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There Have Been 38,000 Hit-and-Runs in New York City This Year
![According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, a pedestrian was killed every two hours and injured every seven minutes in traffic crashes during 2013. That totaled 4,735 deaths & 66,000 injuries.](https://media.wnyc.org/i/800/0/h/85/1/shutterstock_141229813.jpg)
It came up almost as an afterthought. At a hearing about increasing penalties for drivers who leave the scene of a crash without reporting it, Council member Jimmy Van Bramer wanted to know how many hit-and-runs there have been so far this year in New York City.
According to NYPD Inspector Dennis Fulton, there have been 34,000 minor ones. Those involve property damage only, like side swipes and broken side mirrors. But there's another category.
"We have approximately 4,000 leaving the scene," said Fulton, involving "personal injury."
That means so far this year, there have been 4,000 instances in which a driver injured or killed someone — and kept going. And that number hasn't changed much in recent years, said Fulton.
"That's a staggering number," said Van Bramer, who called hit-and-runs "perhaps the most heinous of acts."
Fulton said 48 of those 4,000 involved "catastrophic injury."
Of those 48 catastrophic hit-and-runs, the NYPD has apprehended 28 suspects. Overall, the NYPD has made 480 arrests and issued 475 moving summonses.
That's not good enough, said Paul Steely White, who heads Transportation Alternatives. "There are thousands of these hit and run cases going completely uninvestigated," he said, "completely unprosecuted."
The Council is considering legislation that would increase fines for people who leave the scene of a crash without reporting it.