NYC Crash Tracker

In summer 2024, they faced a pivotal moment. Governor Kathy Hochul had delayed congestion pricing in New York City, a policy projected to cut traffic below 60th Street by 17 percent and remove 120,000 vehicles each day. For Transpo Maps, this was an inflection point: without action, preventable crashes would continue. They needed a way to make the stakes visible to the public in a form that was both trustworthy and urgent

Congestion pricing was debated in economic and political terms, but the deeper truth was about lives lost and injuries sustained on city streets. Open crash data existed, but it was overwhelming and hard to parse. The question was how to reframe these datasets into a narrative people could grasp quickly. The tension lay between presenting raw numbers that felt distant and showing daily updates that made the issue personal and immediate

As Lead Visual Designer, I worked closely with Stephen Braitsch (concept, direction, engineering) and Beaudry Kock (messaging) to design the NYC Crash Tracker. I created the map interface, sidebar, and daily counter, aligning the visuals with Transpo Maps’ brand while reflecting the seriousness of the issue. I introduced features that improved usability and clarity: a tab switcher for separating crash and demographic data, animated bars for legibility, and highlights that marked the current day in the time-series. My focus was on grounding advocacy in a design system that was both accessible and unflinching