Kathmandu: People have died on New York streets at a quicker pace in July than any month since the 2014 start of the city’s Vision Zero effort to eliminate traffic fatalities.
According to a report published on New York Daily news, 11 pedestrians died — including a 99-year-old Bronx woman, Bernice Schwartz, struck down the morning of July 27 by a driver making a left turn.
Similarly, four bicyclists died — including Carling Mott, 28, crushed July 26 by a truck on the Upper East Side and remembered by a friend as someone who “went through life just with utter joy in everything she did.”
Twenty-three people riding motor vehicles died — including Staten Island teen Ashley Rodriguez, 15, and two friends, siblings Fernanda Gil, 16, and her younger brother Jessie, 15, in a crash July 10.
In all, 38 people died in vehicle crashes in July — up from 33 people killed in crashes in June. From January 1 to July 31 of this year, 145 people have died in vehicle crashes, the city’s Vision Zero website reports.
An analysis by the street safety advocacy group Transportation Alternatives found New York City has recorded 30 or more traffic deaths during a calendar month just five times since former Mayor Bill de Blasio launched the Vision Zero program, reported the New York Daily News.
City Department of Transportation officials pointed out the bulk of the rise in traffic deaths are among drivers and people in cars and on motorcycles.
Through July 31 of this year, 64 people riding motor vehicles have died, city data shows. That compares with 60 pedestrian fatalities, and 12 bicyclist fatalities.
(News Source: New York Daily News)