More NYers Are Dying In Traffic On These Neighborhoods' Streets: Data

NEW YORK CITY — As New York City skids toward another record-breaking year for traffic fatalities, a new study found that some neighborhoods' streets are far more deadly than others.

A southeasterly stretch of The Bronx had the most traffic deaths —4.7 — per 10,000 people in the city in recent years, according to Spatial Equity NYC, an online tool released Tuesday.

And that's despite 71 percent of households in that area — which includes Hunts Point — not owning a car, according to the tool.

Spatial Equity NYC — a collaboration between Transportation Alternatives and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — starkly shows how disparities in infrastructure can affect traffic deaths, said Fabiola Mendieta-Cuapio, a member of Families for Safe Streets, whose 5-year-old son Bryan was killed in a car crash in October 2006.

"In City Council districts where the majority of residents are Black, there are 68 percent fewer streets with a protected bike lane, and a 39 percent higher rate of traffic injuries," she said in a statement. "This is unacceptable. Spatial inequity is deadly and we need our elected officials to take action now to save lives and make our streets more fair."

Last year was New York City's deadliest for traffic crashes, with 273 people dead.

And more than 200 people have died in crashes so far this year, according to Transportation Alternatives.

The Spatial Equity NYC data shows the citywide average is one traffic death per 10,000 people.

But some neighborhoods are far below that.

The Forest Hills-Rego Park swath of Queens had just 0.26 traffic deaths per 10,000 people, the lowest in the city, according to the tool. More than half of its households own cars, the study found.

It's not just traffic deaths that are affected by "spatial inequity" — a broad term covering uses for public space, from benches to sidewalks to street trees, said Danny Harris, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives.

“Spatial inequity results in worse health outcomes, longer commutes, and higher rates of traffic violence — and the harm disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color,” he said in a statement.

Check out the Spacial Equity NYC tool here.