More people died in New York City car crashes in the first six months of 2021 than the first-half of any other year since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office, according to a new report — despite Hizzoner’s vow to cut traffic deaths to zero.
A record-setting 124 people had died in traffic through June 30, 2021, according to bicycle and pedestrian advocates at Transportation Alternatives.
Pedestrian and motor vehicle occupants suffered the most, the group said — with 64 walkers and 52 motorists killed so far. Fatal crashes also took the lives of eight cyclists.
“More people are dying on Mayor de Blasio’s streets because he failed to quickly and aggressively scale the safety solutions of Vision Zero… instead choosing to deliver piecemeal projects and unfulfilled promises,” said the group’s director Danny Harris.
May 2021 marked the third deadliest month for traffic fatalities since de Blasio took office on January 1, 2014, according to the report, which used official NYPD stats.
Hit-and-runs have been especially bad, the report said — with 47 in the first six months of 2021, more than any half-year period since cops began keeping track in 2015. Of those 47 cases where drivers fled crash scenes, NYPD made just 11 arrests, the report said.
The group said the mayor must “fast-track” street redesigns in his final five months in office to reallocate street space currently for cars for pedestrians and bike lanes.
Reached for comment, a City Hall spokesman directed The Post to de Blasio’s July 2 comments on WNYC about the tragic surge in traffic deaths.
“What went wrong is COVID,” the mayor said at the time of his “Vision Zero” program, which initially promised to cut traffic fatalities to zero by 2024.
The comments echoed his repeated defense of the city’s ongoing surge in gun violence.
“We saw [Vision Zero] radically reduced crashes and injuries and deaths,” de Blasio said.
“Along comes COVID, and just like with our efforts to fight violence for six years… COVID unglued everything.”
