Among its many good deeds, the Providence Streets Coalition has done an amazing job of collecting data on crashes involving motorized vehicles striking pedestrians, cyclists or scooter users since 2010. When the Rhode Island Department of Transportation stonewalled the Coalition’s request for Providence crash data, the Providence Police Department stepped up to provide their help to the Coalition’s data crunching volunteer map-makers. Using their maps, you can see individual incidents and total crashes by year, by neighborhood, by resulting injury and many other factors. We looked at census tract data to zoom in on five of the city’s most dangerous hot spots for pedestrians, cyclists and scooter users.
292 Total reported crashes in Providence for 2024 involving cars hitting bicyclists, pedestrians or scooter riders
303 crashes in 2018, the highest count since 2010.
202 crashes in the 2020 pandemic year, the lowest annual number since 2010
54 crashes in the West End neighborhood, the highest among all Providence neighborhoods.
30 crashes in the Downtown neighborhood, the city’s second highest total
2 crashes in the Blackstone neighborhood, the fewest in the city.
44% number of crashes since 2010 which occurred between the hours of noon and 6pm, the most dangerous time of day.
90% percentage of crashes causing injuries ranging from pain to death since 2010.
0.9% percentage of those crashes resulting in a fatality.
7.6% percentage of those crashes leading to incapacitating injury.
61 2024 crashes in census tracts 3001, 3002 and 3003, the contiguous area between Rt. 95 and Fricker St where Service Road meets Westminster and including Central and Classical High Schools.
27 2024 crashes in the Olneyville Square census tract.
27 2024 crashes in the census tract on Broad Street between Pearl St and the split with Elmwood Avenue.
26 2024 crashes in the Kennedy Plaza census tract.
26 2024 crashes in the census tract along Empire Street between Fountain and Washington Streets.
Source: Providence Streets Coalition’s PVD Crash Data site
Jonathan Howard is Co-founder of Cause & Effect, Inc., a consulting company that provides strategic planning facilitation, fund development planning and board strengthening to mission-driven organizations. He is a long- time resident of Providence.
