Brooklyn is a borough of bikers, but the streets here aren’t always friendly.
In 2017, Brooklyn was the borough with the most bike crashes, according to an end of year report issued by the Department of Transportation. Out of the 5,051 bike crashes that occurred across New York City, 1,880, or about 37 percent, occurred in Brooklyn. Manhattan ranked in second place, with 1,619 crashes, accounting for about 32 percent of the total.
These counts include crashes where a cyclist crashed with a motor vehicle, a pedestrian, another bike, or even all on its own.
The most common type of crash that bikes encounter is with motor vehicles. When looking across the precincts in Brooklyn, the 83rd precinct, which is in Bushwick, has the fourth highest incidents of crashes between bikes and motor vehicles. In Bushwick, there were 110 of these crashes, resulting in 110 bicyclist injuries, one bicyclist fatality, and four motor vehicle occupant injuries.
The Brooklyn precinct with the most bike and motor vehicle crashes was Williamsburg, with 170 crashes reported in 2017.
In 2014, the most recent year for which the data is available, about 8 percent of Brooklyn residents used bikes as a major source of transportation, and that number is sure to go up once L-pocalypse hits next April.
For more information about where bike crashes occur, check out this map on NYC.gov.
So that’s your fast fact of the week, Bushwick! Have a question about the neighborhood that you want us to try and answer using data? Leave a comment below!
Cover image courtesy of Katarina Hybenova