No More Accidents—Only Choices: Demand Action on Deadly Streets

Manhattan CB2: Jan 1, 2022 - Jul 24, 2025

Death on Familiar Streets

In Manhattan CB2, violence does not come in a single storm. It arrives every week, every day, in the slow grind of wheels on asphalt and bodies broken in the crosswalk. In the last twelve months, three people died and 397 were injured in 859 crashes. Ten were left with injuries so severe they may never walk the same. The dead do not get a second chance.

Just last spring, a cyclist was killed at Centre and Broome. In October, a woman crossing with the signal at Crosby and Spring was struck and killed by a turning SUV. A man was crushed by a backing garbage truck on Cornelia Street. These are not rare events. They are the city’s heartbeat now.

The Human Cost

A crash is not an accident. It is a system working as designed. Most victims are walkers and cyclists. The numbers are cold: cars and SUVs caused the most harm, with 4 deaths and 235 injuries. Trucks and buses killed one, injured 23. Motorcycles, mopeds, and bikes left dozens more hurt. The cost is measured in lives cut short, families left waiting for someone who will not come home.

“It felt like he was scratching like big noise and I was honking like stop and he kept doing it,” said Martina Minor after a Midtown chase ended in wreckage and fear (ABC7).

Leadership: Action and Delay

Local leaders have moved, but slowly. Assembly Member Deborah Glick and State Senator Brian Kavanagh both voted to renew and expand speed camera enforcement near schools. Glick also sponsored bills to crack down on drivers who hide their plates and to extend camera enforcement. But the citywide 20 mph limit allowed by Sammy’s Law remains unused. Every day of delay is another day of risk.

What Now: No More Waiting

This is not fate. It is policy. Call your council member. Call the mayor. Demand a 20 mph limit. Demand cameras that work, and laws that stop repeat offenders. The dead cannot speak. You can.