Project: Ride Score DC

The logo of Ride Score - the text on a gold and blue map

Rating every street segment in DC for cyclist safety - visualizing risk on an interactive map to inform riders and advocates.

🏠 Why This Matters

Nearly 5,000 cyclists were involved in crashes in DC between 2013 and 2022, yet there is no easy way for riders to know which streets are safest before they ride. Cyclists often rely on instinct, word of mouth, or trial and error to find comfortable routes.

We are bridging this gap with a tool that:

  • Visualizes street by street safety scores on an interactive color coded map
  • Shows crash data, infrastructure quality, and traffic stress for each segment
  • Identifies high impact opportunities for infrastructure improvements
  • Supports Vision Zero DC’s goal of eliminating traffic deaths

📖 Our Story

RideScore DC was born from a simple question: "Why isn't there a safety rating for bike routes like there is for restaurants?" After discovering that DC has rich open data on crashes, bike lanes, and street characteristics — but no integrated safety scoring system — we decided to build one.

Inspired by proven methodologies like PeopleForBikes' Bicycle Network Analysis and the Level of Traffic Stress framework, we're combining DC's excellent open data with modern data science to create actionable safety insights. Our goal is to leverage the same principles that helped cities like Minneapolis and Brooklyn dramatically improve their cycling networks.

🌍 Geography / Reach

DMV-based, with DC as the initial focus. The open-source methodology can be adapted to any city with crash and infrastructure data.

🤝 Community Partners

We don’t have any currently, but would love to partner with WABA, DDOT, or Zero Vision.

📇 Current Project Volunteer Contacts

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Name Role & Focus Slack Social & Contact
EChO 🧩 Project Lead @EChO (Eleanor Claire-higgins Ory) Email
LinkedIn

👋 Come Join Us

Everyone is welcome no matter your skill level or background. We especially need help with:

  • Transportation Domain Expertise Understanding bike infrastructure, safety factors, and urban cycling conditions.
  • Data Analysis Exploring crash patterns, infrastructure correlations, and safety trends.
  • GIS and Spatial Analysis Mapping and visualizing geospatial datasets for safety insights.
  • Data Science and Machine Learning Feature engineering, predictive modeling, and validation.
  • Frontend Development Building interactive map experiences with Leaflet, Kepler dot gl, and Deck dot gl.
  • Backend Development Creating Python and Node APIs for serving geospatial data.
  • UX and UI Design Turning complex safety data into intuitive, compelling interfaces.
  • Data Engineering Managing ETL pipelines, data cleaning, and integration with DC Open Data.
  • Cyclist Community Engagement Partnering with local riders to ground truth findings and capture lived experience.
💬 Slack (#ride-score-dc) 🧩 GitHub Repo