10 pedestrians died and 1220 suffered personal injury in traffic accidents last December bringing the total number of pedestrian deaths to 135 in 2014 compared to 168 in 2013 and 130 in 2014 according to car crashes data recently released by the NYPD. The total number of pedestrians injured in vehicle accidents for 2014 was 11,000 compared to 11,978 the previous year, a decline of 8%. While pedestrian deaths are back around the level of 2012, deaths as a result of a bicycle accident increased by 73% with 19 fatal bicycle accidents in 2014 compared to 11 in 2013. The number of people injured in a bicycle accident decreased by 2% with 3960 cyclists injured in 2014 compared to 4043 in 2014.
Globally New York City roads were less dangerous in 2014 than in 2013 with a total of 250 people dying in crashes in 2014 compared to 286 in 2013 – a decline of 12% – and 50,896 road users suffering personal injury in 2014 compared to 54,818 in 2013 – a decline of 7%.
Even though pedestrian deaths and injuries decreased in 2014, the number of pedestrians suffering personal injury in a vehicle accident was above 1200 in December, the highest monthly number for the last two years. Monthly pedestrian deaths never went over 15 in 2014, an improvement compared to 2013, a year during which the monthly number of deaths jumped to 25 in November and 20 in January.
Fatal bicycle accidents almost doubled last year in New York City with most of them happening during the warm months of the year. Last August, 4 people died in a bicycle accident, the highest monthly number of fatal bicycle accidents recorded over the last two years.
Bus accidents and truck accidents were both on the rise in 2014 compared to 2013. There were a total of 7252 bus accidents in 2014 compared to 6729 in 2013, an increase of 8%.The number of large truck accidents increased by more than 9% with 7887 accidents in 2014 compared to 7215 in 2013. The months of May and October were the worst with the total number of bus and large truck accidents going above 1400 a month.
