Buses make up a major part of the Metro Transit Authority’s efforts to get New Yorker’s to their destinations. While overall, transit buses are a safe way to travel, it seems that New York’s bus riders are experiencing more injuries. Beginning in 2015, MTA buses were involved in 21,823 crashes. This averages to about 23 per day. These crashes led to 2,520 people being injured and at least 14 fatalities. 180 of these crashes were with school buses. Now, as AM New York reports, more bus riders are getting injured as bus drivers try to negotiate New York streets.
According to the MTA, an increase in customer accidents has occurred over the past year. Accidents per 1 million customers increased from 1.26 to 1.45 when comparing the last 12 months to the previous 12 months.
Robert Diehl, the senior vice president of Safety and Security for the MTA, says that this increase is attributable to jerky bus movements as driver try to negotiate pedestrians, cyclists, and other vehicles.
Collisions per million miles are also on the rise, from 53.99 to 54.62. This also means that an increase in injuries has taken place, rising from 6 to 6.11 per million miles.
The MTA is trying multiple approaches in an effort to reduce these accidents. Undercover rides are one method that the MTA has put to use. In August, there were 500 undercover rides, and there have been 4,400 in total over this year.
After several years where traffic fatalities dropped to record lows, New York has seen a rise in accidents in 2019. Police department data reveals that there has been an increase in pedestrian, cyclist, and overall traffic death fatalities.
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