Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Christine Quinn

NYC Open Data Law Will Sort Out NYPD’s Jumbled Traffic Crash Data

...and as it appears in NYPD's data dump.

When the City Council passed Jessica Lappin's Saving Lives Through Better Information bill last year, traffic safety and open government advocates cheered. Under the law, the NYPD is required to provide monthly data on both traffic crashes and traffic summonsing, shedding light on the hazards of city streets and what steps police take to protect New Yorkers from dangerous drivers.

The information the NYPD finally provided under that law turned out to be informative -- showing, for example, that the police hand out more than twice as many tickets for seat belt violations than for speeding -- but formatted in a clunky way almost guaranteed to stymie people looking to analyze the data systematically. The data is released as PDF files: not mappable, not sortable, and not even easy to search.

New Yorkers may finally be getting access to the high-quality traffic data they are entitled to, however, thanks to a wide-ranging open data law passed by the City Council. In general, any data that could be obtained under a Freedom of Information Law request would be proactively released under the new policy, according to the Gotham Gazette.

In announcing the passage of the open data law, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn specifically highlighted the need for better traffic data. "While we can currently get this data, it is not in an open format," Quinn said in a press release. "It cannot be sorted by community board, by frequency of accidents or by contributing factor. Being able to analyze this information will help us to better target safety efforts, utilize resources and save lives.”

At the press conference announcing the bill's passage, Quinn specifically cited her inability to see where crashes had taken place on Ninth Avenue in her district using the NYPD's current data.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

And the Winner Is…: Streetsblog’s New Video Team Honored with Deadline Club Award

Streetsblog's social media team, led by Engagement Editor Emily Lipstein, received the Deadline Club's award for digital video reporting on Thursday night.

Friday Video: The ‘Clear’ Benefits of Daylighting

The doyen of daylighting is back with a new video.

May 16, 2025

How One Anti-Gov’t Republican Signed onto a Street Safety Bill to Rein in Reckless Drivers

State Sen. Anthony Palumbo went from "government overreach" to reaching across the aisle in a single day.

May 16, 2025

‘All in the Family’: NYPD Commissioner and Power-Broker Mom Are Both Crusading Against E-Bikes

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has justified her criminal crackdown on cycling by saying that complaints about cyclists are the most frequent concerns she hears. Such complaints could be coming from inside the house.

May 16, 2025

Puddles Plague Hudson River Greenway As Rain Batters NYC

Greenway cyclists face dangerous conditions when it rains — as Streetsblog observed this week in Manhattan.

May 16, 2025
See all posts