NYC on track for deadliest year for cyclist fatalities, advocates say

NEW YORK — New York is on track for its deadliest year for cyclist fatalities in nearly a quarter century, according to a review of city data conducted by advocates at Transportation Alternatives.

To date, 26 New Yorkers have died riding bicycles this year, setting the stage for the highest death toll since 1999, a report released by the cycling advocacy group said Tuesday.

That year saw 40 people killed while riding on city streets — the highest on record for New York City.

By comparison, 18 cyclists were killed in 2022, according to data kept by the city Transportation Department — 15 of them by this time last year.

As previously reported by the Daily News, 11 cyclists had been killed by early April this year, sparking concern among safe street advocates.

“Both the first and second quarters of 2023 were deadlier than the Vision Zero-era average,” the Transportation Alternatives report reads, referencing the city’s initiative to eradicate motor vehicle deaths that began in 2014 under Mayor De Blasio.

“This is already the deadliest first two years of any mayor’s term for bike riders in recorded history, and there are still three months left in 2023,” the report continues.

Unmentioned in the report, but notable in city data, is that 18 of the cyclists killed this year were riding e-bikes — about 70% of the recorded fatalities.

E-bikes have accounted for a significant portion of cycling fatalities over the past few years. Nine of the 18 people killed last year were riding e-bikes, as were 11 of the 19 people killed in 2021.

According to Transportation Department data, six of those killed this year were involved in “solo collisions,” where they were not hit by another vehicle.

Of the remaining 20 cyclists who were fatally struck by another vehicle, Transportation Alternatives found that 19 died on streets that had no protected bike lane infrastructure.

The group has long criticized Mayor Eric Adams’ administration for failing to meet bike lane construction goals throughout the city.

A spokesperson for Adams did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Asked about the 26 cycling fatalities Thursday during a press conference announcing new protected greenway bike lanes, the mayor said, “That is why we’re building out a safe bicycle network.”

Adams also argued the city needed to “educate bicycle riders” and crack down on speeding drivers in an effort to make streets safer for cyclists.

“I’m a rider,” he said. “I’m not going to fail myself.”

Adams’ annual Mayoral Management Report, released last month, reported 47.7 miles of new bike lanes in the 2023 fiscal year, which runs from July 2022 to July 2023.

Of those, 25.9 miles were bike lanes protected from car traffic by dividers — less than the 33.2 miles developed in the 2022 fiscal year, the report shows.

The city’s streets master plan, passed into law in 2019, requires 250 miles of protected bike lanes to be installed by 2026.

Transportation Alternatives’ bike lane tracker reports only 33.5 miles have been installed so far.

Adams announced 40 miles of additional bike lanes last week as part of a sweeping revamp of city greenways.

“Announcements alone are not infrastructure,” Transportation Alternatives head Danny Harris said in Tuesday’s report. “Promises won’t keep bike riders safe — but completed, fully-protected bike lanes will.”

The report criticizes the mayor for failing to follow through on protected bike lane projects on Ashland Place and McGuinness Blvd. in Brooklyn.

Transportation Alternatives did commend the city on increased safety for pedestrians, however, noting in the report that 2023 is so far the second safest year for pedestrians since the start of Vision Zero.

According to city data, 68 pedestrians have been killed in traffic incidents to date since Jan. 1 — lower than any other year in recent history save 2020, when COVID lockdowns resulted in fewer people and vehicles on the streets.

A total of 94 pedestrians were killed in 2020, 67 of them by October of that year.