Men, Not Taxis, Most Likely to Kill NYC Pedestrians

Corona, NY —

Four out of five traffic fatalities over the last five years in New York City involved male drivers -- and a similar percentage involved private drivers, not taxis, trucks or buses.

That data comes from a study of 7,000 crashes over the last five years. 

Other findings:
•    Pedestrian fatalities in 2009 were down nearly 20 percent from 2001.
•    Most New Yorkers do not know the city’s standard speed limit is 30 m.p.h.
•    Manhattan has four times as many pedestrians killed or severely injured per mile of street compared to the other four boroughs.
•    Pedestrians killed in Manhattan lived in other boroughs or outside New York City 43 percent of the time.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan released the study at a press conference in Queens on Monday, where they said they would be installing 1,500 "countown clocks," telling pedestrians how much time they have before the light changes.

The city earlier this year released the data on traffic fatalities, showing traffic deaths as low as they've been since records were kept -- lower, in fact, since the days of street cars and horses and buggies.

The city has implemented a number of "traffic calming" measures in the last several years, including pedestrian islands. But those measures have not been without controversy. A bike lane along Prospect Park West, for example, has slowed local traffic, but some residents of Prospect Park West charged that it was creating congestion.

See the full report here.