New York City streets were the safest they’ve ever been in 2015, Mayor de Blasio announced Tuesday.
Traffic fatalities and pedestrian deaths both hit their lowest mark since 1910, the first year such statistics were kept, according to the mayor’s office.
De Blasio points to his administration’s Vision Zero initiative – which aims to decrease traffic fatalities in the five boroughs – as the reason for the decline. Since the program was instituted in 2014, traffic fatalities are down more than 22 percent.
“Vision Zero is working,” de Blasio said. “Today there are children and grandparents who we might have lost, but who are instead coming home, safe and sound, because of these efforts. This progress is just the beginning, and Vision Zero is going to move ahead with even more intensity in the coming year.”
There were 231 traffic fatalities and 134 pedestrian deaths in 2015. That’s a marked decrease from the previous lows – when there were 249 traffic fatalities in 2011 and 139 pedestrian deaths in 2014.
Among the streets that saw improvements was Queens Boulevard -- once nicknamed the "Boulevard of Death." In 2015, however, there were no fatalities on the vital roadway.
"We were not gonna allow any street in this city to be called the 'Boulevard of Death' anymore," de Blasio said. "It had to become a boulevard of life."
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The decrease in fatalities comes when nationally, pedestrian deaths are slightly up, according to the release by the mayor’s office.
De Blasio said his administration is going to continue its efforts in 2016. On Tuesday he announced $115 million in new funding for the program.
Among the focus points for Vision Zero in 2016 are safe routes to schools, traffic calming measures on key roadways, new designs for safer left-hand turns. Additional protected bike lanes are also planned for roadways throughout the city.
