A New Yorker Is Killed in Traffic Crash Every 35 Hours: Report

A New Yorker is killed every 35 hours in a traffic crash, according to a report by advocacy group Transportation Alternatives.

New York has fewer road fatalities per capita than any other large U.S. city, according to the city DOT.  But in European cities, like Paris and London, the fatality rate is one half of New York's. 

"For us to pat ourselves on the back to have reduced traffic fatalities as much as we have is to say that those remaining 100 to 300 people a year who are dying is acceptable," Transportation Alternatives Spokesman Michael Murphy said. "It's absolutely not."

The report says most of those killed in accidents are pedestrians, and the majority of deaths are caused by speeding cars on wide roadways like Queens Boulevard. A separate study, by Tri-State Transportation Campaign, says senior citizens are most at risk.

DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow told WNYC that the city has already launched anti-speeding campaigns, added countdown signals to hundreds of intersections and re-engineered streets to make them safer for children and seniors.

"You’d have to be living under a rock not to know that safety is the most important priority for this agency," he said. "We will not stop in our efforts until we make our streets safe for all New Yorkers."

Transportation Alternatives and the DOT do agree on what to do next. Both favor street calming measures like curb extensions, pedestrian islands and bike lanes.

That doesn't mean it's going to happen. Those measures have been criticized by some elected officials for impeding vehicular traffic, and some critics say pedestrian island and other calming measures can block emergency vehicles.