Suggest your improvements for ground-breaking near-miss road study website

A near-miss project, aiming to collect data on unpleasant minor incidents that don't result in injury - inadvertent close passes; deliberate 'punishment passes'; 'Sorry Mate I Didn't See You' near-misses; abuse; harassment; and many many more - has secured funding to introduce new features to its site, Collideoscope.

Using the site you can find records of near-misses near you, or report one yourself. Since its launch last October, hundreds of incidents have been reported, leading to a heat map of ‘fatal’, ‘serious’ and ‘slight’ incidents, all with details provided.

Why bother to record these low level problems on the roads? At worst, these leave cyclists shaken and fearful. At best, they're a dispiriting part of urban cycling that helps deter potential cyclists who aren't young, fit, brave and confident.

The researchers say they suspect the constant background noise of near-misses really affects the way people ride — if they choose to ride at all. They hope to use the findings to brief policy-makers, planners, and driver training organisations, calling for a reduction in incidents.

"If we can prevent some of these incidents, we could dramatically improve the cycling experience and potentially reduce the likelihood of more serious incidents," say the researchers.

Now Collideoscope, in partnership with Integrated Transport Planning Ltd, has secured a small amount of innovation funding from the DfT’s Transport – Technology Research and Innovation Grant, putting the site in a position to add new features and functionality.

Users are invited to send suggestions to hello [at] collideosco.pe by March 18th.

If you’re involved in a cycling collision or near miss—whether you’re the cyclist, a motorist or a pedestrian—you can report it on Collideoscope.

The site sends your report to the relevant local highways authority, and also publishes it online, where there’s the option to remain anonymous.

More than this, though, Collideoscope acts a repository for data on incidents and near misses. In time, anyone will be able to use that data to spot accident hotspots, and the places where accidents are waiting to happen.

This data is available to all, but is especially designed for councils, police forces, road planners, and healthcare providers in their efforts to conceive safer roads, more effective accident deterrents and better emergency care strategies.

Already in the pipeline from Collideoscope are plans for:

• developing better reporting to local councils;
• working with the police to notify them of issues that might require their attention;
• releasing anonymised reports as open data within the next 12 months