Commuters have a new tool to help them gauge how deadly their daily drive is.

A new Web site digs through mounds of federal traffic data to map fatal accidents — with descriptions if alcohol or speeding were involved — on a street-by-street level throughout the country.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota said they created SafeRoadMaps.org to give citizens and policymakers alike a tool to help them assess the safety of their local streets.

“I think the basic idea was that we all know what a weather map means for understanding weather, we all know what a traffic congestion map looks like, so it just struck us: Why isn’t there something in the area of safety?” said Tom Horan, director of the university’s Center for Excellence in Rural Safety.

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The site’s visitors can type in an address or ZIP code and see a map or satellite image of all of the road fatalities that have happened in that area.

Visitors can search for accidents based on the age of the driver, whether he or she was wearing a seat belt, and if speed or alcohol were involved.

Right now, the site includes 2006 data, the most recent available from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which collects statistics from states.

A search for the District shows the Shaw neighborhood in Northwest to be particularly deadly, with four accidents killing five people within a 16-block area in 2006.

Two of the accidents involved drivers hitting pedestrians, two of the accidents killed the passengers in the car and one killed the driver. One of the accidents involved alcohol.

The Web site, which debuted in late July, had 3 million hits in the first three days, Horan said.

“I think there is citizen appetite for this kind of information,” he said.

The site contains 38,588 accidents, which resulted in 42,642 fatalities and involved 98,040 people, researchers said.

The database will be updated with accidents from 2007 in the fall, Horan said.

tluntz@dcexaminer.com