WalkSpot breaks the record

We've had an overwhelming repsonse to our WalkSpot project, with nearly 9,000 comments, a new record for a CrowdSpot project.

The project asked people to outline their walking safety concerns by identifying particular spots on an interactive online map, hosted by internet engagement specialists CrowdSpot. 

WalkSpot was publicly launched on 14 March, with good media coverage including a feature in The Age, and prime time ABC radio.

Over a six week period 2,390 spots were marked on the map – 89% unsafe.  There were 1,378 comments on those spots by other people and 5,086 expressions of support for particular spots. Overall, more than 27,000 people visited the website.

“The WalkSpot map received a record number of total submissions for any CrowdSpot project,” says Anthony Aisenberg, Director of CrowdSpot.

CrowdSpot is currently analysing the huge amount of information generated by the project and will be preparing an overall report on the lessons for road safety.

VicRoads, the City of Melbourne and 13 other metropolitan councils have signed up to the project and will get the report and base data to help them decide on road safety improvements and prioritise investment.

“Our understanding of road safety issues is usually limited to official crash statistics, which only tell part of the story” says Ben Rossiter, Executive Officer of Victoria Walks. “Crash statistics provide data on serious injury crashes, but they don’t tell us about all crashes, what people are worried about and where they do or don’t feel safe walking.”

Public consultation has now closed but you can still see what people have said on the interactive map. More information on the project, including a full list of project partners, is available at www.walkspot.org.au.

WalkSpot is funded primarily by a Community Road Safety Grant from the Transport Accident Commission (TAC).