City sees fewest traffic fatalities on record for 2017

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday, January 8 announced that New York City saw the fewest traffic fatalities on record in 2017, driven by a 32 percent drop in pedestrian fatalities.

This low, the mayor said, marks the fourth consecutive year of declining traffic deaths under Vision Zero – de Blasio’s traffic accident-curbing initiative which, since launching in 2013, has seen a drastic reduction in traffic-related accidents and fatalities. In that time, pedestrian deaths alone have plummeted 45 percent.

“Vision Zero is working. The lower speed limit, increased enforcement and safer street designs are all building on each other to keep New Yorkers safe,” said de Blasio. “Now we must deepen this work. Not even a single tragedy on our streets is acceptable, and we’ll keep fighting every day to protect our people.”

In 2017, 214 people, 101 of them pedestrians, were killed in traffic crashes in comparison to 231 total fatalities (including 148 pedestrians) in 2016 – numbers, the mayor further claims, that are bucking the nationwide trend.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, traffic fatalities nationwide have increased more than 13 percent from 2013 to 2016.

“That fatalities have fallen for a fourth straight year in New York – at a time when traffic deaths are on the rise across the nation – is a testament to the city’s commitment to Vision Zero,” said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives. “The unprecedented drop in pedestrian deaths in particular is proof that the Department of Transportation’s data-driven approach is working.”

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.