Brooklyn Sees Most Traffic Deaths Since Vision Zero Launch: Study

BROOKLYN, NY — As New York City took big steps toward reopening from the coronavirus crisis in the last six months, the Big Apple was also hurdling toward another, more grim, milestone, according to a new study.

Both Brooklyn and New York City as a whole saw more traffic fatalities in the first half of 2021 than in the start of any year in Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration, which has championed a street safety plan aimed at bringing traffic death numbers to zero.

The more than 124 New Yorkers who lost their lives across the city has put 2021 on track to be the deadliest year for traffic violence under the mayor's leadership, according to an analysis released Wednesday by Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets.

“Every month in 2021 we are breaking records for lives lost to traffic violence. These are our neighbors, our parents, our siblings, and our children — killed because our elected leaders failed to expand the significant early success of Vision Zero," said Judy Kottick of Families for Safe Streets, referring to de Blasio's street safety initiative. "...We need Mayor de Blasio, in his final months, to take immediate action to prevent 2021 from being the deadliest of his tenure."

The 124 fatalities between the start of the year and June 30 include eight cyclists, 64 pedestrians and 52 motorists who lost their lives. Another 12 New Yorkers have died in the weeks since the end of June, according to the study.

In Brooklyn, there were a total of 30 fatal crashes in the first half of the year. In those crashes, one cyclist, 16 pedestrians and 14 motorists were killed and another 20 people were injured, according to city data on Crash Mapper.

East Flatbush, which saw five of the fatal crashes, was the neighborhood where the most traffic deaths happened in the borough this year. Williamsburg, where four people were killed, had the second-most fatalities, the data shows.

The unfortunate 2021 numbers come after a similarly grim year in 2020, which stands as the deadliest year in de Blasio's administration with 243 traffic deaths, according to data.

Traffic violence has been on the rise since even before the pandemic, though. Pedestrian deaths increased year-over-year in 2018 and 2019 and cyclist deaths nearly tripled from 2018 to 2019, according to the safety groups.

The advocacy groups said changing the course of the trend will be the job of both de Blasio, the next administration and state legislators in Albany.

They specifically urged the next mayor to sign onto their NYC 25x25 challenge, which calls on converting 25 percent of space for cars into space for people by 2025.