As the ball prepares to drop, it looks like 2018 will be the safest year ever on the roads of New York City. As of Dec. 31, 199 people died in vehicle crashes this year, according to unofficial statistics.
That's the lowest figures since the city began keeping tally in 1910, as the Automobile Age began [PDF]. The total number of traffic deaths is down nearly 12 percent from the 222 deaths in 2017. The 199 deaths include 114 people walking and 11 people biking. The cycling deaths are the lowest since 1996 at least, even as ridership has increased dramatically.
Pedestrian fatalities, meanwhile, increased slightly, from 106 last year to 114 through Dec. 31 this year. All of the cyclists and all of the pedestrians were killed by car, truck or bus drivers.
But in the almost five years since Mayor de Blasio unveiled his multi-agency “Vision Zero” effort, the overall trend is clear: The combination of broad policy reforms like speed cameras and the citywide 25 mph speed limit and targeted interventions like street redesigns and fleet modernization have brought cyclist and pedestrian fatalities to all-time lows.
The de Blasio administration should take credit for hundreds of saved lives. So should the members of Families for Safe Streets, who have spent the last four years campaigning to end the carnage.
Still, reckless drivers continue to wreak havoc on city streets. Far too often, drivers who injure and kill are absolved of responsibility by police and district attorneys.
To honor the dead, even if local prosecutors do not, we present our annual tribute to the people lost this year to violent drivers. Please share your remembrances in the comments section.
Kevin Flores, Jun Sum Yim, Mercedes Dearmas, and Phil O’Reilly
David was Streetsblog's do-it-all New York City beat reporter from 2015 to 2019. He returned as deputy editor in 2023 after a three-year stint at the New York Post.
The Department of Transportation wants the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program to simply expire in part because it did not dramatically improve safety among these worst-of-the-worst drivers and led to a tiny number of vehicle seizures.
The capitulation on Fordham Road is the latest episode in which the mayor has delayed or watered down a transportation project in deference to powerful interests.
That headline above is a reference to the last line of James Joyce's Ulysses, which we won't pretend to have read. But we have that ... and other news.