Ten Key Findings
1 -- Motor vehicles killed 1,020 pedestrians and bicyclists in New York City during the four-year period 1994-97; this toll was 25 percent greater than the 800 motor vehicle users who died in crashes in the same period.

2 -- New Yorkers age 65 and older were more than twice as likely to be killed by an automobile as to be murdered during 1994-97.

3 -- Drivers were largely or strictly culpable in 74 percent of pedestrian fatalities and partly culpable in another 16 percent, meaning that drivers were at least partly culpable in 90 percent of fatalities.

4 -- The most frequent causes of fatalities were vehicles turning into pedestrians in crosswalks, followed by speeding, and driving through a red light or stop sign.

5 -- Buses killed 53 persons during 1994-97--one for every 11.4 million miles, or over 5 times the rate for all vehicles driven in New York City, and triple the rate for heavy trucks.

6 -- Automobiles were equal-opportunity threats, killing New Yorkers of every income level and ethnic group roughly in proportion to the group "s share of population.

7 -- Motorists killed 50 pedestrians on sidewalks during 1994-97 (one pedestrian was killed by a bicycle on a sidewalk during the same period, out of a total of five pedestrians killed in collisions with bicycles in New York City during the four years).

8 -- Neighborhoods where officials clamored for crackdowns on bicyclists to safeguard pedestrians had unusually high rates of pedestrians and cyclists killed by automobile.

9 -- Drunk driving was known to be present in only 4 percent of pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities (less than 3 percent in 1997 alone), suggesting that DWI is now a relatively small subset of a larger class of dangerous and aggressive driving, which is routinely ignored in law enforcement and media campaigns.

10 -- Drivers were summonsed for moving violations in only 16 percent of pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities during 1994-97; police cited only 7 drivers, or less than 1 percent of those who killed pedestrians, for violating laws specific to pedestrian safety.

*Police issued moving violations in only 154 pedestrian or cyclist fatalities during 1994-97, or just 16 percent of the 947 cases studied. Almost all of these summonses were for driving without a valid license (absent, suspended, or revoked), leaving the scene, speeding, or driving while intoxicated. Only 7 drivers who killed were ticketed for violations that specifically endanger pedestrians and cyclists, such as violating right-of-way in crosswalk, unsafe backing, unsafe opening of a car door, and driving on the sidewalk. This pattern strongly suggests a marked lack of interest, on the part of police officers, in the rights of pedestrians and cyclists.

*Right of Way systematically analyzed a full year "s fatalities (1997) for cause and culpability (neither city nor state authorities do so). Our criteria for culpability are largely based on New York State traffic law, and are detailed below, beginning on p. 17. Driver culpability could not be ascertained in 22 percent of cases; drivers were clearly not culpable in only 7 percent, they were strictly or largely culpable in 58 percent, and partly culpable in an additional 13 percent; combining the two latter categories, drivers were at least partly culpable in at least 71 percent of all New York City pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities.

*If we exclude the 22 percent of cases in which culpability could not be determined (because police accident reports were missing, incomplete, illegible, or contradictory), the proportions are: driver strictly or largely culpable, 74 percent; driver partly culpable, 16 percent; driver not culpable, 10 percent.

*Five percent of pedestrian and cyclist deaths occurred on sidewalks or other off-road areas where it is illegal to drive an automobile. Extrapolated to the 1,020 people killed by automobiles in New York City over the four-year period, an estimated 50 pedestrians, or 12-13 per year, were killed by automobiles during 1994-97 in places where automobiles are not supposed to be.

*For the 820 fatalities in which the identity of the driver was established, 747, or 91 percent, of the drivers were men; 73 (9 percent) were women. In contrast, women account for an estimated 25 percent of vehicle-miles driven on New York City streets, excluding highways, indicating that women are under-represented as killerdrivers by a factor of 2 to 3, while men are correspondingly overrepresented.

*Driver age was established in 812 fatalities. Average age of these drivers was 37, vs. an average age of 44 of New Yorkers of "driving age " (17-79 inclusive), and an average age of persons killed by automobile of 51. Based on these figures and the gender differences noted above, we observe that death by automobile, in New York City, is largely a matter of one group of people " young men--killing two other groups: older men, and women of all ages.

Fatality Data
Totals. An estimated 1,020 pedestrians and cyclists were killed by automobile in New York City during 1994-97. Fatalities were roughly constant from year to year, although even official figures are not definitive.

In comparison, an estimated 800 motor vehicle users (drivers and passengers of motorized vehicles including motorcycles) were killed in crashes in New York City during the same four years. The pedestrian-cyclist toll exceeds this figure by 25 percent.

Boroughs
Brooklyn had the most fatalities during the four years, 320, and Staten Island the fewest, 26. Relative to population, Manhattan had the highest borough fatality rate, although this partially reflects the large number of people from other boroughs and from outside the city who come to Manhattan for business or pleasure. Aside from Manhattan, most victims resided in the borough in which they were killed. Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx had roughly equal fatality rates relative to population. Staten Island's low rate probably reflects less walking rather than a safer pedestrian environment.

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