CRASH DATA Crash data with the greatest proximal significance to walking and biking to the Rothsay school was gathered using the online Minnesota Crash Mapping Analysis Tool (MCMAT). (http://www.dot.state.mn.us/stateaid/crashmapping.html) MCMAT is MnDOT’s crash database that includes all crashes involving a motor vehicle where a crash report was filed. It includes only crash reports from the past ten years. However, a crash involving a solo cyclist, the most common type of bicycle crash, would not be recorded even if emergency services responded, as long as the crash did not involve a motor th
vehicle. The MCMAT data for Rothsay was accessed January 24 2017. As of that date, the dataset included st
st
crash reports from January 1 2006 through December 31 2015, all of which were included in this analysis. According to the MCMAT homepage accessed on the date above, there has been a delay in updating the database with crash data from 2016. Typically, the lag time between crash occurrence and data entry into the MCMAT database can last approximately 2-3 months with the data updated four times per year (approximately quarterly.) The staff at WCI felt that collecting crash data within a 0.6 mile radius from the intersection of Center st
Street and 1 Avenue North roughly 2,120 feet south southeast of the school building would provide the most utility. This is the approximate center of Rothsay, as well as relatively proximal to the school. From this center point, a 0.6 mile radius includes all urbanized lands within Rothsay and all residences that are within the one mile Rothsay school walk / bike zone. The circle formed by 0.6 mile radius from the abovementioned center point returns 34 crash reports from the MCMAT dataset. Of these collisions, 21 were on Interstate 94, as can be seen on the map. (See Figure 39) Since crashes on the limited access interstate highway would have little to no impact on the safety of students walking and biking to school, they were excluded from the analysis. The remaining 13 crashes in the study area were all within the urban areas of Rothsay. Of these 13 crashes, there was one fatality which did involve a pedestrian. Based upon informati0n provided ,
by the MCMAT-generated crash detail report and a newspaper article in the May 5 2010 edition of the Fergus Falls Daily Journal, on Monday, May 3, 2010 at 13:39 hours, under dry, clear daylight conditions, a 50year-old male named Ronald Lee Snell was struck and killed while on private property by a Saturn automobile driven by a 17-year-old juvenile from Barnesville, Minnesota. Mr. Snell had been mowing the lawn of a property on Center Street near the intersection of Main Avenue when the juvenile lost control of the vehicle s/he was driving. The vehicle left the roadway and struck Mr. Snell who died at the scene. “Illegal Speed” was cited as a contributing factor in this fatal crash.
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