In 2023, New York City recorded its safest year for pedestrians since record-keeping began in 1910. In a city of 8.5 million people, 101 deaths were due to vehicles striking pedestrians, less than one-third the number of the early 1990s.
New York City ramped up its efforts to make walking and biking safer in 2014 when the city reduced its speed limit to 25 miles per hour. It also launched a speed camera enforcement program and started campaigns to educate drivers and pedestrians.
In recent years, the city has redesigned dangerous intersections—1,500 such projects last year alone—using various strategies. These include:
- Implemented leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs) that lengthen red light intervals for a few seconds so pedestrians can get a head start
- Constructed raised crosswalks that slow cars and improve visibility
- Created more daylighting that removes parked cars near crosswalks to improve visibility
- Installed turn bumps, strips of high-visibility black-and-yellow plastic that prompt drivers to wait to turn instead of jutting out in front of pedestrians crossing the street
Smaller-scale safety fixes such as these don’t require outreach to local community boards or comprehensive studies. Other measures such as adding bike lanes or bus-only lanes that remove parking spaces are more contentious.
The city has more to do to make streets safer, though. Total traffic fatalities remain high, with drivers dying in crashes at greater rates than in past years. Experts attribute higher traffic fatalities to a spike in dangerous speeding and bigger vehicles.
In addition, fatal crashes involving cyclists are at a 23-year high. The rising number of electric bikes has been cited as a factor in cycle accidents mostly in vehicle collisions on roadways that lack bike lanes. The city has extended bike infrastructure in recent years, but just 3% of its streets currently have protected bike lanes.
Related Stories
Urban Planning | May 28, 2019
Henning Larsen wins competition to build Chinese leisure city
5.5 million sf waterfront district to be built in Shenzhen, China.
Urban Planning | Mar 1, 2019
What happens when downtown doesn’t stay downtown? The ripple effects of a strong center city
A new report from the International Downtown Association measures the true value and lasting impact of downtowns and center cities.
Urban Planning | Feb 6, 2019
Svigals + Partners to design a memorial garden for victims of gun violence
The park will be located in New Haven, Conn.
Sustainability | Jan 30, 2019
Denmark to build nine industrial, energy-producing islands surrounded by a ‘nature belt’
The project will be located 10 km (6.2 miles) south of Copenhagen.
Urban Planning | Jan 25, 2019
Times are changing, and sustainable cities are taking notice
Two recent studies by Pew Research Center and WalletHub shined a light on where we are in the market transformation curve for environmentalism and sustainability.
Urban Planning | Oct 11, 2018
Shenzhen’s new ‘urban living room’
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners is designing the project.
Urban Planning | Sep 11, 2018
The advantages of alleys
Believe it or not, alleys started off as public spaces.
Urban Planning | Jul 24, 2018
Deregulation for denser development in Los Angeles moves forward
The aim is to reduce housing costs, traffic congestion.
Urban Planning | Jul 10, 2018
Autonomous vehicles and the city: The urgent need for human- and health-centric policies
Rather than allow for an “evolutionary” adaptation to AVs, we must set policies that frame and incentivize a quicker “revolutionary” transition that is driven by cities, not by auto and tech companies.