Philadelphia makes road safety progress, new report suggests
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Philadelphia is seeing fewer fatalities and serious crashes on streets targeted for safety improvements, but the city is still far from its goal of achieving no deadly incidents in the near future.
Why it matters: Philadelphia's traffic death rate of 7.4 per 100,000 residents is on par with much larger cities such as Los Angeles, and three times higher than New York City.
Driving the news: Through August this year, Philadelphia recorded 84 traffic-related fatalities, more than half of which involved people walking, biking or roller skating, per the city's latest Vision Zero report released Tuesday.
- The city is on pace to match or eclipse last year's total of 124 traffic deaths.
The big picture: Traffic deaths spiked to record highs over the last three years as more people engaged in "dangerous driving behaviors" during the pandemic, per the report.
- Speeding has accounted for one-fifth of crashes involving death and serious injury since 2020, per the report, while pedestrians are involved in more than a third of all crashes involving death and serious injuries.
Yes, but: City officials reported a 34% reduction in fatal and serious crashes on roadways with completed safety and traffic improvement projects, compared with some of the city's most dangerous streets.
- Those corridors, known as the High Injury Network, make up only 12% of the Philly streets but account for 80% of fatal and serious injury crashes.
- Increasing the number of separated bike lanes throughout the city resulted in a 17% reduction in injuries, per the report.
Zoom in: Philly's communities of color were hit harder, with traffic deaths among Black residents and Latinos jumping 60% and 42%, respectively, between 2020-2022 compared with 2017-19, per the report.
- City officials have found that crashes involving serious injuries are more prominent in areas where most residents are minorities.
What we're watching: Since the Kenney administration adopted Vision Zero in 2016, the city has received nearly a quarter billion in grants to put toward roadway improvement projects, including on Roosevelt Boulevard and the Chinatown Stitch.