KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — An organization that provides information on transportation planning for the greater East Tennessee area released a new interactive map that shows the number of what they call life-altering crashes. A life-altering crash is defined by the group as a fatal or serious-injury traffic incident.

The interactive map, created by the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (TPO), shows where the life-altering crashes occur and also sorts the incidents by severity and type. The TPO also stated that someone experiences a fatal or serious-injury traffic crash every 13 hours in our region. 

The interactive map can be found here. It shows 2,326 life-altering crashes occurred in the Knoxville Region between January 2016 and June 2019. Of those, 321 were fatalities and 2,005 involved a serious injury. This tool helps to better understand where, when and how these types of crashes happen, as well as the impact they have on individuals, families and communities. 

The TPO planning area includes all of Knox County and the contiguous urban areas of Anderson, Blount, Loudon, Roane and Sevier counties. 

The TPO also said the idea for this mapping and data analysis came from previous work on pedestrian- and bicycle-related traffic crashes. Pedestrian- and bicycle-related crashes account for approximately eight percent of life-altering crashes in the region. TPO staff wanted to investigate additional crash types to better understand the locations and circumstances in which road users of all types are most at risk.