Streets near schools more dangerous than other streets, data shows

Data on Streetsblog shows that on school days, streets near schools are more dangerous on average than other city streets.

This traffic chaos outside numerous New York City schools is threatening the safety of schoolchildren across the city.

During the 8 a.m. hour, when hundreds of thousands of children stream into 1,600 city-run public schools, there are 57% more crashes and 25% more injuries per mile on streets near schools than on the city’s other streets.

This disparity largely disappears on days when schools are closed.

Streets are especially dangerous outside schools where most students are poor or children of color.

The rate of people injured by cars on school days in the 2019 school year was 43% higher outside school buildings where a majority of students were brown or Black than outside school buildings with majority-white students.

Crashes are more common too and these disparities have existed for years.

Drivers crash nearly 50 times and injure a dozen people near city public schools during the average day when schools are open.

That’s a crash every 29 minutes and an injury every two hours.

The chaos peaks during the hours when children arrive at school in the morning and leave in the afternoon. At those times, there is a crash every 17 minutes and an injury every 72 minutes

City leaders have insofar expressed indignation and sorrow, and vowed to make streets safer.