During the first half of 2024, traffic crashes killed 127 people, according to a new analysis from Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets.
As of Tuesday, 2024 is on pace to be the deadliest year for traffic violence in the past ten years, according to a news release.
On May 18, 2024, a driver struck and killed a 5-year-old boy in Queens as he left Poppenhusen Playground. This 5-year-old boy is the 2,500th New Yorker to be killed in traffic since Vision Zero began a decade ago.
“Our leaders are failing New Yorkers. By failing to meet the mandates of the NYC Streets Plan, Mayor Adams maintains a deadly status quo on our streets. By canceling congestion pricing, Governor Hochul has left New Yorkers behind on congested, dangerous streets,” said Elizabeth Adams, interim co-executive director of Transportation Alternatives. “New York City just had the deadliest first six months of the year since Vision Zero began over a decade ago. Right now, we should be celebrating progress — from the start of congestion pricing to breaking ground on safe streets projects in every neighborhood. Instead, Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul are putting people’s lives at risk by turning a blind eye to proven solutions to preventable traffic violence.”
New Yorkers are being killed on streets without critical safety infrastructure. When pedestrians were killed at an intersection, 92% of those intersections had no daylighting measures at all, and 100% of those intersections lacked physical daylighting to stop drivers from parking all the way to the crosswalk. Cyclists continue to be killed where infrastructure fails them: 83% of bike riders were killed on streets without protected bicycle infrastructure and 66% were killed on streets without any bicycle infrastructure at all.
Fatalities are up in the congestion relief zone. During the first half of 2024, traffic violence killed eight people in the congestion relief zone – nearly one every three weeks. Midtown Manhattan has the highest rate of traffic violence in all of New York City – and since congestion pricing was signed into law in 2019, traffic violence has killed 74 New Yorkers in the congestion relief zone, according to the report.
Advocates are urging Governor Kathy Hochul to turn on congestion pricing and the Adams administration to comply with the Streets Plan. Reducing the number of cars in New York City is critical to reducing the number of traffic crashes – but the governor has paused some of the most effective street safety legislation in a generation. After London enacted congestion pricing, vehicular crashes in the zone dropped by 35% and fatal crashes dropped by 27%. Areas outside the zone also saw additional reductions in crashes, the press release said.
