15 pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents in New York City in July compared to 7 in June; this is the highest number of monthly pedestrian fatalities since the beginning of the year
The NYPD Motor Vehicle Collision Data report for the month of July is a blow to the various Vision Zero Initiatives that have been deployed since the beginning of the year to reduce traffic deaths. The initiatives that have been mainly focusing on pedestrian fatalities didn’t seem to have been very effective this summer with the number of pedestrian fatalities more than doubling from 7 to 15 between June and July. 11 cyclists also died since the beginning of the year, almost twice more than in 2013 when 6 cyclists lost their lives during the first 7 months of the year.
Even though the total number of vehicle crashes in NYC was lower last July (17,361) compared to the same month in 2013 (17,548) and compared to the previous month (18,321), the total number of vehicle accidents since the beginning of the year is slightly higher than last year with a total of 118,195 crashes compared to 117,022 for the first seven months of 2013.
4591 people suffered personal injuries during a vehicle collision in NYC during the month of July, a decrease compared to 4950 in June and 5077 in July 2013. Personal injuries related to vehicle crashes are also down by 7% for the first 7 months of 2014 compared to the first 7 months of 2013 with motorists injuries down by 9%, passengers injuries down by 6%, cyclist injuries down by 3.5% and pedestrian injuries down by 7%.
28 people died in traffic accidents in July 2014 compared to 20 during the previous month and 22 the same month of 2013. This increase is mainly due to a monthly increase of 7 to 15 of the number of pedestrian deaths. While looking at the first seven months of the year the total number of people dying in traffic accidents was 145 compared to 143 in 2013. This number includes 50 motorist deaths compared to 39 in 2013, 14 passengers deaths, a similar number as in 2013, 11 cyclist deaths compared to 6 in 2013 and 70 pedestrian deaths compared to 84 in 2013.
While the number of pedestrians killed in traffic accidents in July in NYC was at its highest since the beginning of the year, the number of pedestrians injured in July in NYC was at its lowest since the beginning of the year. Since the beginning of the year there were 70 pedestrian deaths related to vehicle crashes, a decrease of 17% compared to 84 pedestrian deaths for the first seven months of 2013. For the same period, pedestrian injuries decreased by 7% from 6789 in 2013 to 6311 in 2014.
531 cyclists were injured in traffic accidents in NYC in July compared to 470 in June and 470 the same month of 2013. Since the beginning of the year 2087 cyclists were injured compared to 2161 in 2013. 3 cyclists lost their lives in a crash in July bringing the total number of fatalities to 11 since the beginning of the year compared to 6 in 2013, an increase of 83% year to year.
A total of 664 bicycle accidents were reported to the NYPD in July. The available NYPD collision data goes back to August 2011 and this is the highest monthly number ever recorded since that date.
Distracted driving continues to be the number one cause of accidents in July in NYC.