One Third of NYC Traffic Deaths are Pedestrians

31% of total traffic deaths in the NYC metropolitan area are pedestrians, but funding for pedestrian and bike infrastructure lags far behind even the meager amount spent in other cities. The conclusion is found a new national report on pedestrian traffic deaths, published by the Transportation for America and Surface Transportation Policy Partnership. Their analysis determined that only 1% of New York State federal transportation funds are spent on pedestrian infrastructure, and the NYC metropolitan area receives only $0.61 per person in federal funds for pedestrian and bike facilities, well below the $1.39 spent per person for metro areas nationwide.

Naturally, the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives is all over this, insisting that many of these pedestrian deaths are preventable if the state changes transportation policies and funding practices. "When it comes to safer streets, money talks," says Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives. "We need the New York State Department of Transportation to step up to the plate and start funding life-saving street designs."

From 2005 to 2008, New York State received $5.6 billion in federal transportation funds, during which time there have been 1,215 pedestrian deaths that Transportation Alternatives claims could have been prevented. Ya-Ting Liu, federal advocate of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, says, "The state could double its current spending on pedestrian safety and it would still be spending less per resident than it costs to buy a coffee from Starbucks."

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By John Del Signore in News on November 9, 2009 4:31 PM

Comments [rss]

eveostay

"Drivers are at fault in almost 90% of pedestrian and bicyclist deaths."

This is from a study of police "accident" reports from 1994-1997.

http://www.rightofway.org/news/kbarelease.html

(link to the pdf report at the bottom of that page)

moonbeam

That doesn't surprise me at all. Drivers in this city are crazy.

Andrew Baker

I want this statistic:

How many of those involve the most unpredictable and dangerous drivers (as far as I'm concerned) in the city?

That would be yellow cabs and livery vehicles...then there's tow trucks, beer truck drivers, drunken cops, people being chased by cops, etc..

hunter.blatherer

Nothing that's ever been said before should ever be said again. Shit, I think someone already said that.

RyanLee

I am looking out for you my child.

wac0202

so, judging from these comments, this is an acceptable number and a lot of them have themselves to blame?

whether or not people jaywalk isn't the issue. what percentage of drivers are speeding, drunk, texting, or a combination of all 3?

hotstepper

*sigh* this old rigamarole.

the situation is not complicated. EVERYBODY (driver, cyclist, pedestrian) needs to pull their heads out of their ass and pay attention in this big ol' world.

nobody is impressed by how important you feel. you are not special. nobody is looking out for you.

inoyourider

And that's still a result of stupidity.

Throwing money at infrastructure won't help that.

wac0202

by that logic you could just throw us all out there together in one line and say that if anyone dies it was a result of stupidity. sometimes you need to protect people against the inevitable stupidity of others. (i won't even bring up the numerous occasions of cars hitting peds on sidewalks...oops, damn, i brought it up)

ckl

so what you wanna put up giant walls along the sidewalks or something?

really, what do you see missing in pedestrian infrastructure? it seems to me that, if anything, there are too many codes and restructions and rules and signs in new york. for people, for bikes, for cars, for everything. what people need to do is wake up a bit and not be so reliant on being coddled to the point of being bereft of any personal responsibility.

Automocar

There's actually quite a bit that could be done to make the streets safer for pedestrians.

1) Crosswalks paved with different materials to make them more visible to drivers as well as providing tactile feedback

2) Curb-outs as an engineered way to make drivers slow down when approaching intersections as well as giving pedestrians waiting to cross more room to congregate without spilling into the street. This also narrows the crossing distance.

3) Crossing timers to give pedestrians more feedback about how long they have to cross

4) Separated parking, bike, bus, and driving lanes

wac0202

I agree, but do you have a plan how to make that happen? I could very well be wrong, but I am assuming infrastructure includes enforcement of existing laws.

ckl

I hadn't considered that (enforcement) as being part of infrastructure, actually.

I think a good start would to be to throw some up and down arrows on the stairs in the subway so that people would at least (ideally) start thinking about foot traffic in the same way they do car traffic.

neonwattagelimit

Hotstepper: Sorta. But you'd have to look at that as a percentage of road users, and there are considerably fewer cyclistts than pedestrians and motorists.

ckl

If anything we need a walking awareness campaign or something.

If people could read and follow foot traffic patterns and stopped doing things like stopping in the middle of busy sidewalks or in front of doors or staircases or causing bottlenecks in general there would be less need for, say, stepping out into a street or bikeline.

But, hey, New Yorkers are oblivious idiots; wishful thinking.

I can't think of one time when I've thought the city needed more or better "pedestrian infrastructure." I can walk and I have shoes, a busted sidewalk is more than sufficient.