The Washington Area Bicyclist Association is developing a new tool to track when students who are biking or walking in D.C. are nearly hit by cars.

As originally reported by The Washington Post, the tool — created in partnership with Howard University safety experts — would help with gathering data on intersections where pedestrians and bikers are most vulnerable to crashes. The long-term goal of the tool is to prevent fatal crashes. Fatal traffic accidents have spiked in recent years and victims have included children.

The bicyclist association already has a “crash reporting form” where people can report crashes they were involved in, witnessed, or a “near miss,” but the association told the Post that it wants to create a reporting system that young people are likelier to use.

It’s not yet clear what precisely constitutes a “near miss.” The association is not expected to roll out the tool for many months.  Researchers will first examine different intersections in Wards 7 and 8 to see whether they are vulnerable to near misses. The two wards have been disproportionately affected by D.C.’s traffic fatalities in recent years, according to an analysis of data spanning eight years by the Post.

A workshop is planned for April where parents, students, and teachers can share ideas about how to make reporting accessible. Roll out could happen after the workshop gradually, starting with schools in Wards 7 and 8. The tool, when it rolls out, would send notifications to city council members who represent where the accident nearly occurred, as well as the District Department of Transportation (DDOT).

Currently, DDOT uses reported crash data from the Metropolitan Police Department and safety research to determine which areas are at highest risk of crashes and need more resources, says Everett Lott, the department’s director.

“It’s important to remember that self-reported or crowdsourced inputs can be biased by who is reporting, where they travel, how widely the reporting tool is known/used, as well as what constitutes a “close call,'” Lott added in a written statement.

Lott says DDOT has been working “even more aggressively” in the past few years to improve safety in areas where pedestrians and bikers are most vulnerable to crashes.