Methodology — Pillar I in Action
How We Built the Saint Paul Motor Vehicle Crash Heatmap
A transparency document. We publish the data sources, severity coding, corridor categorization, and refresh cadence behind the companion crash heatmap so any Minnesota reader can audit the build. Saint Paul is the example geography; the methodology is reusable across any Minnesota city with the same records.
Why a Methodology Page Exists
What This Page Documents and Why
A heatmap is only as trustworthy as the build behind it. We publish this companion page so a reader can verify what went into the St. Paul motor vehicle crash heatmap and injury patterns dataset before relying on any corridor or severity figure. The build pattern is state-portable to any Minnesota city where the Minnesota Department of Public Safety crash record, the MnDOT crash query, and a city-level Vision Zero or public-works corridor analysis exist for the same temporal window.
Build Process
The Six-Step Build Process
We run the build through six discrete steps. Every step takes named public-record inputs and produces a named output the next step ingests. No step depends on any non-public record.
Source Identification and Scope Lock
We lock the temporal window (eight calendar years on v1) and the geographic boundary (the City of Saint Paul). The two crash-record sources are locked here: the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety crash file and the MnDOT Office of Traffic Engineering crash query. Both are public under Minn. Stat. § 13.82 and Minn. Stat. § 13.03.
Public-Records Pull
We pull crash records and severity codes for the locked window from agency outputs. Where a record is summary-level, we file a Government Data Practices Act request to the originating agency under Minn. Stat. § 13.82. No driver or victim is named; we work at the categorical level the file supports.
Severity Coding — KABCO Pass-Through
Bands carry published KABCO codes verbatim: K fatal, A serious, B minor, C possible, O property-damage. We flag the no-fault consequence for KABCO C entries — the six-month notice deadline under Minn. Stat. § 65B.55 runs from the crash date even if the injury declares itself later.
Corridor Categorization Rule
Corridor labels follow the City of Saint Paul Public Works arterial classification and the Vision Zero corridor analyses. Where the city has named a segment, we use the segment-and-category pairing verbatim; where MnDOT has named a freeway interface, we use the published district designation. We do not coin labels.
Statutory Cross-Reference
Every corridor category and severity band carries the Minnesota statutory framework that governs the resulting civil claim: comparative fault under Minn. Stat. § 604.01, the No-Fault Act under Minn. Stat. § 65B, the tort threshold under Minn. Stat. § 65B.51, right-of-way under Minn. Stat. § 169.20, bicycle and pedestrian rights under Minn. Stat. § 169.222 and Minn. Stat. § 169.21, and FMCSA hours-of-service under 49 CFR § 395.3. The cross-reference is fixed here so it does not drift.
Quality-Control and Publication
Before publication we round-trip every entry against the originating record, confirm KABCO bands match the published codes, and verify no individual is named on the page. Unverifiable entries are dropped. The page is timestamped on the freshness footer and refreshes when the Department of Public Safety posts a new annual release.
Inputs
Data Sources Used
The table names every public-record series the heatmap depends on, the Minnesota access basis, and what we extract.
| Source | Custodian | Access basis | What we extract |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota crash record file | MN Dept. of Public Safety, Office of Traffic Safety | Minn. Stat. § 13.82 | Crash counts, KABCO bands, corridor location codes |
| MnDOT crash query | MnDOT Office of Traffic Engineering | State-published dataset | Freeway-segment counts, district totals, interface designations |
| Arterial and freeway classification | City of Saint Paul Public Works | Minn. Stat. § 13.03 | Corridor categories, segment-to-category assignments |
| Vision Zero corridor analyses | City of Saint Paul | Public series | Named segments, conflict-point identifiers |
| Originating police crash report (on request) | Saint Paul Police; Ramsey County Sheriff; State Patrol | Minn. Stat. § 13.82 | Sequence-of-events detail for entry verification |
Pillar I — In Action
Why This Methodology Is the Andrade Method's Forensic Foundation, Made Visible
The transparency you are reading is the evidence-preservation discipline we run on every Minnesota injury file under the four-pillar evidence and recovery framework we run on every Minnesota injury file. Pillar I — Forensic Foundation — requires every factual claim sourced, every record named, and the chain from raw data to conclusion auditable from the outside. A heatmap is a small case file; this page is what an outside reviewer would see walking through the build of any exhibit.
The same Pillar I discipline carries into moving-evidence work — our step-by-step protocol for preserving MnDOT traffic-camera footage, with the spoliation-hold remedy under Minn. R. Civ. P. 37.05 as backstop. Different inputs, same rule.
Frequently Asked Questions
Methodology Questions Minnesotans Ask
How often is the heatmap refreshed?+
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety publishes annual crash-record releases; when a new release lands, we re-run steps 2 through 6 and timestamp the freshness footer. We do not interpolate between releases or fill in partial-year data.
Can I apply this methodology to a different Minnesota city?+
Yes. The six steps are state-portable. Locked inputs are the Minnesota Department of Public Safety crash file, the MnDOT crash query, the city public-works arterial classification, and any city-published Vision Zero series. Where a city does not publish a Vision Zero series, the methodology degrades to the state-level inputs and the corridor categorization step is dropped.
What if my crash is not on the heatmap?+
The heatmap aggregates categorical patterns; an individual crash with a KABCO C scene code or a smaller arterial segment will not appear. Absence is not evidence the crash did not happen or was not severe. The decisive record for any individual claim is the originating police crash report, the Event Data Recorder data, and any traffic-camera footage preserved before retention closes.
Where can I read the statutes and public records cited above?+
Minnesota statutes are at revisor.mn.gov/statutes. The crash file is at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety; the crash query is at MnDOT; corridor analyses are at City of Saint Paul Public Works.
Authored by Gabriel E. Andrade, attorney, Andrade Law PLLC. · Published · Last reviewed
Transparency document. Sources: Minnesota Department of Public Safety crash file, MnDOT Office of Traffic Engineering crash query, City of Saint Paul Public Works arterial classification, City of Saint Paul Vision Zero corridor analyses. Educational reference only. Not legal advice.