The first year of Vision Zero in Queens was a qualified success.    The borough had 88 traffic fatalities, a 5% reduction from 2013, but still more than the number of fatalities in 2012.  To meet Mayor de Blasio’s goal of zero traffic fatalities in a decade, higher rates of decline will be needed in future years.

Boroughwide there were about 3,443 ped/cyclist injuries and fatalities in 2014, about 6.5% fewer than last year.  Citywide, pedestrian and cyclist injuries and fatalities declined by 6.9%.  In five Queens precincts (104, 109, 110, 111, and 113) ped/cyclist injuries and fatalities dropped by more than 10%. The greatest improvement was the 20% drop in ped/cyclist injuries/fatalities in the 111th Precinct (Bayside).

In addition, there were about 11,404 injuries and fatalities among motorists and passengers in Queens, about 4.4% lower than in 2013. This figure fell by 7.4% citywide.   Five Queens precincts (100, 101, 104, 107, and 115) saw reductions of 10% or more. The greatest improvement was the 22% drop in vehicle occupant injuries/fatalities in the 101st Precinct (the Rockaways).

Traffic enforcement rates in Queens dropped in December but remained significantly higher overall for 2014 relative to last year:

• NYPD issues 21% more tickets for red light running (failure to stop at signal) in Queens than last year (the citywide increase was 30%).  With a 97% increase over 2013, the 112th Precinct (Forest Hills/Rego Park) registered the greatest increase in red light enforcement effort of any precinct in Queens.
• Tickets for speeding in Queens were up about 69% from last year (citywide, these tickets were up 42%). This excludes speed camera violations in school zones, which are new this year and growing rapidly as more cameras are deployed. The greatest increase in speeding enforcement was been in the 104th Precinct (Glendale/Ridgewood/Maspeth), which increased speeding citations by 293% over 2013.
• Tickets for Failure to Yield to Pedestrians rose by 104% in Queens and 126% citywide. Enforcement improved most notably in the 112th Precinct (Forest Hills/Rego Park), where it increased by 240% over last year.
• Enforcement against illegal cell phone use while driving fell 20% from last year in Queens, and fell 16% citywide. The 102nd Precinct (Kew Gardens/Richmond Hill/Woodhaven) was the only one in Queens with higher enforcement levels in 2014 than in 2013.

Queens outpaced the city as a whole in increasing enforcement against speeding.  It lagged the city as a whole in reduction of traffic injuries, and enforcement of failure to stop at signals, failure to yield to pedestrians, and driving while using cell phones.

NYPD’s enforcement actions are a critical contributor to reductions in injury and fatality rates, but not the only factor.   Education and engineering are also tremendously important.   Furthermore, evolving traffic patterns and pedestrian activity levels in different neighborhoods will cause unpredictable changes in their traffic injury rates from year to year.   As a result, we do not expect to see a strong statistical relationship between enforcement actions and reductions in injury rates in any particular precinct.  We do not believe that these data can be used to draw meaningful conclusions about the effectiveness of NYPD’s enforcement efforts.

Here’s our full report.  These precincts led the way in Queens in 2014: