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Traffic fatalities down 26 percent under de Blasio: report – Metro US

Traffic fatalities down 26 percent under de Blasio: report

(Credit: Getty Images) (Credit: Getty Images)

Traffic fatalities across the five boroughs are down 26 percent so far under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, according to a published report.

The New York Daily News reports that 51 motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists died in accidents between Jan. 1 and March 30, down from 69 people killed during the same period last year.

The number of injuries in crashes is also down. During the same period, 10,729 people were hurt in traffic accidents, compared with 11,650 between Jan. 1 and March 30 last year.

“Although it may still be somewhat early to establish a definite cause-and-effect explanation for this decrease, we believe that the heightened traffic-safety awareness attributed to the Vision Zero program, as well as increased education, enforcement and engineering initiatives, may have played an important role,” Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said in a statement to the News.

Through the Vision Zero initiative, the city aims to eliminate traffic fatalities entirely. Police have already stepped up enforcement on speeding drivers and drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians.

De Blasio is now pushing for state legislation to increase the number of speed cameras deployed in the city’s school zones from 20 to 140.

Traffic fatalities have steadily declined over the past two decades, according to the News. There were 701 traffic fatalities in 1990, 381 in 2000 and 249 in 2011.