A fine piece of data visualisation, this, from the Telegraph: a map of the capital's cycling accident blackspots, showing every incident recorded by Transport for London between August 2010 and July 2011.
The map can be configured by the type of accident — running from slight, through serious and, sadly, onto fatal — and for each incident salient facts are displayed, including the date and time, the gender of the person hit and the vehicle(s) involved. There's also a Google Street View plug-in for good measure, which might allow cyclists to scout out a particularly dicey area if they're heading for unfamiliar territory.
The dangers that cyclists in London face have become a major issue in recent months, prompted by the high profile deaths of two bikers at Bow Roundabout and another at King's Cross, and TfL's remarkable intransigence over Blackfriars Bridge. A 'Tour du Danger' around some of the cycling blackspots has further raised the issue in the public consciousness, though for some the increased awareness of the inherent risks in cycling through London, as manifested by 'ghost bikes', has had some drawbacks.
The Telegraph has also produced some charts displaying the time of day at which accidents tend to happen (rush hour, not surprisingly) the type of vehicle involved and the fatality rate by vehicle type; while cars represent the bulk of all incidents, HGVs are the most lethal.
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