Crash Injuries Rise In Harlem In 2021, Data Shows

HARLEM, NY — Traffic injures in Harlem are at their highest levels in five years, according to city data, lending support to concerns that New York's streets have grown less safe despite the city's efforts.

So far in 2021, 986 people have been injured in crashes in Harlem — a total that already exceeds last year's total of 900, with more than a month remaining in the year. The number of injury crashes this year is the highest since 2016, which had more than 1,000.

At least five people have been killed in crashes on Harlem streets this year, including three pedestrians and two motorists.

Across the five boroughs, traffic deaths have surged this year to nearly 250 people — their highest level since 2013. Safe-streets advocates have pinned blame on Mayor Bill de Blasio, saying his ambitious Vision Zero program has come nowhere close to achieving its goal of ending all traffic fatalities.

In Harlem, most of those injured in crashes this year have been drivers, who make up more than half of the total. They are followed by pedestrians at 18 percent, and cyclists at 17 percent.

Mapping the accidents shows them distributed throughout Harlem, especially on north-south thoroughfares like Frederick Douglass Boulevard (22 crashes), Park Avenue (19 crashes) and St. Nicholas Avenue (13 crashes).

A number of explanations have been floated for the troubling trends, including the addition of more than 120,000 new vehicles to New York City's streets as car purchases spiked during the pandemic. Reckless driving has also risen, authorities note, while advocates say the city has done a poor job expanding its network of bike lanes and pedestrian spaces.

This year's five fatal crashes happened between April and November. They include an April 19 crash that killed a pedestrian on 145th Street near Jackie Robinson Park, an Aug. 27 crash that killed a 61-year-old man walking near Marcus Garvey Park, and the motorcyclist killed by an alleged hit-and-run driver in East Harlem on Nov. 9.

And while bicycles and scooters have become a frequent object of scorn at local community board meetings, the data shows that cars were responsible for a vast majority of crashes that injured pedestrians in Harlem this year — about 87 percent.

Police enforcement of traffic violations, meanwhile, has dropped precipitously. Through October, Harlem police precincts had issued just over 20,800 moving violations. By contrast, in 2019, the same precincts had given out over 39,200 traffic tickets through August.