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Cars prove far deadlier than guns in NYC so far this year

By

Clayton Guse

and

Stephen Nessen

Published Jul 11, 2024

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A smashed up car in New York City after a crash.

 

ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

By

Clayton Guse

and

Stephen Nessen

Published Jul 11, 2024

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This column originally appeared in On The Way, a weekly newsletter covering everything you need to know about NYC-area transportation.

Sign up to get the full version, which includes answers to reader questions, trivia, service changes and more, in your inbox every Thursday.

New Yorkers are now far more likely to be killed in a car crash than a shooting.

City data shows 127 people were killed by drivers across the five boroughs during the first six months of 2024, about 55% more than the 82 who were fatally shot over the same period.

The stark difference comes as Mayor Eric Adams has directed the NYPD to aggressively crack down on illegal guns. Street safety advocates, meanwhile, have criticized him for not doing enough to keep people from dying in car crashes.

“From day one, the mayor’s administration has made it very clear that our top priority is combating gun violence,” NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said during a news conference last week.

The NYPD argues its approach is working. Shooting homicides in the city dropped 29% during the first half of the year compared to 2023.

But traffic fatalities are headed in the opposite direction. Traffic deaths in the city are on pace to reach their highest number since at least 2013, the year before former Mayor Bill de Blasio took office and launched his “Vision Zero” initiative with the goal of reducing fatal car crashes.

"If there's a spike in shootings in a city you will see not just the politicians responding, but you'll see the media saying, 'What's going to be done about this?'" said Mike McGinn, the former mayor of Seattle and current executive director of America Walks, which advocates for improvements to pedestrian space. "Politicians respond when there's a media storm around gun violence. And I'll tell you, they'd respond to a media storm around traffic violence."

Data shows that pedestrians make up the bulk of traffic fatalities so far this year, with 61 people being killed by car crashes compared to 48 during the same period of 2023.

City Department of Transportation officials say dangerous driving has been a growing problem across the country since the COVID pandemic, and blame the rise in pedestrian deaths on reckless driving and jaywalking.

Adams' spokesperson Liz Garcia pointed to this year's passage of Sammy's Law, which allows the city to reduce speed limits to 20 mph, as evidence the mayor is working to reduce fatal crashes.

“While six months of data do not reflect the critical successes the administration has had in reducing traffic violence, we are confident that our traffic safety measures will continue to improve public safety for all New Yorkers — pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists alike," Garcia said.

Street safety advocates say the numbers aren’t an accident. They blame Adams for slow-walking street redesigns and for bowing to the interests of car owners — who make up less than half the city’s population — at the expense of everyone else on the streets.

“I don't think that our government officials are very responsive. Basically, they're not very courageous about addressing this,” said Angie Schmitt, author of “Right of Way: Race, Class and the Silent Crisis of Pedestrian Deaths in America.” “But sometimes I think they're just sort of using that as an excuse for inaction and there really are really bad consequences for a lot of ordinary people.”

Curious Commuter

Have a question for us? Use this form to submit yours. But remember Curious Commuter questions are exclusive for On The Way newsletter subscribers. Don't worry, it's free to sign up here. Check your inbox Thursday afternoon for the next issue! We promise it will help you navigate the city better. 

Question from Vinnie in Brooklyn: The passageway from Penn Station to the 34th Street-Herald Square station was closed in 1986. Are there any plans to reopen this corridor nearly 40 years later?

Answer: That area is often referred to as the “Gimbels Passageway” because it used to connect directly to the department store bearing the same name. While the MTA doesn’t have plans to restore the underground walkway, the state’s previous proposals to renovate Penn Station included plans to build a new passageway between the train hub and Herald Square, entirely separate from the old one that was closed in the 1980s. But that redevelopment plan is still in the works, and a final version has not yet been released to the public.

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On The Way

Clayton Guse

Clayton is the editor of the Transit and Infrastructure desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected].

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Stephen Nessen

Twitter

Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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