“Mayor de Blasio’s Legacy Will Be the New Yorkers Killed on His Watch.”

Transportation Alternatives Responds to the Killing of a Cyclist in East Harlem

Statement of Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris:

“On the morning of Friday, December 11, a cyclist was killed at the intersection of 118th Street and 1st Avenue in East Harlem. The victim is at least the 24th person to be killed riding a bicycle in New York City this year, one of more than 230 people killed in traffic crashes in 2020. Manhattan Community Board 11, where this crash occurred, has had the highest number of cyclist fatalities of any community board in New York City in the past nine years.

In initial reports, the NYPD accused the cyclist of riding the wrong way down 1st Avenue. While the investigation is ongoing, the NYPD has a long and well-documented history of publicizing premature conclusions to crash investigations and victim-blaming pedestrians and cyclists killed in crashes. In at least two crashes last year, the NYPD later reversed their initial conclusion that cyclists were at fault after conducting a full investigation. 

While the details of the crash remain unclear, initial reports note the involvement of a truck driver and a driver who double-parked their car. This confluence of dangers is no surprise to anyone who has tried to cross a New York City street. The loss of another New Yorker to unsafe streets is not an accident, but the predictable and preventable outcome of the failure to implement proven safety measures citywide. Unless Mayor de Blasio wakes up and does something, his legacy will be the more than 1,000 New Yorkers who were killed in traffic crashes on his watch. 

New York City remains on track for the second-highest number of traffic fatalities since Mayor de Blasio took office, and for the third year in a row, an increase in traffic fatalities. Instead of doing more to protect New Yorkers as they walk and bike on city streets, the mayor is doing less. Mayor de Blasio has slashed funding for life-saving programs like Vision Zero, the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program, the Green Wave plan, and the Streets Master Plan. Without immediate action from the mayor, more New Yorkers will continue to die in preventable crashes on our streets.”