Earlier this month, New York City reported the third lowest traffic deaths year-to-date since the city started collecting such data back in 1910. The progress builds off last year, which marked the fewest fatalities ever with the sharpest declines in the outer boroughs — mainly, the Bronx.
“New York City leads the nation in reducing traffic deaths, with progress driven by targeted, data-informed street redesigns and targeted enforcement against speeding, red-light running, and other dangerous driving behaviors,” said NYC Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Mike Flynn in a statement, “but our work is far from done — because one death is one too many. Under Mayor [Zohran] Mamdani, we’re building on the success of Vision Zero by thinking boldly and acting with urgency to redesign our streets and use every available tool to keep New Yorkers safe.”
What’s working? Transportation Alternatives Communications Director Alexa Sledge said multiple factors helped stem traffic deaths by 34% over the years since the city committed to Vision Zero, a Swedish-born policy dedicated to eliminating all pedestrian deaths, in 2014.
“It’s not really one magic silver bullet, but it’s a lot of tiny changes over time — things like putting in congestion pricing, widening sidewalks, adding in protective bike lanes,” said Sledge. “Because we know that things like protected bike lanes make streets substantially safer for pedestrians, especially senior pedestrians…of course, there are streets and corridors and intersections that haven’t had these changes, and those places are still really deadly.”
She credited the Mamdani administration’s efforts to address Brooklyn’s Linden Boulevard, where a car fatally struck a 4-year-old boy in East New York last month. Last week, Mamdani announced plans to create bus lanes and pedestrian crossings along the corridor. The redesign is slated to be completed next year, according to the NYC DOT.
In February, personal injury attorney Jeffrey Antin wrote a Vision Zero analysis about pedestrian deaths being over-represented among older New Yorkers and people living in lower-income neighborhoods. He also pointed to the lack of crossing time from pedestrian signals on wider roads.
“Before, basically, you had to dodge traffic to get across the street, once the light turned,” Antin said over the phone. “Whatever the case may be, the pedestrians are [now] given a chance to cross the street before the light for the cars turn green.”
Vision Zero proponents want lawmakers in Albany to pass the “Stop Super Speeders” legislation to continue reducing traffic-related deaths. The bill would install a speed limiter device in the vehicles of drivers who collect more than 16 speed camera violations in a year or more than 11 driving license points over a year and a half. Such technology would provide a physical restriction similar to a car breathalyzer for perpetual DUI violators, rather than simply assume that a suspended license is enough to deter someone from getting behind the wheel.
Sledge also believes the city should show more love toward Vision Zero improvements along Harlem’s 125th Street, which serves as uptown’s key crosstown corridor. She believes more reliable public transit plays a key role in safer streets in a neighborhood where only roughly a quarter of residents own a car. Last month, a bicyclist was fatally struck on Harlem’s “Main Street.”
“125th Street is a no-brainer,” said Sledge. “People are using it every day; it’s a critical crosstown corridor. It connects between multiple boroughs. It needs serious attention and care in the way every other crosstown street is mostly getting.”