Serious Injury Traffic Crashes are 23% Higher in the Bronx Than Citywide, According to New Research from Transportation Alternatives
Transportation Alternatives launches first-ever public dashboard to track serious injury crashes in New York City, revealing never-before-seen data.
There are 21% more serious injury crashes in the lowest-income City Council districts.
For every traffic fatality in New York City, 11 people are seriously injured.
NEW YORK — For the first time ever, new research from Transportation Alternatives documents the impact of serious injuries from traffic crashes on New Yorkers, revealing that at least 4,224 people were seriously injured in crashes since January 2022. “Serious injuries” include only the most significant and debilitating injuries, including loss of limb and organ function and lifelong disability. The data also shows alarming inequalities in where these crashes take place.
“Every year, traffic crashes seriously injure thousands of New Yorkers, leaving behind life-altering consequences from loss of limbs to the inability to work ever again. Until now, it’s been impossible to see exactly where these serious injuries occur and how they were traveling. Our new research reveals that this preventable public health crisis touches every neighborhood in New York City and requires bold action from City Hall,” said Philip Miatkowski, Senior Director of Policy & Research at Transportation Alternatives. “Serious injuries are the result of decades of failed and inequitable policy decisions that prioritize cars over people and leave behind our most vulnerable. After years of advocacy, our leaders advanced the NYC Streets Plan to bring safety and transportation options to all New Yorkers. However, the City is falling behind on its requirements and must step up to meet them so that no New Yorker needs to fear serious injury or death on our streets. And, with more than one million children now back at school, action could not be more urgent.”
“Almost six years ago, a driver failed to yield while I was crossing the street, leaving me temporarily disabled with PTSD and serious knee, leg, and wrist injuries. Tragically, thousands of New Yorkers are seriously injured in preventable traffic violence each year — just like me,” said Kate Brockwehl, member of Families for Safe Streets. “To achieve Vision Zero, New York City’s leaders must eliminate both fatalities and serious injuries from traffic violence. We can’t ignore this public health crisis. Our leaders must invest in proven solutions to stop crashes. We need to implement the legally-required NYC Streets Plan and bring safe streets designs to neighborhoods in every borough.”
TA’s research found:
Serious injury crashes are 21% higher in the City Council districts with the greatest percentage of residents living below the poverty line.
Serious injury traffic crashes are 23% higher per capita in the Bronx than the citywide average.
Serious injury crashes are 15% higher in the 10 districts with the highest percentage of residents of color, compared to the citywide average.
For motorists, Staten Island had 48% more serious injuries per capita than the citywide average.
For bike riders, Manhattan had 77% more serious injuries per capita than the citywide average.
For pedestrians, Manhattan had 25% more serious injuries per capita than the citywide average.
For moped and e-scooter riders (categorized by DOT as “other motorists”), Brooklyn had 27% more serious injuries per capita than the citywide average.
The five Council Districts with the most serious injuries are:
District 8 – Represented by Diana Ayala and includes East Harlem, Mott Haven, Highbridge, Concourse, Longwood, and Port Morris.
District 17 – Represented by Rafael Salamanca Jr. and includes Crotona Park East, Hunts Point, Longwood, Port Morris, and West Farms.
District 3 – Represented by Erik Bottcher and includes Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, Greenwich Village, Times Square, Garment District, Flatiron, and the Upper West Side.
District 14 – Represented by Pierina Ana Sanchez and includes Morris Heights, University Heights, Fordham, and Kingsbridge.
District 33 – Represented by Lincoln Restler and includes Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Dumbo, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg.
DOT is required to release serious injury data no later than 30 days after each quarter ends because of Local Law 49-2021, which was introduced by then-Council Member and current DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. The bill passed in 2021 after a decade of advocacy from TA and others.
In an effort to make this data more accessible and actionable to lawmakers and the public, TA worked to reconcile and visualize this data, including adding in locations and modes, and create the first tool to track and visualize serious traffic injuries. This work follows the release of the organization’s other data visualization tools, including Spatial Equity NYC — created in partnership with the MIT Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism to document inequities with how public space is used in New York City — and the Protected Bike Lane Tracker, documenting Mayor Adams’ progress toward the requirements of the NYC Streets Plan.
Victims of serious injuries face significant hospital bills, unpredictable time off work, medical equipment costs, and the prospect of long-term recovery care, therapy, and medical assistance. Traffic crashes are the leading cause of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Serious injuries, which Vision Zero aims to eliminate, occur at 11 times the rate of traffic fatalities, providing a more data-rich metric for identifying the most dangerous districts, streets, and intersections.
A 2010 estimate of the cost of traffic crashes in New York City totaled $4 billion annually ($5.6 billion in 2023 dollars).
New York City passed the NYC Streets Plan in 2019, which legally requires the City of New York to redesign thousands of intersections for safety, build hundreds of thousands of square feet of new pedestrian space, create hundreds of miles of protected bus and bike lanes, and more. While the NYC Streets Plan has led to lifesaving projects from the Houston Street protected bike lanes in Manhattan to the 21st Street bus lanes in Queens, the administration continues to fall behind on the plan’s requirements.
