New York Injury Lawyer Blog

New York City car accidents are expected to rise as congestion worsens in the aftermath of the recession, the USAToday reported.

As reported earlier this month on our New York Injury Lawyer blog, last year's 256 traffic fatalities were an all-time low for New York City. Fatal traffic accidents have also declined nationwide in the past several years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

But experts contend that an increase in New York City traffic accidents is only an economic recovery away.

Nationwide, traffic congestion ticked up in the last three months of 2009 for the first time since it began trending downward in late 2007 at the start of the Great Recession, according to the INRIX 2009 National Traffic Scorecard. The New York City metro area ranked second-worst nationwide for traffic congestion. The area's 19 million people are 86 percent as congested as the Los Angeles area, which is the nation's worst, despite having just 12.8 million residents. Chicago was third, and was half as congested as New York.

"As the job situation goes, so goes congestion," said Rick Schuman, the study's author. "If we have a recovery and we start seeing employment starting to grow, congestion will grow along with it."

It's unclear whether the current increase in congestion marks a permanent move toward busier roads. Congestion grew at a rate of less than one percent in September-December 2009, compared to the 21 percent growth in traffic congestion experienced between 1995 and 2007.

Other findings of the study include:

• Traffic congestion was down during morning rush hour, reflecting the high rate of unemployment. Heavier traffic was seen throughout the rest of the day.

• Friday at 5 p.m. is the worst day of the week and time of the day to be on the nation's roads.