‘Walkable’ New York City Became Deadlier for Pedestrians in 2024

Many New Yorkers believe the city is best appreciated on foot. But the teeming streets — packed with cars, bikes and a growing number of other vehicles — became increasingly hostile to pedestrians in 2024, city statistics show.

A decade into an effort to reduce traffic fatalities in New York City, total deaths have begun to trend upward in recent years after consistently dropping during the first five years of the initiative.

And certain categories of traffic fatalities — including pedestrian deaths — crept upward in 2024, according to city data, stirring concerns in a place that prides itself on being walkable.

In July, a 51-year-old man was killed by a driver who ran a red light in Harlem. In October, Felix Mendez, a 49-year-old Mexican immigrant, was killed by a driver while he waited at an intersection in Brooklyn at 3 a.m. On Christmas Day, a taxi driver hit six pedestrians, including a 9-year-old boy, in Midtown Manhattan.

“Every single New Yorker is a pedestrian; we are the most walkable city in the United States and the overwhelming number of any New Yorkers’ trips are on foot,” said Philip Miatkowski, the interim deputy executive director of Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group that tracks traffic fatalities. “So, to see any increase like that is definitely alarming and something we need to take seriously.”

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio began an initiative to reduce traffic fatalities, called the Vision Zero Action Plan, in 2014. The year before, 299 people were killed in traffic, including an 8-year-old boy who was struck by a turning truck in Brooklyn near his school in a tragedy that solidified support for Vision Zero.