NYC Traffic Deaths Break Record In 2021: Study

NEW YORK CITY — An ambitious anti-traffic death program is in "crisis" as deaths on New York City's roadways so far this year broke a record during Mayor Bill de Blasio's tenure, a new study argues.

Fatal crashes claimed the lives of 124 New Yorkers through June 30, the Transportation Alternatives study found.

And 12 more city dwellers died up through Monday, according to the study.

The grim numbers show de Blasio's administration has failed to his own Vision Zero program into practice, the study argued.

“More people are dying on Mayor de Blasio’s streets because he failed to quickly and aggressively scale the safety solutions of Vision Zero that he knows work, instead choosing to deliver piecemeal projects and unfulfilled promises,” said Danny Harris, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, in a statement.

De Blasio, when asked about the deaths during his Wednesday briefing, pinned blame on the coronavirus pandemic.

Fear of COVID-19 drove New Yorkers away from public transit and back into cars, he said.

“This needs to be reversed. Period,” he said of deaths.

Pedestrians bore the brunt of what the study called "traffic violence" — 64 died during the first six months this year, it found. Of motorists, 54 died, along with eight cyclists, according to the study.

And the study counted 47 fatal hit-and-runs, the most of any year since 2015, when the city started counting them.

"Police made just 11 arrests in these cases," the study states. "By comparison, the NYPD has a clearance rate for non-vehicular murders of 54 percent. When looking at all hit-and-runs, including those that cause property damage or injury, arrests have only been made in less than one percent of incidents."

But advocates have long been frustrated with de Blasio's follow through on ambitious traffic safety efforts such as Vision Zero.

The Transportation Alternatives study argued the mayor should fast track safety redesigns of major problem streets, expanding bike lanes and giving traffic enforcement duties to the Department of Transportation, among other steps.

The next mayor and City Council should commit to a proposal advanced by community groups and Transportation Alternatives called "NYC25x25," which calls to convert 25 percent of space for cars in the city to people-oriented places by 2025, the study argued.