New Hit-and-Run Data Reveal 129 Percent Increase Compared to Pre-Pandemic as Another Pedestrian Is Killed on Houston Street

Thursday’s hit-and-run occurred just one block away from where NYU student Raife Milligan was killed in May and just blocks away from where hit-and-run driver killed  23-year-old delivery cyclist Borkot Ullah in 2021

At least one person has been injured in a crash on Houston Street every three days for the last five years

Despite repeated deadly crashes on Houston, street design that prioritizes speeding drivers, endangers people walking and biking remains

NEW YORK — On Thursday morning, a speeding driver struck and killed 21-year-old Andy Eduardo Gil as he crossed East Houston Street at Forsyth Streets in a hit-and-run. This deadly crash comes after new data revealed that hit-and-runs involving critical injury more than doubled, up 129 percent, in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2019 — with just one case solved. While the numbers of hit-and-runs declined from last year’s deadly peak, they remain above their pre-pandemic numbers.

Houston Street is a notoriously dangerous corridor, with four, wide travel lanes encouraging deadly speeding. This can be seen in a nearby speed safety camera, at East Houston and Avenue C, which gave 18,870 tickets in Fiscal Year 21, a ticket every 13.2 minutes of operation. Despite this known danger, and a street design which clearly induces speeding, when New York City redesigned Houston Street between the greenway and Second Avenue, it actually increased the width of travel lanes — encouraging even faster speeds.

In late 2020, the City also promised to install “enhanced crossings” for pedestrian safety, but this has not occured. In fact, despite a deadly safety record, the whole of East Houston Street has only three leading pedestrian intervals, three turn-calming improvements, and no enhanced crossings or 25 mph signal retiming.

In the past five years, 585 people have been injured, including 128 pedestrians and 115 people biking on East and West Houston Streets. This means that at least one person has been injured on Houston Street every three days for the last five years. Three people have now been killed.

With this fatality, crashes have now killed 125 people in 2022, a 26 percent increase over this time in 2018, the safest year under Vision Zero. Crashes have killed 20 people in Manhattan this year. There have been 13 fatalities in the first 14 days of July, nearly one each day.

Statement from Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris:

“Our hearts break for yet another person killed crossing  Houston Street. We send our deepest condolences to the loved ones of Andy Eduardo Gil.”

“Crossing the street should not be a death sentence, yet time and time again we’ve seen the deadly consequences of government inaction on known-dangerous streets and street designs that prioritize the movement of vehicles at any cost. 

“Our leaders must urgently invest in street design that puts people and their safety before the movement of car traffic. We can’t afford any more half measures. We need to fast-track the implementation of the NYC Streets Plan and expand traffic-calming measures such as protected intersections and curb extensions with daylighting.”

“We demand justice for the loved ones of Andy Eduardo Gil, and all New Yorkers who have lost loved ones or been injured by drivers who attempt to escape accountability by fleeing the scene. We must never accept the high number of hit-and-runs and traffic deaths as normal.”

Statement from Assemblymember Harvey Epstein:

“I stand with Transportation Alternatives in outrage at another senseless death on our streets. Too many of our policies and too much of our physical infrastructure prioritizes cars over pedestrians and cyclists. As a cyclist and pedestrian who crosses Houston street almost every day, I know how dangerous our streets are. The result continues to be deadly. I look forward to working with Transportation Alternatives and other advocates to make our streets safer. My deepest condolences to the family of Andy Eduardo Gil.”

Additional information on background:

Hit-and-runs involving critical injury continue to be above pre-pandemic numbers. While they have declined 33% compared to last year, they are still up 50% year-to-date over 2019.

There were more hit-and-runs involving critical injury in each quarter during the pandemic — from Q2 2020 to Q2 2022 — compared to the pre-pandemic quarter in 2018, 2019, and the first quarter of 2020.

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