New York Injury Lawyer Blog

The number of fatal New York City car accidents dropped last year as the overall number of traffic fatalities hit the lowest number ever recorded, the city's Department of Transportation reported.

While safety experts cite the economic downturn as being partly responsible for the drop, the city's figures are expected to mirror national figures that will be released in coming days by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

A total of 256 traffic fatalities were reported in New York City during 2009, a 12 percent decline from 2008 and 35 percent fewer than in 2001.

"Even one traffic fatality is one too many, but our aggressive efforts to improve traffic safety have produced life-savings results - an all-time record low for fatalities in 2009," said Mayor Bloomberg. "While traffic deaths are down 35 percent from 2001 levels, we have more work do to, and we will continue pressing forward with better traffic engineering, stricter traffic enforcement and greater public awareness about traffic safety. Our goal is very simple: continue making our streets safer for everyone."

Fatal New York City pedestrian accidents increased to 155 from the 151 recorded in 2008. Pedestrian accident continue to concern safety advocates as they account for more than half of all traffic fatalities in the city. As we reported on our New York Injury Lawyer Blog, the city is creating a number of pedestrian plazas in an effort to reduce the risk to pedestrians.

New York City bicycle accidents declined dramatically, from 26 in 2008 to 12 in 2009. Expansion of the city's biking infrastructure, which has doubled bike-lane miles to more than 225, is being cited as the primary factor. The reduction in fatal bicycle accidents is a significant accomplishment. The twelve fatalities is one fewer than the 13 recorded in 2001 and the city has tripled the number of cyclists on its streets in the last decade.