In 2014 New York City launched the Vision Zero initiative with the goal to make roadways safer and completely eliminate all traffic fatalities. In the 10 years since the launch, the city has implemented new deterrent measures, including reduced speed limits and red camera lights, as well as educational programming. Through these efforts, the roadways are safer for pedestrians but there are still issues that need to be addressed.
Before the implementation of Vision Zero (July 1, 2012—Jan. 15, 2014), there were nearly 340 thousand reported vehicle collisions, according to data from the New York Police Department available on the city’s Open Data Portal. While the portal does not include data on pedestrian injuries and fatalities, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found that there were approximately 500 pedestrian fatalities between 2012 and 2014, accounting for over half of all traffic fatalities.
In the years following the implementation of Vision Zero, the number of vehicle collisions remained high, reaching its peak in 2018 with approximately 465 thousand collisions. However, there was a sharp decrease during the COVID-19 Pandemic as many residents were working from home and on the streets less frequently.
The pandemic also resulted in a mass exodus of residents from New York City, with a population decrease of 5.3% in 2022, which coincides with the lowest number of collisions since the implementation of Vision Zero. While drivers are returning to the roadways en masse, the number of collisions is still far from pre-pandemic levels. In 2023 there were less than 200 thousand collisions, which is about half of the number of collisions in 2019.
While the number of vehicle collisions remained high, other data suggests that the roadways are becoming safer for pedestrians. In a press release, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) reported that in 2023 there was a 45 percent decrease in pedestrian fatalities when compared to 2013. This same press release notes that equity is an important component of Vision Zero and the implementation of road redesigns prioritized low income neighborhoods with higher shares of non-White residents.
However, stalled projects and other bureaucratic interferences have resulted in inconsistency between the agency’s commitment to equity and the actual results produced by Vision Zero. Although the NYPD incident report data set is incomplete, it shows that the highest number of collisions occurred in Brooklyn, which has seen numerous street redesign projects stalled. The disparity in safety goes beyond the road design of each borough and is instead reflective of larger systemic issues.
The non-profit Transportation Alternatives (TA) partnered with the advocacy group Families for Safe Streets to analyze this location data in greater depth. Together they reported on the class and racial disparity in the implementation of Vision Zero. They found that traffic fatalities have increased in low-income neighborhoods of color while decreasing in white, wealthy neighborhoods.
TA takes a comprehensive approach to address this disparity. Their approach includes road redesign, self-enforcing streets, and community outreach. “There is no singular solution to keeping people safe in our city streets,” said Michelle Deme, Digital Communications Coordinator. “Protecting people from harm while they walk, bike, or drive requires overlapping layers of safety intervention.”
TA has been instrumental in enacting various initiatives that have provided both pedestrians and drivers with safer roads across the city, including car-free areas in Central Park and larger bike lanes. Deme also acknowledges that working with NYC DOT and other advocacy organizations with similar missions is important to enacting change across the city. Another important facet of increased road safety is outreach to both drivers and pedestrians.
Vision Zero has also focused its efforts on professional drivers through a partnership with the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), which regulates all taxis and other for-hire vehicles including those of drivers on ride-share services. The partnership between these two organizations includes safety training curriculum and driver outreach programs.
Both agencies were concerned about SUVs due to their prevalence in vehicle collisions and had considered size restrictions on for-hire vehicles. Sedans, which are cross-listed as “car/SUV,” made up approximately half of all reported collisions. However, a representative for the TLC said they are no longer pursuing this solution.
The specialized training curriculum, which is based on Vision Zero, may provide assurance that professional drivers can safely navigate the roadways regardless of their vehicle’s size. A TLC representative noted that drivers who have completed training requirements are the safest drivers in the city. Vision Zero is also focusing its efforts on other drivers through educational programming and increased enforcement against traffic violations.
Vision Zero still has work to do before reaching its goal of completely eliminating all traffic fatalities. While incidents of vehicle collisions are low this quarter (approximately 44 thousand at the time of writing this article), equity of implementation needs to be properly addressed to ensure safety for all drivers and pedestrians across the city’s five boroughs.