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

Table 2.5 Locations of Pedestrian Crashes in NYMTC Region in 2004
Suburban Counties New York City NYMTC Region
Location of crash Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Intersection - In Crosswalk 2 1.9% 56 33.1% 58 21.2%
Intersection - On Roadway,
Not in Crosswalk
Intersection - On Roadway,
Crosswalk not Available
17 16.3% 23 13.6% 40 14.7%
9 8.7% 10 5.9% 19 7.0%
Intersection - other 19 18.3% 5 3.0% 24 8.8%
Total at intersection 47 45.2% 94 55.6% 141 51.6%
Non-Intersection - On
Roadway, Not in Crosswalk
Non-Intersection - On
Roadway, Crosswalk not
Available
Non-Intersection - On Road
Shoulder
Non- intersection - not in
traffic way
29 27.9% 47 27.8% 76 27.8%
23 22.1% 11 6.5% 34 12.5%
3 2.9% 2 1.2% 5 1.8%
2 1.9% 15 8.9% 17 6.2%
Total not at intersection 57 54.8% 75 44.4% 132 48.4%
Total 104 100.0% 169 100.0% 273 100.0%
Source: FARS Data
For the NYMTC region, a pedestrian injury or fatality is almost equally likely to occur at an
intersection as at a non-intersection location. This is in contrast with the national data, which
indicates that 79 percent of pedestrian fatalities occur at non-intersection locations. Crashes
within New York City are a little more likely to occur at intersections while those in the
suburban counties are more likely to occur at non-intersections (see Table 2.5). This may be due
to significantly more intersections with designated crosswalks in the City compared to
elsewhere. The greatest disparity between the locations of fatal pedestrian crashes within the
region is shown in the first row of the table: almost a third of pedestrian fatalities in New York
City happen to pedestrians in crosswalks, while only two percent of suburban pedestrian
fatalities occur at an intersection in a crosswalk.
Further in suburban counties, 30.8 percent of fatalities occur at places where there is no
crosswalk (this is the sum of no crosswalks available for intersections and non-intersections). A
study done of pedestrian fatalities and injuries in Nassau County showed a similar high
proportion, 36.2 percent, of pedestrian injuries in 1998 and 1999 occurred at crossings with no
signal or crosswalk (Table 3, DiMaggio, 2005).
Figure 2.4 shows the combined pedestrian fatality and injury rate (normalized by population) for
different ages for the suburban counties, New York City, New York State, and the country.
(Since injuries outnumber fatalities by more than ten times, the rates are closer to injury rates
NYMTC Pedestrian Safety Study 12