Families for Safe Streets Releases New Report Analyzing the Deaths of the 100 Children Killed by Traffic Violence Since the Launch of Vision Zero, Memorial Website

Last week, traffic violence killed the 100th and 101st children in the Vision Zero era.

Nearly 60% of the children killed were pedestrians.

61% of children were killed by large vehicles, such as an SUV, van, or truck. 

One-third of the children killed while walking or biking were killed on their way to or from school.

NEW YORK — Today, after New York City lost its 100th child to traffic violence in the Vision Zero era last week, Families for Safe Streets released a report and set of policy recommendations, Why New York Must Design Streets for Children, as well as a companion website memorializing every child killed. 

The report analyzes the first 100 child fatalities — age 17 and under — and finds that New York City must both redesign its streets with children in mind as well as reign in the deadly impacts of oversized and heavy vehicles to keep children safe. 

New and more aggressive street redesign efforts are needed to protect the millions of children who call New York City home. The Adams Administration must establish more School Streets and Safe Routes to School – critical improvements that return street space to the youngest pedestrians and protect children traveling to school. DOT must protect children by implementing universal daylighting, building midblock playgrounds, and finally fulfilling the legal requirement to create pedestrian countdown signals adjacent to all schools and parks. Albany has a role to play in protecting children from traffic violence as well; nearly 60 of the 100 children killed were pedestrians, and passing the Pedestrian Scramble Bill would require DOT to retime traffic signals around schools as “all walk sign” pedestrian intersections during arrival and dismissal. 

As cars get bigger and deadlier, street redesign alone isn’t enough. New York must mitigate the risk posed by larger vehicles. The report calls on Albany to pass legislation to re-adjust vehicle registration fees based on weight, require repeated speeders to install speed limiter devices, and legalize cargo bikes to reduce the number of enormous trucks on our streets. New York City also must mandate that newly purchased city vehicles be high-visibility models, and finally meet legal requirements for DOT to pilot an automated enforcement program for drivers who illegally pass school buses. 

“It’s clear: inaction is killing our youngest, smallest, and most vulnerable New Yorkers,” said Thomas DeVito, Director of Families for Safe Streets. “We need New York’s leaders to step up now and heed these recommendations to prevent future crashes. Families for Safe Streets is an organization no one wants to join – and an organization no one should have to join – but if our elected leaders continue to refuse to redesign streets and rein in unsafe vehicles, more New Yorkers will lose loved ones to preventable traffic violence. We need to take action today before another child is killed.” 

"My son, Cooper Stock, wasn’t just the first child killed under Vision Zero – he was the life of the party even when there wasn’t one, a friend to all, a trusted ally to many, and an empathetic classmate dedicated to fairness,” said Dana Lerner, the mother of the first child killed in the Vision Zero era and a member of Families for Safe Streets. “The pain of losing a child is unimaginable and eternal – a special type of agony. Our elected leaders must turn these proposals and recommendations into programs and policies so that other parents and families never have to suffer like mine has.”

Families for Safe Streets also released a companion website memorializing each of the children lost to traffic violence. FSS members have lost loved ones, including children, and present these recommendations so that no additional New Yorker should have to experience the unimaginable pain of a preventable crash.

Read the full report, Why New York Must Design Streets for Children, the companion memorial website, and a recent op-ed from the mother of the first child killed under Vision Zero online.