NYMTC Regional Pedestrian Safety Study - New York Metropolitan ...

II. BACKGROUND ON PEDESTRIAN SAFETY
New York and New Jersey pedestrian fatalities as a percentage of total traffic fatalities are the
highest in the Union (50 states plus the District of Columbia); the 2004 data shows the two states
are tied, both with 21.2 percent of total fatalities being pedestrians (NCSA, 2006). The total
number of pedestrian fatalities in New York State in 2004 was 317, which was the fourth highest
after California, Florida, and Texas. The New York pedestrian fatality rate per 100,000
population was 1.65, which is the 15 th highest rate among the 50 states plus District of Columbia.
(NCSA, 2006)
New York State data shows that a disproportionate number of the pedestrian crashes occur in the
NYMTC Region (GTSC, 2006A). 1 Table 2.1 shows 2004 crash data from the Governor’s
Traffic Safety Committee for pedestrian and total crashes for each of the NYMTC counties.
While only 64 percent of the state residents live in the NMTC region, 86 percent of pedestrian
injuries and 76 percent of pedestrian fatalities occurred in the region. The higher incidence of
pedestrian injuries and fatalities is probably due to higher rates of walking in the more densely
populated environment.
Table 2.2 shows the number of pedestrian crashes, injuries, and fatalities normalized by
residential population for the NYMTC region in 2004. (Residential population is an imperfect
measure of exposure, as discussed in the Section 3.2; however, it is easily available.) The ratios
of crashes per residential population and of injuries per residential population tend to be higher
in New York City than in the suburban counties, probably due to the greater extent of walking in
the City. However, the ratio of fatalities per residential population is lower in the City.
Pedestrian fatalities have decreased by about 25 percent over the last decade. Figure 2.1 shows
the trends in pedestrian fatalities in New York State and the NYMTC region, indicating an
average decrease in both over ten years (NSCA, 2006B). During this same period, total traffic
fatalities in New York State decreased about 11 percent. Table 2.3 shows the number of
pedestrian fatalities in each county over a ten-year period along with the percentage change in
each county for the ten years. Pedestrian fatalities in New York City decreased by 33 percent in
the decade according to the FARS (Fatality Analysis Reporting System, maintained by NHTSA)
data, while pedestrian fatalities in the total NYMTC region decreased by 24 percent. It is harder
to draw conclusions from the trends in the suburban counties due to the small number of
fatalities involved; the year-to-year changes can be greater than the ten-year change, and a
particularly low or high number in the first or last year of the decade distorts the percentage
change. Pedestrian fatalities in Suffolk County and Staten Island have increased over the decade,
but they are two of the three counties with the fastest growing population in the region. Figure
2.2 graphically shows ten years of pedestrian fatalities for New York City and the five suburban
counties.
1 Both Federal data, i.e., FARS, which includes details on fatal pedestrian crashes, and State data, i.e., GTSC, which
includes the numbers of pedestrian injuries, were used for this section. The two datasets are not in complete
agreement, the FARS data showing 317 fatalities and the GTSC data showing 328 fatalities in 2004.
NYMTC Pedestrian Safety Study 7