NEW YORK—Youth in public housing areas are victims of auto accidents far more frequently than other areas, found a report released by nonprofit Transportation Alternatives, an alternative transportation advocate.
“Of the East Side’s top 10 intersections for motor vehicle crashes that kill or injure child (or youth under 18) pedestrians and bicyclists, nine are located in close proximity to public housing developments in East Harlem and the Lower East Side,” states the report “Child Crashes: An Unequal Burden.”
“I am very concerned about the findings illustrated by this map,” said Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, according to the release. “My district contains the greatest concentration of public housing in the city and is located in an area of Manhattan where traffic can be quite heavy. That means the children of my district are at risk.”
Mark-Viverito suggests adding bike lanes in East Harlem, as well as safer driving habits.
A crash victim in East Harlem, or Community District 11, is a child 43 percent of the time. The number declines to less than 15 percent on the Upper East Side, or neighboring Community District 8. Another area analyzed was the Lower East Side/Chinatown, in which children account for 3 out of every 10 crash victims.
Contributing factors may include more children in public housing developments and more reckless driving near public housing. The report calls for increased traffic enforcement by the New York City Police Department, which NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly has noted recently.
The report is the second in a “crash map” series, which uses data from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles from 1995–2009.
