Phillip Kalantzis-CopeNewly released data of crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists reveals that Bowery and East Houston Street was the city’s most accident-prone intersection for bicyclists from 1995 to 2009.
During that time span, there were 41 accidents at the intersection, according to the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, which has compiled new data from the New York State Department of Transportation in an interactive map called Crashstat.
Transportation Alternatives said the new statistics pointed to the need for further reforms that would make the city more pedestrian-and-cyclist-friendly.
“As long as the default response to a motor vehicle crash is that it’s an accident, the behavior that’s killing and injuring people will continue,” wrote the group’s director, Paul Steely White, in a press release.
The new data also bolsters the reputation of Delancey and Essex Streets: it had previously been called one of the deadliest intersections in the city based on state data from 1998-2010, provided to the Daily News, and city numbers from 2008-2009, provided to The Local.
In August, new countdown clocks were installed along the thoroughfare in response to a fatal crash involving a cyclist at Delancey and Chrystie Streets.
On the new map, each of Delancey’s intersections from Clinton Street to the Bowery is marked with numerous crashes, including at least eight fatalities. Many bicycle commuters traveling over the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges pass through the busy neighborhood; a likely factor for the high frequency of accidents.
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 12, 2011
An earlier version of this article, based on incorrect information in the press release, misstated that Bowery and Houston was the most accident-prone for pedestrians (it is in fact the most accident-prone for bicyclists) with 163 accidents (there were 43). That version also misstated the time range of the study as being from 1990 to 2009.
