Statement from Transportation Alternatives After Driver Hits and Kills 3-Year-Old Girl, Injures 2-Year-Old Sister in Harlem

This is the 135th fatality in New York City in 2024. This year, fatalities are 16% higher than average in the Vision Zero era.

Cars and trucks have killed 17 pedestrians in Manhattan this year, 55% above average at this point in the year.

NEW YORK — Last night, an SUV driver hit and killed a 3-year-old girl as she was crossing the street with her mother and two siblings. Her 2-year-old sister was also injured. The driver was traveling south on Lenox Avenue when he turned left onto West 135th Street and hit the family crossing in the crosswalk.

The girl is the 115th child to be killed in the Vision Zero era, and the ninth child to be killed in 2024. She is the sixth child to be killed while walking. 

The intersection of West 135th & Lenox has repeatedly proven to be dangerous; on average, nearly 10 New Yorkers are injured here annually. This intersection is a Vision Zero Priority Intersection, but it has no turn-calming infrastructure to slow down drivers and protect pedestrians. Lenox Avenue is also a Vision Zero Priority Corridor, and is one of just a few boroughwide corridors to have become more dangerous over the past decade.

Congestion pricing would have brought fewer cars into Manhattan – while the program remains paused, more and more cars will come into the most congested borough in New York City. This year, Manhattan traffic fatalities overall are 33% above average and Manhattan pedestrian fatalities are 55% above average. 

Statement from Elizabeth Adams, Co-Interim Executive Director at Transportation Alternatives:

“Last night, a mother experienced the very worst day of her life. While she was crossing the street with her three young children, a driver hit two of them and killed her 3-year-old daughter. She watched as her daughter died in the hospital across the street. Harlem deserves better from its leaders, and Harlem residents deserve truly safe streets.” 

“Again, New York City’s leaders have failed to protect their youngest and most vulnerable pedestrians. Just a few weeks earlier, another set of sisters were hit by a car while crossing the street, and one girl was killed while another was hospitalized with injuries.”

“This is the deadliest year on our city’s streets in the past decade. We’re in a crisis – but New York’s leadership is doing little to protect those walking, biking, and driving on our roads. From the governor pausing congestion pricing – one of the most critical pieces of street safety legislation in the last decade – to the mayor refusing to meet the legal mandates of the Streets Plan or support common-sense safety projects like a bus lane on Flatbush Avenue, New Yorkers are suffering amid shocking negligence from our elected officials.”