Pedestrian safety

City and State Pedestrian Safety Numbers Don’t Add Up

When Streetsblog set-out to compare pedestrian safety in New York City and London we had an easy time finding detailed statistics from London's transportation agency. Back home was a bit more challenging. For some reason the number of pedestrian crashes reported by the State Department of Motor Vehicles, the City Department of Transportation the and NYPD are completely different. This is a bit mysterious since everyone's tally is based on the same police crash reports.

By John Kaehny

10:49 AM EDT on April 17, 2007

New York City Pedestrian Injuries, 2000 – 2005

When Streetsblog set-out to compare pedestrian safety in New York City and London we had an easy time finding detailed statistics from London’s transportation agency. Back home was a bit more challenging. For some reason the number of pedestrian crashes reported by the State Department of Motor Vehicles, the City Department of Transportation the and NYPD are completely different. This is a bit mysterious since everyone’s tally is based on the same police crash reports.

This matters because without reliable crash data there is no way to tell if things are getting better or worse, or if different enforcement or engineering strategies are working or failing. It’s also an argument for the DOT and police to post their monthly crash statistics on their websites and include them as indicators in the Mayor’s Management Report. If they can do it for crime, they can do it for motor vehicle crashes.