New York Pedestrian Accident Statistics (2026)

New York Pedestrian Crash Data

Pedestrian accident data in New York reveals a pattern that goes beyond annual fatality counts. New York State pedestrians represent a disproportionately high share of all traffic deaths — well above the national average — and serious injuries rose sharply through 2024 even as fatalities declined. For injured pedestrians and their families, understanding that data provides important context.

Brett J. Nomberg represents pedestrian accident victims throughout New York City and the surrounding area. This page presents the most current available statistics, organized by year, borough, contributing factor, and victim demographics, with source attribution for each data point.

Summary: What the Numbers Show

New York City saw 111 pedestrian fatalities in 2025 — a 9 percent decline from 122 deaths in 2024, according to NYC DOT’s year-end 2025 report. Overall, 2025 was the safest year for traffic fatalities in recorded New York City history, with 205 total traffic deaths — down 19 percent from 253 in 2024. These gains reflect years of Vision Zero street redesigns, expanded speed camera enforcement, and leading pedestrian interval installations. Progress is real, but uneven.

At the same time, serious pedestrian injuries rose sharply through 2024 even as fatalities fell. In the first nine months of 2024, Transportation Alternatives reported 645 pedestrians were seriously injured citywide — a 13 percent increase from the same period in 2023.

The economic toll of pedestrian deaths and serious injuries in New York City now exceeds $2 billion annually. For a pedestrian who has already been injured, that gap between falling fatalities and rising serious injuries is the context that matters most.

Statewide, approximately 300 pedestrians are killed and around 15,000 are injured by motor vehicles each year, according to available New York State data. Pedestrians account for roughly one quarter of all traffic fatalities in New York State — more than 8 percentage points above the national average, per the New York State Comptroller’s report on traffic fatalities.

Over 3,000 injured pedestrians require hospitalization each year statewide. For injured pedestrians and their families, these figures are the backdrop to a legal claim that deserves to be taken seriously.

New York City Pedestrian Fatalities: Year-by-Year Trend

New York City has tracked pedestrian fatalities since 1910. The long-term trend — driven significantly by Vision Zero, which launched in 2014 — has been downward, but progress has not been linear. Key reference points from the most recent data:

• 2013 (pre-Vision Zero baseline): Approximately 180+ pedestrian fatalities citywide. In Q1 2013 alone, there were 70 total traffic fatalities — 70 percent more than Q1 2025.
• 2014: Vision Zero launched. Pedestrian fatalities dropped to approximately 132, the lowest recorded at that time.
• 2023: Pedestrian fatalities reached near-record lows again after a post-pandemic spike.
• 2024: 122 pedestrian fatalities — an 18 percent increase over 2023, reversing gains made the prior year. Serious pedestrian injuries also rose in four of the five boroughs.
• 2025 (full year): 111 pedestrian fatalities — a 9 percent decline from 2024, and among the lowest totals ever recorded. Total traffic fatalities of 205 represent the safest year in recorded NYC history.

The pattern is instructive: even in years when fatalities decline, serious injuries can move in the opposite direction. Falling death counts do not mean pedestrians are safer across the board — they often reflect better emergency medical response rather than fewer high-severity collisions. For a detailed breakdown of the types of injuries these crashes produce, see Pedestrian Accident Injury Types.

Serious Injuries: The Hidden Statistic

Fatality counts capture the worst outcomes but miss the full scope of harm. New York City now tracks serious injuries using the same definition as New York’s legal serious injury threshold — conditions including fractures, limb loss, permanent organ damage, and significant functional limitations.

The most recent data presents a troubling picture:

• In the first nine months of 2024, 645 pedestrians sustained serious injuries in New York City — a 13 percent increase from the same period in 2023.
• Four of the five boroughs saw significant increases in serious pedestrian injuries over that period: the Bronx up 10 percent, Manhattan up 16 percent, Brooklyn up 20 percent, and Queens up 21 percent.
• Every week in 2024, an estimated 17 pedestrians lost limbs, organs, or suffered other life-changing serious injuries, according to Transportation Alternatives.
• By the end of 2024, total serious traffic injuries citywide reached 3,031. Through most of 2025, that figure had declined to 2,947 — a 2.8 percent improvement.

These injuries — fractures, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage — are precisely the type that meet New York’s serious injury threshold under Insurance Law § 5102(d), which is required to bring a personal injury lawsuit for pain and suffering. Understanding what qualifies is essential for any injured pedestrian evaluating their options. The Pedestrian Accident FAQ explains the threshold and how it applies.

Borough-by-Borough Breakdown

Pedestrian accident risk is not evenly distributed across New York City’s five boroughs. Traffic volume, street design, population density, and speed limit enforcement all vary significantly by borough and neighborhood.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn consistently records the highest number of pedestrian-involved crashes citywide. It accounted for approximately 34 percent of all pedestrian crashes in a recent measured year, driven by high-traffic arterials, dense residential neighborhoods, and a large walking population. In 2023, Brooklyn reported 26 pedestrian fatalities and over 15,900 total traffic injuries — more injuries than any other borough. Distracted driving and failure to yield were the top cited contributing factors.

Queens

Queens recorded the most total traffic fatalities among the five boroughs in 2023, with 31 pedestrian deaths. Queens Boulevard — historically nicknamed “The Boulevard of Death” — remains one of the most dangerous corridors for pedestrians despite significant safety redesigns completed in 2024. Serious pedestrian injuries in Queens rose 21 percent through the first nine months of 2024 compared to 2023.

Manhattan

Manhattan’s congestion pricing zone — covering lower Manhattan — recorded a disproportionate share of pedestrian fatalities relative to its size. In 2024, Districts 1 and 2 (covering lower Manhattan) recorded 11 pedestrian deaths — up from just four in 2023.

Serious pedestrian injuries in Manhattan rose 16 percent through the first nine months of 2024. The density of vehicle and pedestrian traffic in Midtown and Lower Manhattan creates conditions where a single distracted driver can cause severe harm in seconds.

The Bronx

The Bronx recorded 41 total traffic fatalities in 2023, including 12 pedestrian deaths. Serious pedestrian injuries in the Bronx rose 10 percent through the first nine months of 2024. NYC DOT has invested significantly in bus lane and pedestrian safety projects in the Bronx in recent years, including improvements along University Avenue, Gun Hill Road, and Westchester Avenue.

Staten Island

Staten Island has the fewest pedestrian crashes by total count, reflecting its lower population density and more car-centric street layout. In 2023, four pedestrian fatalities were recorded. However, when pedestrians are struck on Staten Island, it is often at higher vehicle speeds, with more severe outcomes. Total fatalities remained roughly flat in 2025, moving from 12 to 13.

Where Crashes Happen: Intersections vs. Mid-Block

The location of a pedestrian crash within the street environment significantly affects both injury severity and legal liability. NYC DOT’s SIRTA program — which investigates serious injury and fatal crash sites — provides some of the most granular available data on where these collisions occur.

• In Q2 2025, NYC DOT’s SIRTA program investigated over 675 serious injury and fatal crash sites. Of those, 215 involved pedestrians.
• 67 percent of serious pedestrian injury incidents occurred at intersections.
• 25 percent occurred at mid-block locations.
• In the first nine months of 2024, 88 percent of pedestrians killed were struck at intersections with no daylighting — no parked cars, planters, or barriers cleared from the corner to improve visibility.
• Only 2 percent of pedestrian fatalities in that period occurred on streets with speed limits below 25 mph.
• Streets with speed limits of 30 mph or above accounted for only 9.5 percent of city streets — but 28 percent of annual fatalities.

Intersection crashes frequently involve drivers who fail to yield when turning — a violation of New York Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1151. This data is directly relevant to establishing driver negligence in a personal injury claim.

Contributing Factors: What Causes These Crashes

Most pedestrian crashes in New York City are caused by driver behavior — not pedestrian error. NYC DOT has documented that dangerous driver choices including speeding, inattention, and failure to yield account for the majority of pedestrian fatalities. The data on specific contributing factors is consistent across multiple reporting years:

Driver Inattention and Distraction

Driver inattention is the single most frequently cited contributing factor in New York City traffic crashes. In 2023, it was cited in over 12,190 crashes in NYC alone — appearing as a factor in roughly 29.8 percent of all collisions. Distraction includes texting, phone use, GPS adjustment, eating, and any other activity that diverts attention from the road. Distracted driving is actionable negligence under New York law and supports liability in a pedestrian accident claim.

Failure to Yield

Failure to yield — particularly at crosswalks during left and right turns — is one of the leading causes of pedestrian fatalities. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1151 requires drivers to yield to pedestrians in both marked and unmarked crosswalks. In 2023, failure to yield was cited in nearly 4,700 crashes in NYC, making it a leading factor in intersection pedestrian collisions. Violations of this statute are strong evidence of negligence in a personal injury case.

Speeding

Speed is directly correlated with pedestrian fatality risk. A pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling at 20 mph has a far higher survival rate than one struck at 40 mph. Only 9.5 percent of New York City streets have speed limits of 30 mph or above — yet those streets accounted for 28 percent of annual fatalities.

In 2023, speeding was cited in 4,526 reported crash incidents in NYC. NYC DOT data shows speed cameras have reduced severe traffic injuries by nearly 30 percent at monitored locations. NYPD issued 31,349 Vision Zero–related speeding summonses in the first part of fiscal year 2025 alone.

Impaired Driving

Alcohol and drug impairment contribute to a significant share of pedestrian fatalities. Impaired driving played a role in approximately 20 percent of fatal accidents in New York City annually. The New York State Comptroller reported a 45 percent increase in the number of fatalities involving drivers above the legal limit over a five-year period ending in 2022. A driver operating a vehicle while impaired faces both civil liability and criminal consequences, and impairment significantly strengthens a pedestrian’s personal injury claim.

Red Light and Signal Violations

Running red lights remains a persistent hazard at intersections across the five boroughs. NYC DOT’s red light camera program has reduced violations by 94 percent at monitored intersections and cut right-angle crashes by 65 percent since the program began in 1994. However, cameras currently cover only about 1 percent of signalized intersections — leaving the vast majority unmonitored.

High-Risk Pedestrian Populations

Pedestrian accident data consistently shows that certain populations face elevated risk of injury or death. Understanding who is most vulnerable matters both for public safety efforts and for evaluating the full impact of injuries in a legal claim.

Older Adults

Seniors are disproportionately represented in pedestrian fatality data. Older pedestrians cross more slowly, may have reduced reaction time, and suffer more severe injuries when struck due to age-related physical vulnerability. Cases involving elderly victims often involve significantly higher medical costs and longer recovery periods, which directly affects the damages available. See Pedestrian Accident Injury Types for more on how age affects injury severity.

Children

Children — particularly those walking to and from school — face elevated exposure risk. In 2024, NYC recorded 16 child traffic fatalities (defined as those under 18), a 33 percent increase from 2023. Child fatalities fell sharply in 2025 to 6 — a 63 percent decline and near-record low. Students aged 11 to 14 make up more than 50 percent of student traffic injuries in every borough, according to NYC DOT data.

Nighttime Pedestrians

Visibility drops significantly after dark, and a disproportionate share of fatal crashes occur during low-light conditions. Pedestrians wearing dark clothing at night and those crossing at unlit mid-block locations face meaningfully higher risk. Reduced visibility at the time of an accident is a fact-specific finding that affects how fault is allocated under New York’s comparative negligence rules.

Pedestrians Crossing With the Signal

A critical data point: in Q2 2025 NYC DOT investigations, pedestrians crossing with the signal accounted for 29 percent of serious injury cases. Being in the crosswalk and crossing with the light does not guarantee safety. This data directly supports the legal argument that driver negligence — not pedestrian behavior — is the primary cause of most serious pedestrian injuries.

Vision Zero: What Enforcement Data Shows

New York City’s Vision Zero program, launched in 2014, is a data-driven initiative targeting the driver behaviors and street conditions most associated with pedestrian deaths. The enforcement data provides useful context for understanding where negligence concentrates.

• In fiscal year 2025, NYPD issued 119,145 Vision Zero–related moving summonses, including 31,349 for speeding and 11,024 for failure to yield to pedestrians.
• Speed cameras have reduced deadly speeding by over 90 percent at monitored locations, with severe traffic injuries declining nearly 30 percent near recently installed cameras.
• Red light cameras have reduced violations by 94 percent and right-angle crashes by 65 percent at monitored intersections since 1994.
• Leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs) — which give pedestrians a 3–7 second head start before vehicles get a green light — have been shown to reduce pedestrian-vehicle collisions by over 50 percent at treated intersections. Over 2,500 intersections now have LPIs installed.
• The Queens Boulevard redesign reduced pedestrian injuries by 45 percent and total crash injuries by 20 percent after completion.

Despite these improvements, cameras cover only about 1 percent of signalized intersections. The enforcement gap means that driver behavior at the overwhelming majority of intersections depends entirely on individual compliance — and the statistics show that compliance is far from universal.

What These Statistics Mean for Injured Pedestrians

The numbers on this page are not just public health data. They are context for understanding that pedestrian accidents in New York are foreseeable, preventable events driven overwhelmingly by driver negligence — and that the legal system exists to compensate the people they harm.

Key takeaways for injured pedestrians:

• Most crashes are caused by driver behavior. Speeding, distraction, and failure to yield — the top documented contributing factors — are each forms of negligence under New York law. Being struck does not mean the pedestrian was at fault.
• Being in a crosswalk with the signal is not a guarantee of safety. Twenty-nine percent of seriously injured pedestrians in recent NYC DOT data were crossing legally. Fault can still rest entirely with the driver.
• Serious injuries are rising even as fatalities fall. A pedestrian who survives a collision with catastrophic injuries faces a longer and more costly recovery than fatality statistics reflect. The damages available in a serious injury case can be substantial.
• Location and circumstances matter legally. Whether the crash occurred at an intersection, mid-block, or in a crosswalk affects how fault is evaluated and how liability arguments are framed. Brett J. Nomberg investigates all of these factors when building a case.

For a full explanation of who can be held liable and what compensation is available, see Pedestrian Accident Liability and Damages. For answers to the most common questions about how a claim works, see the Pedestrian Accident FAQ.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many pedestrians are killed in New York City each year?

In 2025, 111 pedestrians were killed in New York City — a 9 percent decline from 122 fatalities in 2024, according to NYC DOT. The 2025 total was among the lowest ever recorded. By comparison, 2024 had seen an 18 percent increase over 2023, underscoring that downward trends are not guaranteed year to year.

Which New York City borough is most dangerous for pedestrians?

Brooklyn and Queens consistently record the highest numbers of pedestrian crashes and fatalities. Brooklyn accounted for approximately 34 percent of all pedestrian-involved crashes in a recent measured year. Queens recorded the most total traffic fatalities among the five boroughs in 2023. Both boroughs saw significant increases in serious pedestrian injuries through the first nine months of 2024.

What are the most common causes of pedestrian accidents in New York?

Driver inattention is the most frequently cited contributing factor, appearing in nearly 30 percent of all NYC crashes in 2023. Failure to yield at crosswalks and speeding are the next most common causes of pedestrian fatalities.

NYC DOT has documented that dangerous driver choices — speeding, inattention, and failure to yield — account for the majority of pedestrian deaths. For more on how these factors affect a legal claim, see Pedestrian Accident Causes and Common Injuries.

Where in New York City do most pedestrian accidents happen?

The majority of serious pedestrian injuries and fatalities occur at intersections. NYC DOT data from Q2 2025 shows that 67 percent of serious pedestrian injury crash sites were at intersections, with 25 percent at mid-block locations. Eighty-eight percent of pedestrians killed in the first nine months of 2024 were struck at intersections with no daylighting protection.

How many pedestrians are seriously injured in New York City each year?

In the first nine months of 2024, 645 pedestrians sustained serious injuries in New York City — a 13 percent increase from the same period in 2023, according to Transportation Alternatives. Every week in 2024, an estimated 17 pedestrians suffered life-changing serious injuries. These are injuries that meet the legal serious injury threshold required to bring a personal injury lawsuit in New York.

How does New York compare to national pedestrian safety statistics?

Pedestrians account for approximately one quarter of all crash fatalities in New York State — more than 8 percentage points above the national average, according to the New York State Comptroller. Nationally, NHTSA estimated approximately 39,345 total traffic fatalities in 2024, with pedestrian deaths declining about 4 percent that year. New York’s pedestrian share of total fatalities consistently exceeds the national figure.

Talk to Brett J. Nomberg After a Pedestrian Accident

Every statistic on this page represents a person whose life was changed by a preventable collision. If you or someone you know was injured as a pedestrian in New York, Brett J. Nomberg is available to review your case at no cost.

The data shows that most pedestrian accidents are caused by driver negligence — and New York law exists to hold negligent drivers accountable. Call 212-808-8092 or use the contact page to schedule a free consultation. There is no fee unless you recover.