The mayor’s “Vision Zero” plan to end traffic deaths in the city is shifting gears in its second year, according to a report released Tuesday.
The program helped bring pedestrian deaths to their lowest point in the city’s history in 2014.
The city’s plan for the upcoming year will focus more on trucks and buses, which were involved in almost a quarter of the pedestrian fatalities.
There were 15 pedestrian fatalities caused by buses in 2014, even though there was an average of slightly less than nine deaths in the past three years. Seven involved MTA buses, according to a spokesman.
Another 17 pedestrians were also killed by trucks, slightly up from the average.
The city is working with the MTA to make buses safe for drivers and pedestrians by using audio warnings for turns and technology that uses cameras and radar to warn drivers of possible crashes.
The NYPD also will create areas where cops will focus on the driving of truck operators and other large vehicles such as buses.
Vehicle side guards, which make it less likely for people walking and biking to be severely hurt if hit by a truck, will added to more than 200 garbage trucks, salt spreaders, tractor trailers and other vehicles in the city’s truck fleet, officials said.
The city is also looking at using incentives to increase overnight deliveries by trucks, as well as regulations that will limit deliveries and double-parking by trucks during busy times of the day.
Companies that do deliveries at night have saved money on gas and found it easier to find parking, and drivers were less stressed, in a DOT pilot program.
In the second year of Vision Zero, taxi passengers could also face a fine if they don’t wear their seatbelt when sitting in the front of a cab.
Riders would be penalized as well if a child under 16 is not wearing a seatbelt in the back.
Overall, speeding tickets went up 42 percent last year. A new citywide 25 mph speed limit went into effect in the fall.
Summonses for failing to yield also went up 128 percent.