Traffic fatalities in the city have dropped 23 percent since the start of the Vision Zero initiative in 2013, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.
“Under Vision Zero, we have now seen traffic fatalities in our city decline for three straight years, strongly countering national trends,” he said in a news statement.
The mayor asserted that 229 people died in traffic accidents last year, the fewest ever recorded. In 2015, the city recorded 234 traffic deaths.
Traffic fatalities nationwide increased by more than 7 percent last year, the largest increase in 50 years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Vision Zero is national safety project aiming to dramatically reduce or eliminate traffic deaths.
In New York City, the program includes several strategies to reduce traffic accidents ranging from from redesigning roads to training bus drivers on safe driving practices.
Brooklyn led all boroughs with a record decline in traffic deaths. A total of 51 people died in traffic accidents in Brooklyn last year, nearly 25 percent fewer than in 2015.
The mayor also credited the “Cross This Way” curriculum with reducing traffic-related deaths of school-age children in the city. Three children were killed in traffic accidents last year. An average of eight school-age children died in accidents during the previous five years.
NYC records fewest traffic fatalities ever: Mayor
