After a slowdown in April, New York City car accident injuries and deaths jumped higher in May

11 pedestrians, 3 cyclists, 4 passengers and 8 motor vehicle operators died in crashes in New York City last May compared to respectively 6,2,0 and 2 in April and 15, 1, 3 and 11 in May 2021. This is the first time that the number of monthly fatalities is above 25 since October 21.

After a drop during the Covid19 crisis in 2020, monthly traffic accident fatalities have been above 25, 8 times during the last 2 years, Before the Covid19 crisis, since Vision Zero started in 2014, fatalities only went above 25 5 times over a period of 6 years. These numbers are very preoccupying.  At the very beginning of May, The Adams administration launched a $4 million campaign urging  motorists to slow down but so far this campaign doesn’t seem to have much effects on car accident fatalities.

Car accident deaths have been exploding over the last two years in New York City. Last May, as mentioned above, 26 people died in traffic accidents compared to 10 a month earlier and 30 in May 2021. Since May 2015 when they reached 28, monthly car accidents deaths had remained below 20 during the months of April and May. While the trendline since Vison Zero started remains on the decline, the last 2 years have been more deadly than before.

While traffic accident fatalities in New York were much higher than previous years, car accident injuries reached a record low in May. 4,602 people suffered injury in a NYC auto accidents last May compared to 4,052 in April and 4,927 in May 2021.

Drivers and passengers are the category of road users who suffer the most injuries in crashes. Last May in New York, 1,782 motor vehicle operators, 1,289 passengers, 294 cyclists and 740 pedestrians were injured in crashes compared to respectively 1,421, 961, 657 and 703 the previous month and 2,331, 1,412, 561 and 614 in May 2021.

Pedestrian fatalities went down to 6 in April 2022 and almost doubled the following month to reach 11 in May. While the number of pedestrian fatalities remains high during the month of May compared to other months of May before the Covid19 crisis in 2020, it was not as high as in May 2021`when pedestrian fatalities reached 15 for the second month in a row.

651 pedestrians were injured in crashes last May compared to 645 in April and 614 in May 2021. Compared to the same period last year pedestrian injuries are on the rise. However, so far, they did not go back above 700 where they used to be before the Covid19 crisis.

Bicycle accident injuries in New York City are among the most seasonal data for obvious reasons. After reaching a record high for a month of May at 561 in May 2021, they went down to 462 last May. While this is a significant decline, bicycle accident injuries remain quite high compared to the 3 previous years during which 222, 230 and 330 cyclists were injured in respectively May 2018, 2019 and 2020. Globally bicycle accident injuries are on a rising trend in the city.

After 4 months of no bicycle accident fatalities 3 cyclists died in crashes during the month of May. Cyclists deaths are also on a rising trend in New York City, however the rising trend is mostly related to an unusually high number of cyclists fatalities in 2020 during the Covid19 crisis.  During that year, many New Yorkers who were not used to bike in New York City started to commute by bike for fear of catching Covid19 while riding the subway.  So far since the beginning of  of 2022, 3 people died in bicycle accidents, compared to respectively 4, 4, 10, 5, 5, 8, 5 and 3 for the same period of 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.  This is the lowest number of bicycle accident fatalities over the first 5 months of the year since Vision Zero started.

The only category of crashes by road users that is even more seasonal than bicycle accidents are motorcycle accidents. As the weather is getting warmer and warmer, the number of crashes is getting higher and higher. 287 motorcycle accidents were reported to the NYPD last may compared to 224 in April and 309 in May 2021. This is the third highest number of  motorcycle accidents for a month of May since 2013. The record was  in May 2021 and the second highest was in May 2019.

Truck accidents slightly declined during the months of April and May 2022 compared to the same months of 2021. 651 truck accidents were recorded in New York City last May compared to 585 a month before and 660 during the month of May 2021.

The bus accident trend since 2020 clearly reflects the activity picking up in the city since the Covid19 crisis and are gradually rising. They reached a record high in March at 363 and were again very close to this number last May with 361 bus accidents. A month earlier in April, 316 bus accidents were reported to the NYPD. A year earlier they were respectively 269 and 292 bus accidents in New York City in April and May.