Nation

SafeRoadMaps

Your driving's already inherently risky, what with all the on-the-go texting, the USB panini-maker-ing, and the sex with Christie Swanson. So avoid what hazards you can, with SafeRoadMaps.

Just-launched SRM's a mass storehouse of mapped-to-the-street-corner details on fatal car crashes throughout the nation, curated by U of Minnesota's Center for Excellence in Rural Safety -- which has already scored major victories in eradicating corn-flail and bladed turnip chopper accidents. To see life-claiming curves and intersections, search by state, or street/city, and you'll get a marker'd-out GMap; click through for info on road type, if speeding/drinking were involved, the age and sex of the victim, and if seat belts were worn, all based on police and highway department data collected by the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, powered by the most depressed computer since HAL. Individual crash details also get embedded Microsoft Virtual Earth overhead images of the scene, plus Google Street View shots, which often display site-distinguishing characteristics like "trees".

While the plan's to have fully backlogged crash info, right now SRM's prototype system just has 2006 mapped out. With 38K+ accidents that year alone, though, you still get a strong idea of which roads and areas to avoid -- of course, when your primary driving goal is getting that mozzarella melted just right, all of them are lethal.

SafeRoadMaps.org

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