Concussions and CTE goes beyond the NFL: How sports leagues should minimize traumatic head injuries
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The Problem
What do people think of when they hear concussion or CTE? Most recently, it's probably the discussion around Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa possibly getting CTE. Tagovailoa got his third diagnosed concussion in two years on September 12th, 2024, and there was a lot of talk in the media about if he should retire.
While the National Football League has been the main sports league and sport mentioned when it comes to concussions and CTE, other sports also have a high risk for concussions. This problem, while often portrayed by the media as causing severe mental problems for former NFL players, goes deeper than that. Many athletes who play other sports get concussions as well, and most of the time, they are preventable.
Grace DeAmicis got a concussion at a club cheerleading practice.
Riley Fasteau suffered a head injury at an indoor club softball practice.
Lilly Sigersmith has had four sports-related concussions: two during lacrosse games, one during a soccer game, and one during a cross-country meet.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury that affects brain function. Effects are often short term and can include headaches and trouble with concentration, memory, balance, mood, and sleep.” They further explain that concussions happen by head or body impacts that cause a change in brain function. Sports, especially high-contact sports like American football, are a major cause of concussions.
“I got a concussion while cheering,” said Grace DeAmicis. “Someone did a backhand spring on my head after I fell.” A back handspring is when a person flips their body the whole way around without being able to see where their hands land. DeAmicis added that the cheerleading squad didn’t have the routine down before they practiced together.
Riley Fasteau was a senior in high school practicing with her club softball team when a teammate threw a ball badly, hitting her in the face. She needed seven stitches at the hospital but tested negative for a concussion. She experienced concussion-like symptoms though, such as dizziness and light sensitivity, but it was the mental issues that Fatseau struggled with after the injury.
“I was really limited in what I could do,” said Fasteau. “I could only hit and I could field a little bit, but not really. For the first time in my life I was scared of the ball, which I know sounds insane because it's a ball. I was nervous about it. I’m a catcher, so when I’d be catching, I was really scared it was going to hit me in the face. Obviously, I didn’t get hit again, but it was something I really had to work through my senior year.”
Lilly Sigersmith has had four concussions across three sports throughout middle and high school. The most recent was during a high school soccer match where she collided with an opponent’s head while trying to head the ball. It took Sigersmith three times to pass impact testing after the fourth concussion to return to play. She also suffered a concussion during a high school cross-country meet.
“The other one was cross country, which is kind of funny because a lot of people think of cross country as a non-contact sport,” said Sigersmith. “It pretty much is except for the really big races, like when we did state races in high school, that’s like a funnel start. You have all these teams lined up, usually like four by four, so it’s four and then four and it backs up. We were doing the funnel start and a lot of times we’ll have people fall at the funnel starts, and I did. I got trampled a little bit and in cross country, a lot of people have spikes for outdoor, so I took a foot or two to the head and got a concussion that way.”
The other two happened during lacrosse games. As a defender, Sigersmith often was in between where opponents shot and the goal. Sigersmith got concussed during a game after the shaft of an opponent's metal stick hit her in the face on the shot’s follow-through. The other lacrosse one happened when an opponent's shot hit the left side of her head.
While concussions are recognized quite quickly with a visit to the doctor, CTE is not. CTE, which stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, can only be diagnosed after death with an autopsy. In studies of deceased people’s brains, researchers at Boston University have found a protein called tau in areas of the cerebral cortex, temporal lobe, thalamus, hypothalamus, and brainstem. These areas are responsible for short-term memory, speech, sleep patterns, and relaying sensory and motor information, to name a few.
“CTE is what they call a neuropathological diagnosis, meaning that the diagnosis is based on neuroanatomy, not on behavior or symptoms,” said Dr. Rachel Grashow, who works at the Football Player’s Health Study at Harvard University. “Specifically, what they found in the brains of deceased players was that the more years of play they have, the more they saw these certain tau proteins accumulating in certain parts of those people’s brains.”
The Harvard Football Player’s Health Study researched former NFL players on the health issues faced in retirement. Dr. Grashow said that many players have health problems related to head injuries that can affect the whole body.
“It’s kind of a combination of things,” said Dr. Grashow. “We know that head injury leads to hormonal dysfunction, so they have low testosterone. And low testosterone totally affects mood, it affects energy level, it affects concentration, it affects muscle function. So you can imagine there’s this pathway where the head injury disrupts really important processes in their brain and their bodies, and then that leads them to have issues later.”
One of the main issues that Dr. Grashow found in former NFL players is cardiovascular issues, with 65 percent of former players passing away from heart and cardiovascular diseases. One of the most notable recent cardiovascular deaths is former wide-receiver Jacoby Jones, who died in July 2024 at 40 years old. Traumatic brain injuries could contribute to these issues as the autonomic nervous system in the brain controls much of the heart. The autonomic nervous system is in the hypothalamus, one of the areas where tau proteins can grow.
In a study conducted with patients in the Massachusetts General Brigham hospital system, Dr. Grashow investigated whether traumatic brain injuries, such as concussions in sports besides American football, could also cause the same symptoms and health issues as former NFL players. Researchers found that patients with traumatic brain injuries of any severity had a higher risk of developing cardiovascular, hormonal, and neurological issues.
If athletes of all sports are at risk of having treatable debilitating health issues later in life due to head injuries, then leagues at all levels should prioritize athlete health.
Since settling a lawsuit with several former player’s families, the NFL has had to report on the number of concussions per season. Below are three visualizations of concussion data from the past ten seasons.
Solutions to Reduce Concussions
Helmets and Guardian Caps
One of the main solutions introduced in the NFL is guardian caps. They are soft shell caps that can absorb energy from a hit, according to the company website. Since 2022, guardian caps have been required for certain positions during contact practices, such as offensive linemen, defensive linemen, tight ends, linebackers, and running backs. During NFL Week One in 2024, five NFL players were the first to wear the guardian cap during a regular season game.
Looking at the data, the total number of concussions during games decreased from 184 in 2023 to 155 in 2024, when guardian caps were allowed during games. There also has been a slight decrease in practice concussions since the guardian cap mandate in 2022, with 37, 35, and 27 concussions over the past three seasons.
Helmets are an important way athletes in high-contact sports avoid serious concussions. Sigersmith thinks helmets should be mandatory in women’s lacrosse, where eyewear is the usual mandated gear.
“A lot of people look at women’s lacrosse and don’t see it as much of a physical sport as men’s lacrosse,” said Sigersmith. “But there is an extreme amount of contact also in women’s lacrosse from my experience playing as a defender. Now they have the option to play with helmets, but I really do think that playing with helmets in general could be a really good idea for women’s lacrosse. I got hit with a girl’s shot coming from the eight, which was a dangerous shot on her part, but also at the same time, it’s a totally preventable injury. The concussion probably wouldn’t have been as severe as it was had I had a helmet on or some sort of head protection.”
Rule Changes
Another solution is changing game rules so that athlete safety is the priority. The NFL has implemented several rule changes since 2015, including penalties for contact to the head and neck area.
The highest number of concussions in the past ten seasons was in 2017 with 281 total concussions. In 2018, the NFL passed a new rule making it a foul if a player lowers their head to initiate contact with another player’s head. The penalty is 15 yards and if done by a defender, automatic first down. The player is also subject to being ejected from the game.
This rule change was successful, as there were 214 total concussions in 2018, a decrease of 67 head injuries. Since then, the total number of concussions hasn’t exceeded 225 per season.
After the 2020 COVID season, concussions started to increase again, especially in games. In 2024, the NFL implemented updated kickoff rules and eliminated the swivel hip-drop tackle, a tackle where a player grabs an opponent with their hands and drops their lower body onto the opponent’s legs. The new kickoff formation only allows players to move after the ball is caught or hits the ground, allowing for fewer high-speed collisions.
Sigersmith said that her school district doesn't allow headers anymore, which prevents concussions. However, this does add to the problem of school and club leagues not having standard rules for sports. In the United States, the National Federation of State High School Associations writes rules for most high school sports, but some private school leagues aren't members.
Coaches Prioritizing Player Safety
Fasteau said that her coach's negligence in switching equipment was a huge part of how her injury happened. If coaches prioritize player safety during practices and games, that could also limit the number of concussions.
“We were inside at the time, in a kind of batting cage facility, and they decided to use balls that we would use outdoors,” said Fasteau. “We had indoor balls, a little squishier, the outside is like a silicon rubber material. If it hits you in the head, it's not going to leave a mark, you’re going to be fine. [The coaches] did not use those balls. They also did not have a first aid kit on hand. It’s a small space, so if someone’s bound to get hurt, I think the indoor balls are there for a reason. I think that a lot of coaches don’t consider player safety and the equipment that they provide for their teams. I think that thing is super important, especially as someone that’s been affected by that.”
“I wish that coaches make sure the safety of their athletes is a priority,” said DeAmicis, “And making sure we have the routine down before we tumble right next to each other.”
Solutions for Athletes already with Health Issues
But what about athletes who get health issues after serious head injuries? Dr. Grashow says that because the media portrays CTE as something incurable, it’s causing more harm to former athletes and their families.
“Often in the media, they act as if a guy is depressed before he passes away, then they must have CTE,” said Dr. Grashow. “So far, press coverage of CTE presents a set of symptoms as associated with CTE, but that isn't backed by strong science yet. The impression is that CTE is permanent since there's no cure, it's progressive in that everyone will get worse, and it's pervasive in that every player has it. As long as they are emphasizing those three messages, players and their families who hear that narrative are going to feel a lot of doom and gloom about their future.”
There are solutions for former athletes with health issues possibly related to brain injury. Dr. Grashow suggests not immediately assuming that health problems are CTE-related and finding cures for those individual symptoms such as depression, high blood pressure, low testosterone, and sleep apnea.
“I think that one key piece is to recommend players not be triggered by cognitive symptoms, but that they be more proactive and speak to their doctors about their symptoms and concerns,” said Dr. Grashow. “We encourage players to get their blood pressure checked, and that we really want physicians and medical care providers to treat them as men first and players second. We worry that they’re seen as players first and that everything is attributed to their head injury when there’s usually a lot more going on.”
If leagues, coaches, and executives work to change rules, have more protective gear, and prioritize player safety, then athletes will be less likely to have long term health issues and concerns about CTE.
What is the Premier League Summer Series and is it worth it for them?
Starting lineups for Chelsea (left) and Brighton Hove Albion (right) stand at the center of Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia before the first Summer Series game begins. This game on July 22, 2023 had 65,128 fans in attendance. Photo by Alex Lott
English soccer is returning to the United States.
The Premier League announced on Monday that the second iteration of the Premier League Summer Series will happen this summer from July 26th to August 3rd. The series, featuring four Premier League teams, will be held at three U.S. stadiums as the Premier League hopes to increase support in America. Pre-sale tickets open on March 13th and general ticket sales are available on March 14th.
For this iteration, the teams are AFC Bournemouth, Everton, Manchester United, and West Ham United. There will be doubleheaders at each stadium, meaning each team will play each other once. The stadiums are MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for July 26th, Soldier Field in Chicago for July 30th, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for August 3rd. It will follow the same format as the previous Summer Series, with the winner being the club with the most points. For those unaware of the soccer point system, it’s three points for a win, one for a tie, and no points for a loss.
This series will be the second soccer competition hosted in the United States this summer. The Club World Cup happens from June 14th to July 13th, with 32 teams across the globe competing. Two English clubs will participate, Chelsea and Manchester City, but neither will be part of this Summer Series.
The first Premier League Summer Series happened in 2023, with Aston Villa, Brentford, Brighton Hove Albion, Chelsea, Fulham, and Newcastle participating. Chelsea won the inaugural event, with each team playing three games using the soccer point system. The games were played in five stadiums: Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Red Bull Arena in New York, and FedEx Field in the D.C. area.
It was mostly a success, averaging 44,000 fans per game. The Chelsea games had the most attendance as they were the most popular team participating in the event. There were individual games and doubleheaders, with the doubleheaders all having over 40,000 fans. The largest crowd was 70,789 at a doubleheader, Brentford versus Brighton and Newcastle versus Chelsea. The least popular game was Fulham against Ashton Villa at Exploria Stadium, with 16,134 fans attending. The capacity there was 25,000 and it featured two less known teams globally. The Premier League learned from this, implementing all doubleheaders, using large American football stadiums, and featuring prominent teams. It also helped that the Summer Series happened in July when baseball was the only major sport played.
Manchester United is one of the most successful teams in England and is beloved globally, making them an easy choice for inclusion. Everton is also a familiar team with a rich history, being one of three clubs to be founding members of the Football League and Premier League. West Ham United has quite a past in east London, producing several World Cup winners in their academy. AFC Bournemouth is the smallest of the clubs participating, but they have garnered more media attention this season with their impressive rise to European competition contenders. Bournemouth also features well-known American midfielder Tyler Adams, which probably factored in their selection.
In the past decade, the Premier League has tried to reach more U.S. viewers. They currently have a media rights deal with NBC Sports until 2028, with games airing on NBC, USA, and streaming on Peacock. Last season was the most watched Premier League season in the United States, averaging 546,000 viewers per TV match window. It also included the most watched game in the U.S., Manchester City versus Arsenal, at 2.12 million viewers for a Sunday game in March.
It is more difficult for the Premier League to get U.S. viewers because it is not known as a soccer country. In most other places in the world, soccer is extremely popular, if not the most popular sport in a country, so it makes sense that the Premier League focuses its marketing in America. With the success of the last Summer Series, the Premier League made some adjustments and decided to do it again, hoping to increase fan support and viewership numbers for the next season.
The Premier League is smarter than other soccer leagues to garner U.S. viewers, as Major League Soccer is not as well-known and competitive. Will the Summer Series work to bring in more fans? Probably, but you don’t know until it happens.
Al Horford might not have the stats, but has the impact for Boston against Denver
Photo by Juan Domenech on Unsplash
Even at 39, “Average Al Horford” is still causing trouble for opposing teams.
With injuries to Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, Al Horford stepped up this afternoon to help the Boston Celtics beat the Denver Nuggets, deterring a possible three-game losing streak. Horford played for 35 minutes, scoring 19 points and a team-leading three steals. He and Neemias Queta each led the team with three offensive rebounds, culminating in a 110-103 victory over the second-best team in the west.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzula said in the postgame press conference that you don’t need to talk to Horford about what he needs to do before a game. He knows his job and his impact goes beyond the stat sheet.
“Most of what he does can’t be measured,” said Mazzula. “He has the innate ability to impact the game in so many different ways, and he’s one of the best players in the league at guarding other best players in the league, no matter the position that they have.”
Horford’s main job for the game was guarding one of the best players in the league Nikola Jokic, and was up for the challenge. Jokic scored 20 points, his lowest total since February 24th, but Horford admitted that sometimes he needed help against the three-time MVP.
“When you go up against a guy like that, it’s not me against him," said Horford. "Everyone has to be synched in, what we need to do and what the game plan is. I felt like where the guys were tonight, they provided that help.”
Games like today show Horford's importance, especially when Porzingis isn't in the lineup. His reliability could be the key to the Celtic's success in the upcoming weeks and in the playoffs ahead. Horford’s been through the battles, playing in 186 playoff games, and knows his role on the court.
Horford has started the last three games for the Celtics, putting up lackluster performances in terms of stats against Detroit and Cleveland However, stats don’t mean much, as Mozzula mentioned. Horford knew that the team needed a victory today and he should enhance his impact. He did that on both sides of the ball.
Celtic's teammates mentioned that Horford’s performance tonight was vital for their success today.
“I think every game he brings it, but [he] just kinda had the extra edge today,” said Derrick White. “I feel like when he’s saving a ball or creating extra possessions for us, that’s when you notice it. I think he definitely had that mindset and we did a better job than we had in the past of finding him. He made big plays for us on both sides of the ball.”
As Jaylen Brown put it, “Al is an ultimate team guy. He’s a great connector for our unit. He does his job night in and night out, so anytime he’s on the floor, he stretches the floor, his shots. Anytime we can get an easy one to him, you know because he’s done all the dirty work on the other side.”
Porzingis could return on Wednesday, but Holiday might be out for some time with his finger injury. If Horford can produce performances like this and remain consistent, he could get some more starts. Horford could be especially helpful against the Lakers on Saturday, where he could go up against Luka Doncic or Lebron James.
Philadelphia gets revenge against Kansas City in Super Bowl LIX victory
Image provided by Squarespace
“Fly Eagles Fly” rang from the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. It was Philly’s night at last.
Philadelphia won their Super Bowl rematch against the Chiefs, 40-22, much to the disappointment of the Swifites and President Trump. The Eagles dominated on both sides and had the ball for 37 minutes. Jalen Hurts was a great game manager, with 221 passing yards and a team-high 72 yards on the ground.
“I’ve been able to use every experience and learn from it, the good and the bad, and using it as fuel to pursue my own greatness,” said Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who also won Super Bowl MVP. “I couldn’t do any of these things without the guys around me. We had a special group this year. We’re able to learn from the past and get some nice new pieces and get over that hump.”
The main story, though, was the defense, which took advantage of the Chiefs' lackluster offensive line with only a four-man rush. Patrick Mahomes was sacked six times, including twice by Josh Sweat and Milton Williams. Kansas City didn’t get past midfield until two and a half minutes left in the third quarter and held Kansas City to under 300 yards, with most coming in garbage time.
“We had to come out and play our best, and we did. And what a lesson to the entire world about what good teamwork does,” said Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni during the trophy ceremony. “We have selfless guys. We have guys that don’t want to let each other down. We got guys that will fight for each other, will play for each other. They love each other.”
The Eagles dominated in the first half on both sides. They held the ball for 20 minutes and had 179 yards of offense, most coming from the air. A costly Kansas City penalty on third down allowed a tush push for the first points of the game. Jake Elliot later extended their lead to ten with a 48-yard field goal.
The Chiefs' defense was great against the run, with Saquon held to 31 yards on the ground in the first half, but they faltered with the pass. AJ Brown had the other Eagles offensive touchdown of the half with a 12-yard passing score.
Philly’s defense allowed just 23 yards of offense in the first half. Mahomes got sacked twice in a row in the second quarter, and immediately after, Cooper DeJean intercepted him for a pick-six - the first interception of his career, and on his 22nd birthday. Add another sack and a diving interception by Zach Baun to round out the Eagles' defensive triumph in the first half.
“Defense wins championships,” said Hurts. “We saw how they played today. We saw the difference they made in the game. They gave us opportunities, gave us short fields, and we were able to do what we do.”
The second half went a little better for the Chiefs, with a touchdown by Xavier Worthy at the end of the third quarter. However, they failed on the two-point conversion and Philadelphia extended their lead beforehand, with two more field goals and a 46-yard touchdown catch by Devonte Smith.
Then the Eagles defense came in clutch again, as Milton Williams strip-sacked Mahomes and recovered the fumble. The turnover added three more points to the board. The Chiefs scored 16 points on two touchdowns and the two-point conversions in the fourth, but it was way too late to make a difference and the Eagles have their second Lombardi trophy.
Up next for the Eagles is a parade and a ring ceremony, as Coach Sirianni said postgame that they have a couple more things to celebrate, though the city might want to grease the poles beforehand.
Kluivert’s scoring prowess continues as Bournemouth beat Newcastle
Photo by Scott Heppell/Reuters
Justin Kluivert’s hat trick pushes Bournmouth’s Premier League unbeaten streak to ten as the Cherries defeated Newcastle 4-1 at St. James’s Park. It begs the question as to whether Kluivert could be the answer for the striker position moving forward.
With injuries to main strikers Evanilson and Enes Ünal in the past two weeks, there is a worry amongst Bournemouth as to who would take their place at the front of the field. Evanilson fractured his metatarsal during January 4th’s win against Everton and Ünal tore his ACL in practice four days later.
“My job is to continue trying to get the maximum from the players we have available,” said Andoni Iraola at a January 10th press conference. “I think everyone is trying to give everything they have in the minutes they are receiving. We are having very good answers from players that probably haven’t been having the minutes they deserve before.”
Dango Ouattara has been upfront in the past games and this one, scoring twice in their FA Cup win over West Brom, but Kluivert could be another option for a striker. He’s scored ten goals in the Premier League this season, including six penalties and a penalty hat trick against Wolves. He’s played as a winger for the past two games, but today, Iraola moved him behind Ouattara as an attacking midfielder.
The move paid off as Kluivert produced three masterclass goals to help secure the win against Newcastle.
“I just want to help my team out to win games and to be important for the club,” said Kluivert after the game.”That’s what I said I want to be.”
“I think obviously when you score three goals and also very beautiful goals everyone will talk about you,” said Iraola after the game. “But I think we had the matchup, including Justin because I think his defensive job has been key for us.”
Iraola also mentioned in a press conference yesterday that everyone has contributed to the goals and that Bournemouth doesn’t depend on one person scoring the goals. He doesn’t care who is scoring the goals. Kluivert’s defensive prowess and Iraola’s lack of need for a number nine are reasons against him starting as a striker, especially with Ouattara available.
Ouattara’s performance, as of late, has been respectable, with three Premier League goals this season. His last Premier League goal was against Fulham on December 29th. With Kluivert’s present touch around the goal, Iraola now has to wonder if he should switch Kluivert and put Ouattara behind.
Bournemouth have a tough road ahead of them with their next two games against Nottingham Forest and Liverpool, two teams above them in the Premier League table. If they want to have a chance at playing European football, the Cherries are going to have to see Kluivert continue his goal scoring ways.
Data Visualization: Methods for “Bicycle Crashes Rise in Boston and Cambridge as Cyclists Call for Change”
The project focuses on bike lane infrastructure in the Greater Boston area, specifically zeroing in on how failures to separate bikes from motor vehicles on roads leads to a higher cyclist accident rate. To show this comparison, the visualizations outline how advanced bike protections and developments are, and include a density heat map that shows bike crash hotspots across Boston and Cambridge and a scatter point map depicting annual crashes. After scraping data made publically available by each city, we compiled several datasets spotlighting the main conclusions we gathered from the data: there has been an increase in bicycle accidents since the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the accidents happen where there is no bike infrastructure or bike lanes not separated from the road, and many of the roads and intersections where crashes occur are busy streets and areas. The reporting bolstered these findings, as several community organizers, including the nonprofits attached to the Ride for Your Life event in Cambridge this story’s narrative is anchored in, have been demanding motorist accountability for pedestrian and cyclist fatalities for years. Automated enforcement measures, like sensor devices that photograph vehicles committing camera-enforceable violations, are being lobbied for by cyclist advocates state-wide. Critics say the legislation challenges the autonomy of motorists and police officers, but the findings of this report support the idea that if Boston and Cambridge invested in bike lane infrastructure, residents would be more motivated to use public transportation. While the project is not a body of work meant for advocacy, we acknowledge that it could be used as a resource by these groups to support their call for stricter regulations.
This story began as an attempt to see if there was a pattern in the neighborhoods where bike crash fatalities were occurring. It developed into a more robust retelling of the history of the advocacy work to bring awareness and safety precautions to bike lanes after we scraped the data and found that, on average, the annual number of bike crash fatalities has continued to increase since 2020. Initially, we thought the data would yield information about bike crash hotspots, which was correct to an extent, as we logged several neighborhoods that consistently had reported crashes. We modeled our visualizations after these findings, and thought to complement them with first-person testimonials from those affected by this issue. That led us to the Ride for Your Life event in Cambridge, where we spoke to several event organizers and residents from 25 different cities and met victims of bike crashes that could personify the data points. Most people were forthcoming with personal details about their crashes, or were eager to voice their support for automated enforcement measures, with many of them citing the pending legislation. That factor made it imperative to include a brief breakdown of the legislation, including where it stands now and where it seeks to progress. The data visualizations aim to give a sweeping overview of Boston and Cambridge’s bike lane fatalities year-to-year, and identify which areas present the most danger to cyclists.
The bicycle accident data came from Analyze Boston using dispatch records and the City of Cambridge Police Department. The data from Analyze Boston is updated bi-annually, so there was only data from up to June 30th, 2024. The Cambridge data is updated weekly, but we used up until October 31st, 2024, when we first found the data. Each dataset had what type of vehicle was impacted in the accident, so we separated the bike accidents from other vehicles and put them on a different sheet in Excel. After looking through each of the datasets, we discovered that the Cambridge data did not have any geotag locations, so we manually entered each one using the intersections and addresses provided with the data. Some of the data only had a street name, so we used the location of where Apple Maps puts the street. We then combined the Boston and Cambridge data into Excel with what was provided in both sets: the date, latitude and longitude, the street intersections, and the addresses if the accident didn’t occur at an intersection.
Using Tableau, we created several visualizations to enhance our story. First, we made a map which has all 2,287 bicycle crashes color coded by year. We originally tried to use data from as far back as 2016, but there were almost 4,000 data points and it heavily lagged our computer. We then decided to use data from the past five full years and this year because it was an even number and it would show crashes since Cambridge passed its Cycling Safety Ordinance. Color coding it by year allowed us to see that 2019 and 2023 had the most amount of accidents. When someone hovers their map over a point, they will see the day of the accident and they can move around the map to look for a specific location. There is a legend where each year is assigned a shade of blue and a section where a person can select a certain year and find crashes from that specific year. We chose blue because it was a distinct color that wouldn’t be on a street map.
The second map has the same accident locations, all as one shade of blue, with the bicycle infrastructure on the street on top. The infrastructure data came from the Massachusetts Geospatial Data Hub and was updated January 30, 2024. Using Tableau, we connected the data by creating a relationship between the infrastructure and accident data using the id numbers. We selected the extract connection option, so all of the data would join. Using the accident data, we created a map and added the latitude twice to create two separate maps. Removing the accident data from the second map allowed us to add the infrastructure data there and combine the maps by using the dual axis feature. We used shades of red for the types of bike infrastructure because it was not on the street map and it was clear to see the blue accident dots compared to the red.
The third map we made was a heat map, where we did the same thing as the first map except selecting density instead of the automatic points. We chose blue again to represent the heat data and it shows where the most accidents occur, allowing us to use that data in our story.
The graph on hospitalizations was created because of how we wanted to share the story in unison with the interviews conducted. Only Cambridge had data on injuries and hospitalizations because Boston does not record the severity of the crashes to protect the privacy of individuals, according to the data description on Analyze Boston. Cambridge only records up to hospitalizations, which is estimated. We learned that 2019 and 2022 had the most hospitalizations and made a table to determine the number of injuries per year to add as context to the article. We again went with blue for the color to keep a consistent theme throughout.
To create a standardized method of comparing cyclist fatalities across different urban environments and understand where Boston and the greater Boston area stand from a national safety perspective we collected cyclist fatality data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's 2022 Traffic Safety Facts Annual Report Tables, focusing specifically on cities with populations over 500,000. Turning raw fatality numbers into comparable metrics distinguished itself as the key challenge. However, this normalization process is critical, eliminating population size discrepancies, and allowing for an accurate comparison.
For example, if Boston had 8 cyclist fatalities in a population of 675,647, the normalized rate would be (8 ÷ 675,647) × 100,000, resulting in 1.18 deaths per 100,000 residents. By applying this consistent method across all cities, we created a precise comparison of cycling safety across different urban landscapes.
Once normalized we entered all collected data into Excel, cleaned and organized it into two tables, and uploaded it to be visualized in Flourish’s Interactive Scatter Plot tool. In this fashion, the arrangement of the data revealed, to our surprise, that Boston stands out as remarkably safe among major U.S. cities for cyclists. This graph offers a broader, national perspective while maintaining the integrity and importance of our stories' narratives.
We utilized Knight Lab's StoryMap JS to create an interactive narrative exploring cycling fatalities in Boston, demonstrating how individual tragedies reveal persistent infrastructure challenges even in one of America's statistically safest cycling cities. The mapped points allow viewers to move through space while engaging with multiple layers of information: the specific infrastructure challenges at each location, the personal stories of cyclists lost, and the policy changes that followed - or in some cases, the warnings that preceded - each incident.
This process began with research into cycling-related deaths in Boston, focusing particularly on cases where infrastructure gaps played a role. For each mapped location, we documented not just the circumstances of the accidents, but delved into the lives of those lost working to emphasize the importance of every live lost from a tragic accident. (A critical pattern emerged during the research phase: many safety improvements came as reactions to fatalities rather than preventive measures. For example, Eric Hunt's death, from an MBTA bus, in 2010 led directly, within the month, to new MBTA training protocols.)
The three maps effectively communicate the intention of the data with the reader on a geographic scale. This article, while not a solutions-oriented piece of journalism, describes several pieces of legislation lobbyists are attempting to push through the Legislature, which made it necessary to include an infographic that breaks down technical jargon into more accessible language. A simplified data visualization of the printed words effectively displays and communicates the intended information, which is crucial to the success of this project because of how far into the article the introduction of the legislative measures is. The reporting largely complemented the findings of the publicly available data. Because this is an issue that many Massachusetts residents care about (over 350 people from 25 cities showed up to the memorial ride in November), cyclists and pedestrians were eager to discuss reform options. This story exists because of the cooperation of the community in telling it.
Alex Lott led the data visualization components of this story. They were instrumental in researching, scraping, cleaning, and presenting the data, as well as finding the evidence used to come to the story’s conclusions. They created several maps for this project’s use: namely the plot point map depicting the sites of bike crash fatalities, the map with accidents and bike infrastructure, and the heat map showing the density of crash hot-spots. They also contributed to the reporting and writing of the narrative and methodology. Jack Kaplan created the multimedia components and infographic visualizations within the story. He photographed several bike crash sites, and designed both the infographic that breaks down several pieces of cycling safety legislation and the scatterplot showing Greater Boston’s place within national trends. He also contributed to the reporting and writing of the narrative and methodology. Adri Pray led the reporting initiatives and assisted in finding data for the visualizations. She attended the Ride for Your Life memorial ride on Nov. 17 and spoke with several cyclists and organizers about their efforts to raise the public’s awareness of roadside fatalities. She largely wrote the narrative feature and the methodology.
Read the story “Bicycle Crashes Rise in Boston and Cambridge as Cyclists call for Change here.
Download the data set on Boston and Cambridge Accidents here.
Data Visualization: Bicycle Crashes Rise in Boston and Cambridge as Cyclists Call for Change
Image provided by Squarespace
By Alex Lott, Adri Pray, and Jack Kaplan
Minh-Thi Nguyen was a third-year graduate student studying experimental physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She lived in Kendall Square with a classmate, worked at the university in the physics department, and was considered a rising star in the scientific community.
Sidney Olsen loved being outside, and would wake up early on Sunday mornings to plan out breakfasts, art classes, ice skating trips, and outdoor expeditions. The Andover five-year-old was full of life, and loved “feeling the wind in her hair,” according to her father, Eric Olsen.
Six months ago, Nguyen was cycling to MIT’s campus when she was killed by a truck making a right turn at the intersection of Portland Street and Hampshire Street in Cambridge. In May 2023, Olsen was killed at a crosswalk minutes away from her house by a truck, despite having a prominent walk signal.
In the past five years, Boston and Cambridge logged 2,287 roadside accidents involving cyclists — Nguyen and Olsen among them. Family members and community advocates point to both cases as examples of thousands of preventable deaths had the state appropriately invested into safer bike lanes and sidewalk infrastructure, and implemented automated enforcement measures targeting reckless driving in pedestrian zones.
Publicly available data on bike crashes provided by the cities of Boston and Cambridge show that each location saw an uptick in bike crashes from 2019 to the present. There were fewer crashes in 2020 and 2021, mostly due to the pandemic, but there has been a rise since 2022. 2023 had the most incidents with 539, and there were 114 injuries and 45 hospitalizations in Cambridge alone.
Massachusetts Avenue, spanning both Boston and Cambridge, had the most reported accidents of the two cities and intersected with many of the streets where crashes occurred. Much of the separated bike infrastructure along Mass. Ave. was constructed after 2021 in response to community petitioning. Previously, painted, or no, infrastructure existed along the street.
“We need to bring awareness to vulnerable road users and make the road safe for us to ride,” said Jo-Anne Wyndham, who sustained a spinal cord injury after being struck by a car while cycling in West Roxbury in 2011. “After my crash, the police officer who was investigating my case actually told me bikes don't belong on the roads. I want to see a lot of people out on bikes and I want better awareness for motorists.”
From the steps of the Massachusetts State House, and addressing hundreds of people gathered to remember fallen pedestrians and cyclists on a sunny day in mid-November, Alexa Gomberg recalled leaving the apartment she shared with Nguyen 10 minutes before her accident — the last time she saw her roommate and childhood friend alive. She invited those that have lost someone in a roadside accident to collect a yellow carnation from a vase at her feet, and called on officials to support automated enforcement measures and additional regulations on large vehicles.
Wyndham, standing next to her husband Jeff Kaufman, was among those who grabbed a carnation. Currently living in Jamaica Plain, it was important to the couple to ride the 6.6 mile route that wove through the sites where three Cantabrigians — Nguyen, Kim Staley, and John Corcoran — were fatally struck this year.
“One of the things that still does not sit well with me is the fatality in Cambridge where the car clearly must have been going too fast, lost control, jumped the sidewalk, killed the cyclist, and he still hasn't been sighted,” Wyndham said, referencing the lack of charges brought against the driver who “lost control of their vehicle” and fatally struck Corcoran along Memorial Drive in Cambridge in September.
In the map above, each dot represents an accident that involved a cyclist in both Boston and Cambridge between 2019 and 2024. The data, provided by each city's police departments and dispatch systems, are only representative of the accidents reported to the police. The Boston data tracks accidents from June 30 and earlier, while the Cambridge data showcases data from to Oct. 31 and earlier.
Nguyen is one of three cyclists to have been hit at the intersection of Hampshire Street and Portland Street — the other two incidents took place in 2022. The intersection gives cyclists two options: no bike lane on Portland, or a painted, non-separated lane along Hampshire. Hampshire Street also stands out as one of three streets with the most cyclist fatalities in Cambridge in the past five years.
“Concerns [arise] when there's disruptions in the streets, so when the Red Line needs to be rerouted to shuttle buses like [between Harvard and Broadway in November], there's not enough coordination between the MBTA and the cities to make sure that the cycling lanes are still protected,” Gomberg, who organized the memorial ride in honor of her lifelong friend, Nguyen.
Many of the accidents happened where there is no bike infrastructure, meaning that cyclists and vehicles are sharing the same lanes. Most of the remaining accidents happened where there are bike lanes on the roads, but the lanes are not separated.
Boston and Cambridge are starting to construct separated bike lanes where there previously haven’t been a physical barrier between the car and bike lanes. Most of this construction started in 2021 according to the Better Bike Lanes project from Boston’s city government and the Cycling Safety Ordinance out of Cambridge. Both cities have plans to add more separated bike lanes in the next few years.
According to the density map, the streets with the most bicycle accidents in Cambridge are Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge Street, and Hampshire Street. The most prevalent intersections are Massachusetts Avenue and Cambridge Street by the Harvard T station, Cambridge Street and Portland Street, Massachusetts Avenue and Albany Street, and Massachusetts Avenue and Vassar Street, with the latter two being by MIT.
In Boston, the streets with the most bicycle accidents are Route 20, especially by Boston University, Massachusetts Avenue, and Route 9. The most prevalent spots for crashes are the intersections of Beacon Street and Massachusetts Avenue, Massachusetts Avenue and Washington Street, Massachusetts Ave and Melnea Cass Boulevard by Boston University’s Medical Campus, Massachusetts Ave and Tremont Street by Northeastern, and South Huntington Avenue by the Back of the Hill T Stop.
The graph below shows that there were 251 hospitalizations from bicycle accidents from 2019-2024 in Cambridge, with 2019 and 2022 having the most with 56 and 51 respectively. Boston does not record the severity of the crashes to protect the privacy of individuals according to the data description. Camrbidge only records up to hospitalizations, which is estimated.
This interactive map traces cycling fatalities across Boston and the subsequent policy changes they sparked. Though Boston ranks among America's safest cycling cities, each location marks a personal tragedy and a pivotal moment in the city's bike safety evolution. Through these interconnected stories, we examine three key elements: the lives lost at dangerous infrastructure points, the specific safety challenges that contributed to each incident, and the policy changes that followed - often reactively rather than preventively.
This scatter plot visualizes cyclist fatalities per 100,000 residents across U.S. cities with populations over 500,000, revealing Boston's position as one of America's safest cycling cities in 2022. By normalizing fatality data against population size, we made a meaningful comparison between urban areas of varying sizes. While Boston's relatively low fatality rate might suggest success in cycling safety, the personal stories of John Corcoran and Minh-Thi Nguyen in 2024, for example, continue to teach and remind that statistics alone don't tell the complete story. These individual tragedies - occurring at known infrastructure weak points - demonstrate that even cities ranking well in national safety work must still be done to protect vulnerable road users better.
One bill, stuck in a legislative logjam, could give cycling advocates a win toward strengthening motor vehicle regulations. “An Act Relative to Automated Enforcement,” co-sponsored by Salem representative Manny Cruz and Watertown representative Steven Owens, would allow sensor devices along roadways to photograph vehicles committing camera-enforceable violations. Critics of the measure say it would strip the autonomy of motorists operating vehicles and has the potential to demoralize the police force in apprehending criminals.
“Right now it is a matter of debate whether or not this is the right approach to traffic zero,” Cruz said, addressing the crowd gathered in front of Beacon Hill. “We're coming up on a new legislative session and what we need now more than ever is to take our collective action and raise our support for this type of legislation.”
Ahead of the ride at the Cambridge Common, Freya Peers stood apart from the rest of the cyclist group. Peers, an international graduate student from Amsterdam researching cycling inequities, was surprised at the large turnout for the memorial ride because “back home, everybody just cycles.”
“A lot of my mobility is due to biking around in the Netherlands, and I've been terrified to cycle here. This is one of the first times I'm really cycling in the city,” she said. “I thought this would be a safe environment, but the infrastructure is terrible here.”
After living in Dedham for several months, Peers expects to go back to the Netherlands with a newfound respect for biking protections. Living abroad in Massachusetts has made her “enjoy the act of cycling” again.
View the methods of this story here.
Download the data set on Boston and Cambridge Accidents here.
Data Visualization: Number of Early or Mail-in Votes versus Number of Registered Voters by State
As the 2024 Presidential Election ends today, November 5, I compared the number of early voters in this election to the number of registered voters in each state. This is a comparison story, but instead of me comparing two sections of one data set, I am comparing two different data sets. The data is from up to today at 8:00am eastern time with data from 46 states.
Mississippi and Alabama do not allow early voting. There was no data on early voting numbers for those two states and Kentucky, Missouri, and District of Columbia. New Hampshire also does not allow early voting, but eligible people can request an absentee ballot, so this is included in the data. The data on early voting came from Statista and registered voters came from World Population Review.
Table 1: Percentage of Early Votes to Registered Voters in 2024 Election by State
Made by Alex Lott in Excel
Because New Hampshire only allows absentee voting in certain situations, it has the lowest percentage of early votes with 8.9%. The second lowest percentage of early voters to registered voters is New Jersey with 14.55%. Joe Biden won the state in 2020 with 57.3% of the vote, which is intriguing since Democrats are the majority of people voting early. Other states with low early voting include Alaska with 26.36%, Oklahoma with 20.84%, and Utah with 24.22%. All three of these states voted for Trump in 2020 and are likely to go to him in this election cycle.
The highest percentages of people voting early were mostly in swing states - Georgia with 76.79%, Nevada with 74.65%, and North Carolina with 86.29%, the highest percentage across all the states. Other states with large percentages of early voting include Florida with 78.03%, the second highest percentage, Texas with 66.97%, and Colorado with 66.72%. Both Texas and Florida have large populations, the former with the second and the latter with the third largest populations by state, which makes it interesting that they have some of the highest early voting numbers. Both also went to Trump in the 2020 election, Florida with 51.2% and Texas with 52.1%. Colorado is ranked 21st in population, which is also intriguing, but not as much as Florida and Texas. Biden won Colorado with 55.4% of the vote. The only other state to reach the 60 percent threshold was Montana with 61.64%, but they are 43rd in population, so there are less people to compare.
One problem with the data is that the data about the amount of registered voters was rounded to the nearest thousand while the early voting data had the exact number. This means that the percentages are slightly off, but not by a lot.
My Experience at Premier League Games as a American
Over my spring break, a few family members and I went to England to watch two Premier League games in person. I've been a fan of the league for a long time since I was fourteen, and it was a dream come true to have the opportunity to watch Premier League games in England! Last summer, I watched Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion play at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia as part of the Premier League Summer Series. But, the people there were predominantly American and displayed American sports fandom tendencies. I was excited that I could go, but I didn't feel the uniqueness of watching with diehard English fans, some of the most loyal fans in the world.
View from my seat at Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth, England - March 9, 2024
I first saw AFC Bournemouth against Sheffield United at Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth, England. Bournemouth is my favorite English football team, as it has been for years. Seeing my team play in their home stadium was a dream come true for me. One notable part about Vitality Stadium is it is small - only holding 11,379 people. That may seem like a lot of seats, but compared to other stadiums, that is tiny. It made for an even better experience because no matter where you were seated in the stadium, you were very close to the action. I had what some might consider a bad seat as I was in the corner, but I could see the entire field well. I was almost at the same eye level as the field, which was crazy.
I met some great people in the seats around me - mainly locals who've supported Bournemouth much longer than I have. One fan I want to highlight is a man who sat below me and brought his grandchildren and other family members to the game. He had lived in Bournemouth most of his life and was a huge fan, wearing a simple black Bournemouth hat with the logo on the front. He was so happy that my family and I had come from the United States to watch a Bournemouth game that he gave my father his hat and told him to "Take this back to America with you." Seeing Americans come to support his favorite team meant so much to him.
There was also a lot of passion and chants that rang throughout the stadium during the game. A popular one I learned was "Boscombe! Back of the net!" often during corner kicks. I learned after some googling that Boscombe was the club's first name, changed to Bournemouth and Boscombe in 1923, and again to AFC Bournemouth in 1971, so the chant makes a lot of sense. Whenever there was a miss or a foul, the whole stadium reacted as one voice in agreement. "Fuck VAR!" rang through the stadium as a Dominic Solanke goal was disallowed for a handball, adding to the dedication and enthusiasm of the fans - also everyone hating VAR (video assistant referee).
Me with Bournemouth Winger Antoine Semenyo after the game - March 9, 2024
The game ended in a 2-2 tie as Bournemouth overcame a 2-0 deficit to tie it in the 91st minute with goals from Dango Ouattara and Enes Ünal. The crowd went wild when Ünal equalized with everyone standing up, screaming at the top of their lungs, and waving their hands violently. The tie meant a point for Bournemouth - crucial as they look to stay up in the Premier League (most European football leagues have relegation where teams switch between greater and lesser leagues depending on their performance). There is a known threshold in the Premier League where a team has not gotten relegated with 40 points. For those unaware, the Premier League operates on a point system, with a victory earning the winner 3 points, a tie giving 1 point to each team, and a loss being no points for the loser. As I write this, Bournemouth has 35 points after a victory over Luton Town on March 13th.
View from the dugout at Stamford Bridge in London, England - March 11, 2024
The second game I attended was a Monday night football match between Chelsea and Newcastle. Chelsea is my cousin's favorite team, so he was very excited to be able to see a Chelsea match at their home stadium, Stamford Bridge. Chelsea is having a rough patch right now since switching ownership, standing in the bottom half of the table since the switch in June of 2022. Nevertheless, fans came out as Stamford Bridge's 40,341 seats filled quickly. Again, this is on a Monday night. Fans are so dedicated that they will come to the game after a long workday. I sat a lot higher this time but still could see the field pretty well, although the players were visibly smaller than at Bournemouth.
Chelsea has had a storied history, and I got a small glimpse of that at the Chelsea Museum right next to the stadium. They had a variety of memorabilia - jerseys, cleats, balls, programs, and lots of trophies. My favorite item there was headgear worn by goalkeeper Petr Čech, who is one of my favorite goalkeepers of all time. Čech sustained a skull fracture in a match against Reading in 2006 and wore headgear through the rest of his football career, including nine more years at Chelsea.
View from my seat at Stamford Bridge in London, England - March 11, 2024
Chelsea had a lot more flash and pizzazz than Bournemouth, as actual fire from a fire machine was on both sides of the Premier League arch when the teams came out. The crowd was also louder, as one would expect with more individuals. Fans yelled more varied chants during the game, such as "Come on Chelsea!" and the song "Blue Is the Colour" after the game ended. Funnily enough, I sat next to a couple from the Midwest. Plus, people from our stadium tour before the game came as far as the Czech Republic and Australia. It shows Chelsea's vast reach as they have fans from all over the world.
To my cousin's delight, Chelsea won the game 3-2, with his favorite player Cole Palmer (my cousin wore his jersey to the game) having a goal and an assist. Nicholas Jackson and Mykhalio Mudryk scored the other two goals for Chelsea. One moment that stuck out for me as a fan of Premier League football for nine years was Chelsea player Raheem Sterling's shocking miss of an almost open net (he passed the goalkeeper and only two defenders blocked the goal), proving that his skill has gone down quite a bit over the years. Also, plenty of Newcastle fans were in attendance, having as good of a time as they could after losing and being down 3-1 earlier. I suggest watching the highlights of this game on YouTube, as some of the goals and saves are impressive.
I highly recommend attending a Premier League game in England if possible. The experience isn't the same as in American sports. There's much more enthusiasm, a competitive atmosphere (I saw many middle fingers towards opposing fans), and passionate fans who were also very nice to us outsiders. My time was amazing, and I'll remember it forever.