misses) and the subjective nature of what a 'near miss'
is.
Thoughts?

Thanks guys.