NEW YORK — On the heels of record-low traffic fatalities during 2025, city data shows the first quarter of 2026 to have been among the safest on New York City streets on record. So far this year, 42 people have been killed in traffic incidents in the city, the third safest start to the year since the city started keeping records more than 100 years ago. “New York City leads the nation in ...

Pedestrians and cars move along Ninth Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City on March 21, 2026.

Charly Triballeau/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

NEW YORK — On the heels of record-low traffic fatalities during 2025, city data shows the first quarter of 2026 to have been among the safest on New York City streets on record.

So far this year, 42 people have been killed in traffic incidents in the city, the third safest start to the year since the city started keeping records more than 100 years ago.

“New York City leads the nation in reducing traffic deaths, with progress driven by targeted, data-informed street redesigns and targeted enforcement against speeding, red-light running and other dangerous driving behaviors,” Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn said in a statement.

“But our work is far from done,” he added, “because one death is one too many.”

So far this year, 23 pedestrians have been killed on the streets of Gotham, down from 29 in the first quarter of 2025, and the fewest number of pedestrians killed in the first three months of the year since 1910.

January, February and March were also record-breaking for motor vehicle occupants, with eight people killed while driving or riding in a car or truck — down from 10 by this time last year, and also the lowest since 1910, when the Ford Model T was just 2 years old.

Two-wheeled fatalities, however, are up from last year. One person has died in the past three months while riding a bicycle, up from zero during the opening months of 2025.

Four people died atop e-bikes, holding steady from last year.

Three people died on stand-up e-scooters and one while riding a moped — up from zero in either category during the first quarter of last year.

Motorcycle deaths went up, as well — from one in the first three months of 2025 to two so far this year.

One person died on an off-road vehicle in the first quarter of last year, while there have been no such fatalities so far this year.

The three safest years in the city’s history — 2025, 2018 and 2015 — are separated by no more than a decade. In a Wednesday press release, Department of Transportation officials attributed the decline in traffic deaths to the effects of Vision Zero street redesigns and the ongoing expansion of automated, camera-based, speed limit and red light enforcement.

DOT brass specifically highlighted changes to Seagirt Blvd. in the Rockaways that replaced two lanes of motor vehicle traffic with a protected bicycle lane and improvements to pedestrian space and traffic signals. In the two years since that project was completed, officials said pedestrian injuries were down 25%.

Likewise, officials touted similar changes along E. 180th St. in the Bronx for a 34% reduction in injuries to motor-vehicle occupants.