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The death toll in traffic in New York in 2018 has fallen to the lowest level in more than a century, a sign of progress by Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to eliminate deaths on the streets of New York City. the city. The news is not all promising: even though the total number of deaths has dropped, pedestrians who died in traffic increased last year, city officials said on Tuesday.
De Blasio implemented several improvements to his security plan. to eliminate all traffic accidents by 2024, he called Vision Zero, a program inspired by the Swedish plan.
According to preliminary City Council data, the number of deaths in a road accident in New York City dropped to 200 last year, down from 222 deaths in 2017 and the lowest level since 1910 when the city began to take note of these deaths.
The reduction is part of a five-year decline begun in 2013 (29 9 deaths), the year before the entry into force of the Vision Zero plan and the speed limit on the most roads falling at 40 km / h.
"It is clear that Zero Vision is working," commented De Blasio. but the deaths of pedestrians, responsible for most of the deaths in traffic jams, went from 107 in 2017 to 114 last year – a worrying sign that the city's streets continue to be dangerous for many New- Yorkers.
Democrat De Blasio, whose second term as mayor began a year ago, found disappointing the increase in the number of pedestrian deaths. He added that the city would seek to make changes to make streets safer and implement laws requiring vehicles to prefer pedestrians.
"Drivers have not taken their obligation to favor pedestrians very seriously," said the mayor. . "The police will be stricter."
The deaths of cyclists increased from 24 in 2017 to 10 last year. The number of people who died in vehicles also dropped from 58 in 2017 to 37 in 2018. But motorcyclists killed in traffic jams went from 33 in 2017 to 39.
Across the country, More than 37,000 people died as a result of an accident. traffic in 2017, according to federal figures that are not yet available for 2018. The number of road fatalities in the United States decreased by 2% in 2017, but increased in 2016 and 2015.
New York, De Blasio is pushing for faster action to improve street safety. Speaking of the deaths of last year, Conner said: "It was a breakthrough and deserves to be applauded." [Conn.] Conner, deputy director of Transportation Alternatives, said that there was still a lot of dead and wounded. But the big question is, "Why do not we do more to fight this epidemic?" In fact, we are just taking small steps.
"The deaths in traffic come from all walks of life in New York City, two children – Abigail Blumenstein, age 5, and Joshua Lew, 1 year old – were killed by a driver in Brooklyn while" … 89-year-old Beatrice Kahn was hit by a car in the Bronx A nine-year-old Australian, Giovanni Ampuero, was hit by a driver from Queens who escaped without a car success.
A 23-year-old Australian woman died in August, hit by a garbage truck while she was riding a bicycle near Central Park, and was shut down by a taxi that invaded the bike path. 19659002] The city's transport commissioner, Polly Trottenberg, said that her agency had completed 138 road improvement works last year and built more than 32 roads in the city .km km of protected cycle paths. It considered the 2018 figures as "res encouraging results unprecedented among other US cities ".
Road crashes were a scourge for New York in the past, with a peak of 1,360 deaths in 1929, although there were far fewer cars at that time than today. ; hui. Even in 1990, the traffic of the city had made 701 dead, which makes even more remarkable the last most recent figure.
The Vision Zero program was faced with a major hurdle last summer when state lawmakers did not renew operating licenses for radars located close to 140 schools which, according to the city council, would have reduced by 63% the number of cars driving at high speed during school hours. Governor Andrew Cuomo and City Council President Corey Johnson intervened to keep the radars running.
Johnson recently won the "Heroes of the Year, Vision Zero" award from the Streetsblog website, which publishes information on street safety. the mayor to win the first prize. The site praised him for his support of speed cameras and the congestion charge, a proposed toll for cars entering Manhattan. De Blasio had resisted this proposition.
Conner of Transportation Alternatives said that Johnson pleaded for priority to be given to pedestrian safety, not to that of cars – a leading role that De Blasio did not exercise. is related to the perspective of the automobile, "said Conner, referring to the fact that De Blasio was driving through the city.
De Blasio dismissed criticisms that Johnson would have led the implementation of Vision Zero , saying that the security program is a "There is a lot of credit to share," he said.
Translation by Clara Allain
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