Pedestrian Accidents

More than five years have passed since New York City’s Vision Zero initiative was launched with the goal of ending pedestrian and cyclist deaths by 2024. Looking ahead to the second half of the campaign, some activists and interest groups are questioning if and how further progress will be made. A “die-in” protest this summer […]

After years of holding out, New York might be ready to legalize the use of electronic scooters and motor-assisted bikes on streets and sidewalks. State legislators have approved a bill that would give New York City and other municipalities authority to determine if and how these vehicles can operate within their borders. Companies such as […]

Approximately four years into New York City’s Vision Zero initiative to minimize collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists, Mayor de Blasio announced changes that will revise the program and target areas where accidents are more likely to occur. Based on crash data, new “priority corridors” have been added in all five boroughs. Using detailed accident data […]

Governor Andrew Cuomo is a strong proponent of a bill that would more than double the number of school zones equipped with speeding enforcement cameras. These devices, located within a quarter-mile of school buildings, photograph cars traveling more than 10 mph over the speed limit. Using license plate information, a $50 ticket is mailed to […]

Aggressive initiatives have helped New York City reduce traffic deaths to their lowest level in more than a century. In 2013, the de Blasio administration established the Vision Zero Initiative, which lowered speed limits and instituted other safety measures designed to reduce vehicle fatalities throughout the five boroughs. In the year before the Vision Zero […]

Earlier this year, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio released the city’s third annual Vision Zero report, crediting the program with a three-year reduction in traffic fatalities, which reached an all-time low of 230 in 2016 despite double-digit trends upward for accidents nationwide. According to the city’s official website, DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and […]

The Department of Transportation’s recently issued report on traffic fatalities in New York City for 2016 showed marked improvement with a decline in overall deaths, but it also raised concerns because of the increase in pedestrians and bicyclists killed. As the New York Daily News recently reported, “The year ended with 229 people killed on […]

The Mayor’s Management Report of September 2016 touches upon objectives for the New York City Department of Transportation in the coming fiscal year. Among DOT’s objectives enumerated in the report is to “provide a safe transportation network,” supported by a set of goals, which includes “improv[ing] safety for pedestrians, motorists and bus and bike riders.” […]

Despite Mayor de Blasio’s ambitious Vision Zero program to eliminate pedestrian fatalities in the five boroughs, New York City saw more than 38,000 hit-and-run accidents in 2015, 48 of which resulted in catastrophic injury or death. The New York Daily News reported that the bulk of the hit-and-runs, some 34,000, caused property damage, most of it minor. […]

There were 125 pedestrian fatalities in 2014, and 120 so far in 2015. Today’s victim was a devoted mother and grandmother carrying groceries to her adult daughter who is raising her children with no help from their father. This was an avoidable, fatal accident that killed a woman and devastated the lives of numerous dependents […]