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for The New York Times: De Blasio Vowed to Make City Streets Safer. They’ve Turned More Deadly.
josé a. alvarado jr.
Dec 15, 2021
The strollers — accompanied by bouquets of yellow flowers and lit candles — were a stark rebuke to Mayor Bill de Blasio.
When Mr. de Blasio took office nearly eight years ago, one of his most ambitious promises was to tame New York City’s deadly streets, where nearly 300 people had been killed in traffic deaths just the year before. “We refuse to accept the loss of children, parents and neighbors as inevitable,” the mayor declared in 2014. “We are focusing the full weight of city government to prevent fatalities on our streets.”
The city has not delivered on its pledge. As Mr. de Blasio gets ready to step down in January, the streets are more dangerous than they were when his tenure began. Traffic deaths have surged this year to their highest level in nearly a decade.Every three days on average, a car kills another pedestrian.
At least 189 people — including 87 pedestrians and 12 cyclists — have been killed by crashes on city streets through Sept. 14, up nearly 26 percent from the same period last year and the highest number of deaths in that period since 2013, according to city records.
Photographed for The New York Times, with words by Winnie Hu.
De Blasio Vowed to Make City Streets Safer. They’ve Turned More Deadly.
Traffic deaths have surged this year to their highest level in nearly a decade. Officials blame an excess of reckless driving, but critics say the city has failed to make streets safer.
Nytimes.com