My Favorite Graphs: Driving Safety, In Fits and Starts

In this My Favorite Graphs episode, I revisit Hannah Fairfield's 2012 New York Times graphic, Driving Safety, in Fits and Starts. I explain how its connected scatter plot pairs vehicle miles driven per capita with auto fatalities per 100,000 people, connecting each year to reveal changes over time. I walk through the chart's shifts and loops, including the energy crises of the 1970s. I discuss why connected scatter plots can be difficult to read and what makes this example work so well. Most of all, I highlight how Fairfield combines the story, annotations, and miniature highlighted charts to explain both the data and how to read the graphic.

Please note, I mistakenly said the live podcast at Cluster is on Thursday, but it's actually on Wednesday, November 11! I hope you can join me!

Chart: Driving Safety, in Fits and Starts [https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/09/17/science/driving-safety-in-fits-and-starts.html]

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