Why emptier US streets meant an especially deadly year for traffic deaths
New York
WHEN the pandemic hit New York City, cars seemed to disappear from many streets as the lockdown brought urban life to a halt and drivers stayed home.
Today, traffic is still lighter than usual at times. But in a troubling trend echoed across the country, the number of deadly car crashes has soared.
At least 243 people died in traffic crashes in New York City in 2020 - making it the deadliest year on record since Mayor Bill de Blasio introduced his signature plan to improve street safety in 2014.
The spike in traffic deaths defied historical trends. Economic downturns and reduced congestion typically lead to fewer fatal crashes, federal researchers say. But during the pandemic, it seemed that drivers who felt cooped up in their homes flocked to wide-open streets.
People sped recklessly down vacant highways. Riders who had not been on a motorcycle in years - or ever - took to roadways. In big cities, late-night drag racing became more popular as other entertainment vanished.
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Deaths of drivers, passengers and motorcyclists rose sharply in 2020, to 120, from 68 in 2019 - an increase of 76 per cent and the highest level in more than a decade, according to city data.
Those figures do not include deaths of pedestrians, which dropped, and of bicyclists, which remained about the same.
The overall spike in fatalities is a blow to Mr de Blasio's Vision Zero programme, which aimed to eliminate all traffic deaths by 2024, and a challenge for the coming months, when traffic patterns are unlikely to return to normal.
New York was not an outlier. Across the country, fatality rates for traffic crashes increased for the first time in years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a federal agency. Between April and June, the fatality rate rose to around 30 per cent higher than the first three months of the year, federal researchers found.
The spike can be explained, in no small part, by the coronavirus crisis.
Older people, who tend to be more cautious drivers, stayed home. Without their usual diversions, younger drivers - who are more prone to risk-taking - hit the road. And increased alcohol and drug use to cope with pandemic-related stress factored into many crashes, the federal agency said. NYTIMES
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