New York Personal Injury Attorneys BlogRecord number of children killed in NYC car accidents in 2022
16 children were killed in crashes in New York City last year according to a report recently published by Transportation Alternatives. This is the highest number of child road fatalities in the city since Vison Zero started in 2014.
Globally a total of 255 people were killed in traffic accidents in the city in 2022 compared to 275 in 2021. After last year this is the second highest number of road deaths in the city since Vision Zero started.
While Vision Zero studies clearly identified areas were safety improvements were needed, the city has left many of them unaddressed and as a result people continue to die. The numbers speak for themselves with 33% of all fatalities and 44% of pedestrian fatalities occurring in what Vision Zero calls “priority corridors”. These dangerous areas which have now been a priority for the last 10 years represent only 7% of all city streets. Fixing them proprely could lead to a significant reduction of traffic fatalities in the city.
Record number of road deaths in the Bronx
Fatalities in the Bronx were at their highest since 20 years with 56 deaths in 2021 and again the same in 2022. Cyclist deaths have been particularly high with more cyclists killed in total in 2020, 2021 and 2022 than during the 11 previous years. Sadly bike activities have been encouraged all over the city but compared to Manhattan, cyclists in the Bronx do not have the same level of safety.
The highest rate of crash fatalities was recorded in the Bronx/East Harlem Council District 8. The second highest rate of fatalities was recorded in district 13 in the Bronx (Allerton, City Island, Morris Park, Pelham Bay, Throggs Neck, Westchester Square) which also has one of the lowest percent of street miles with a protected bike lane in the city . The third was district 35 in Brooklyn which includes Fort Green, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant.
The report also points the finger at the high number of hit-and-run accidents which most of the time remain unsolved especially in precincts where a majority of people of color live.
