10:55 am Sep. 27, 20122
It's not just New York: the nation's traffic fatality rate is way up, too.
National traffic-fatality numbers made their biggest half-year jump in "recorded history," according to a report issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
In the first half of this year, 16,290 people died in car crashes nationwide, a nine percent increase over the first half of 2011, when 14,950 died in such circumstances.
Meanwhile, in New York City, 291 people died on city streets between July 2011 and June 2012, a 23 percent increase from the 236 traffic fatalities the year prior.
There were increases in both the number of drivers and passengers killed, and in the number of cyclists and pedestrians.
Like New York City's D.O.T., the federal agency pointed out that this was an increase from an historic low. The agency also said it too early to provide an explanation.
Janette Sadik-Khan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's transportation commission, said the jump in New York City might be attributable to smartphone use, and New Yorkers' propensity to navigate city streets ensconced in their own electronic worlds.
“That breakup text can wait," she told the Times.
When I asked Joshua Schank, president and C.E.O. of the Eno Center for Transportation, about that, he said, "That’s as reasonable a theory as any, but there’s no way to know unless you see some data on it."
Regarding the national increase in fatal traffic accidents, he said, "Until you have good evidence on the cause, it's hard to know whether the national increase and the New York City increase are related."
It's really disturbing that Commissioner Sadik-Kahn takes all of the credit for improvements in previous years, but refuses to take any responsibility for the current increase in fatalities. She says it's New Yorkers' faults for being too self-absorbed. It's a disgusting example of blaming the victim.
NYT DOT needs a total overhaul - they operate exclusively inside their own ideological bubble where they believe that JSK is incapable of doing wrong. It's an absurd point of view, and it literally hurts all of us.
It is absurd that NYC-DOT Commissioner Sadik-Khan gets the blame for this alone, when other factors and players are at work:
1. An analysis of traffic fatalities has not been done to show WHERE the fatalities occurred. Are they in spots where NYC-DOT has been able to make streets safer, or are they at places where they have been stymied by motorist opposition? An accurate assessment of Sadik-Khan's changes should wait for this analysis.
2. The national increase in smartphone usage is even more visible in NYC, where people are using their phones on the streets a lot instead of in their homes and offices. (Remember, our street life is what we love about NY!)
The comparison of fatality rates in city vs. suburbs is problematic. Suburban and exurban roads are not designed for people to walk or bike on. They are designed solely for cars, and their design uses the principle of the "forgiving road" -- no matter how stupid a driver is, the road will do its best to save the lives of the car occupants. (These roads virtually ignore the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists, and often make the roads MORE DANGEROUS for them, which is why walking and bicycling in the suburbs and exurbs is often deemed suicidal.)
NYC-DOT can't make "forgiving roads" for motorists because our streets are also used by the more than half of New Yorkers who don't own a car. So crashes related to stupid driver behavior, like smartphone use and other distractions, will have more fatalities (often pedestrians and bicyclists) in the city than in the suburbs.
3. Where is the NYPD in all of this? They are busy giving out more tickets to bicyclists than speeding motorists. You would think their COMPSTAT principles would call for focusing on the cause of largest fatalitiies -- motorists driving cars and trucks. Why isn't the NYPD investigating every crash to see whether distracted driving or speeding was a contributing factor?
The NYPD, and Commissioner Ray Kelly, needs to stop focusing on the victims and start focusing on the slaughterers.