Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

6,488 CRASHES IN
NEW YORK, NY
FEBRUARY 2026

All metrics benchmarked againstFebruary 2025

In February 2026, New York City recorded 6,488 motor vehicle collisions, an 8.4% increase from the 5,988 crashes documented in February 2025. Despite the rise in total incidents, the number of people killed in crashes decreased. The most notable year-over-year shift was a 41.2% reduction in traffic fatalities, which fell from 17 in the prior period to 10 in the current period.

6,488

8.4%was 5,988

Total Crash Events

10

-41.2%was 17

Persons Killed

3,065

-0.7%was 3,088

Persons Injured

10

-41.2%was 17

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (10) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (10) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year data indicates a rising trend in the total number of crashes, with a notable 8.4% increase from 5,988 in February 2025 to 6,488 in February 2026. However, the severity of these incidents appears to have lessened. Total injuries saw a slight decrease of 0.7% (from 3,088 to 3,065), while fatalities dropped by 41.2% (from 17 to 10).

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

6

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 520.0%

1

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 2-50.0%

3

Motorists Killed

Prior: 10-70.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

681

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 719-5.3%

177

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 203-12.8%

2,171

Motorists Injured

Prior: 2,0874.0%

36

Other Injured

Prior: 79-54.4%

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes remained consistent between February 2025 and February 2026. Friday was the peak day for collisions in both periods, with crash counts increasing from 1,003 to 1,087. Similarly, the 4 PM hour was the peak time for incidents in both years, showing an increase from 359 crashes to 418. No significant shifts in the timing of crashes were observed year-over-year.

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes decreased from the prior year. The share of fatal crashes dropped from 0.3% of all incidents in February 2025 to 0.2% in February 2026. Similarly, the proportion of crashes resulting in injury declined from 39.4% to 35.4% year-over-year. Correspondingly, the share of crashes with no reported injuries increased, rising from 60.4% to 64.5% of total incidents.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal10fatal crashes0.2%
-41.2%prior 17
Injury2,294minor injury crashes35.4%
-2.7%prior 2,357
No Injury4,184no injury crashes64.5%
15.8%prior 3,614

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Severity derived from reported fatal/injury indicators (no KABCO A/B/C codes)

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top two contributing factors, 'Unspecified' and 'Driver Inattention/Distraction,' remained unchanged in rank year-over-year. The count of crashes attributed to 'Unspecified' factors grew by 17.4%, from 1,580 to 1,855. In contrast, incidents involving 'Driver Inattention/Distraction' decreased slightly in count from 1,459 to 1,444. Crashes due to 'Failure to Yield Right-of-Way' also saw a notable 14.8% decrease in count, falling from 419 to 357 incidents.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Driver Inattention/Distraction1,444 (22.3%)-1.0%prior 1,459
Failure to Yield Right-of-Way357 (5.5%)-14.8%prior 419
Following Too Closely301 (4.6%)-5.0%prior 317
Other Vehicular299 (4.6%)67.0%prior 179
Passing Too Closely269 (4.1%)37.9%prior 195
Backing Unsafely262 (4%)47.2%prior 178
Passing or Lane Usage Improper222 (3.4%)-5.5%prior 235
Pavement Slippery194 (3%)60.3%prior 121
Driver Inexperience169 (2.6%)50.9%prior 112
Unsafe Speed154 (2.4%)-19.4%prior 191

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Vehicles & Demographics

The top makes of vehicles involved in collisions showed minor shifts in ranking year-over-year. While Toyota and Honda remained the top two makes, Ford moved up to the third position from fourth, displacing Nissan. The age distribution of persons involved in crashes remained consistent, with the 35-44 age group representing the largest cohort in both February 2025 (3,809 persons) and February 2026 (4,103 persons). The 26-34 age group was the second-largest in both periods.

Top Vehicle Makes (12,714 vehicles)

1
TOYT -CAR/SUV1,665 (13.1%)
6.9%prior 1,558
2
HOND -CAR/SUV1,182 (9.3%)
1.2%prior 1,168
3
FORD -CAR/SUV880 (6.9%)
15.5%prior 762
4
NISS -CAR/SUV729 (5.7%)
-8.0%prior 792
5
CHEV -CAR/SUV418 (3.3%)
-9.7%prior 463
6
HYUN -CAR/SUV398 (3.1%)
18.1%prior 337
7
BMW -CAR/SUV385 (3%)
-2.0%prior 393
8
MERZ -CAR/SUV353 (2.8%)
6.6%prior 331
9
JEEP -CAR/SUV350 (2.8%)
2.6%prior 341
10
ACUR -CAR/SUV233 (1.8%)
17.1%prior 199

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Vehicle unit records

3,657 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (18,473 persons with recorded sex)

Male12,749 (69.0%)
5.9%prior 12,035
Female5,724 (31.0%)
1.2%prior 5,654

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Data Sources & Methodology

Primary Data Source

All crash data in this report is sourced from NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions, accessed programmatically via the Socrata Open Data API (SODA). This dataset contains official police-reported motor vehicle traffic crash records maintained by the reporting jurisdiction's law enforcement agency. Records are published to the open data portal by the municipality and are subject to the portal's terms of use.

Data Retrieval

  • Access method: Socrata Open Data API (SoQL queries)
  • Data format: Structured JSON via REST API
  • Record types queried: Crash events, person records, and vehicle unit records
  • Date filter applied: 2026-02-01 through 2026-02-28
  • Report generated: June 16, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2026-02-01 through 2026-02-28 (28 days)
  • Geographic scope: New York, NY
  • Total crash records analyzed: 6,488
  • Total persons involved: 21,406
  • Total vehicles involved: 12,714

Analytical Methodology

  • Severity classification: Uses the KABCO injury scale (K=Fatal, A=Incapacitating injury, B=Non-incapacitating injury, C=Possible injury, O=No injury/property damage only), the standard classification in U.S. Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC). Severity is assigned per crash event based on the most severe injury in that crash. A single fatal crash (K) may involve multiple fatalities; therefore the "Persons Killed" count in the headline KPIs may differ from the "Fatal" crash count in the severity breakdown.
  • Contributing factors: Reflect the officer-determined primary contributory cause recorded at the time of the crash report. These are preliminary determinations and may not reflect final investigation findings.
  • Hit-and-run classification: Based on the hit-and-run indicator field in the official crash report, as determined by the responding officer at the scene.
  • Temporal analysis: Day-of-week and hour-of-day distributions are computed from the crash date/time timestamp in each record.
  • Demographics: Age and sex distributions are drawn from person-level records linked to each crash event. A single crash may involve multiple persons.
  • Vehicle data: Make information is drawn from vehicle unit records linked to each crash event.
  • AI commentary: Narrative sections are generated by Google Gemini (large language model) based on the structured data. Commentary is descriptive, not predictive, and should not be interpreted as expert opinion.

Limitations & Disclaimers

  • Only crashes reported to and documented by law enforcement are included. Minor incidents, unreported crashes, and near-misses are not captured in this dataset.
  • Data reflects conditions at the time of the initial police report and may be subject to subsequent corrections, reclassifications, or supplements by the reporting agency.
  • Open data portal records may experience a publication lag - recently occurring crashes may not yet appear in the dataset at the time of report generation.
  • AI-generated commentary is produced by a large language model and is intended to highlight patterns in the data. It does not constitute legal, medical, or professional analysis.
  • Percentages are calculated from reported data and are subject to rounding.

Non-Affiliation Disclosure

This report is produced independently by ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in partnership with any law enforcement agency, municipal government, state department of transportation, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Data is sourced from publicly available government open data portals.

Data License

The underlying crash data is provided under the municipality's Open Data Terms of Use and is made available to the public for unrestricted use. This analysis and report is © 2026 Injuria.ai and may be cited with attribution using the suggested citation below.

Corrections & Feedback

If you believe any data in this report is inaccurate or have questions about our methodology, please contact: data@injuria.ai. We are committed to accuracy and will issue corrections promptly.

Suggested Citation

ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). "New York, NY Crash Intelligence Report: February 2026." Published June 16, 2026. Reporting period: 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28. Data source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions, Socrata Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/new-york/new-york/february-2026-report

About the Publisher

ThatCarHitMe.com is a crash data intelligence platform developed by Injuria.ai, a legal technology company specializing in traffic safety analytics. We aggregate and analyze publicly available government crash data to produce structured intelligence reports for communities, researchers, journalists, and legal professionals. Our reports combine programmatic data retrieval from official open data portals with AI-assisted narrative analysis.

Questions about this report's data or methodology: data@injuria.ai

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New York, NY Crash Report — February 2026 | ThatCarHitMe.com