Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

7,796 CRASHES IN
NEW YORK, NY
OCTOBER 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstOctober 2023

In October 2024, there were 7,796 motor vehicle crashes in New York, a 10.6% decrease from the 8,717 crashes recorded in October 2023. This overall reduction in collisions was accompanied by a notable year-over-year decline in traffic fatalities, which fell by 26.7% from 30 to 22.

7,796

▼ -10.6%was 8,717

Total Crash Events

22

▼ -26.7%was 30

Persons Killed

4,780

▼ -5.7%was 5,071

Persons Injured

20

▼ -33.3%was 30

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (22) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (20) 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 · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Crash data for October 2024 indicates a general downward trend in collisions compared to the same month in the prior year. Total crashes fell by 10.6%, from 8,717 to 7,796. Similarly, the number of persons injured decreased by 5.7% from 5,071 to 4,780, and fatalities saw a 26.7% reduction from 30 to 22.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

9

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 13↓-30.8%

3

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 1↑200.0%

9

Motorists Killed

Prior: 14↓-35.7%

1

Other Killed

Prior: 2↓-50.0%

902

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 914↓-1.3%

565

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 534↑5.8%

3,131

Motorists Injured

Prior: 3,380↓-7.4%

182

Other Injured

Prior: 243↓-25.1%

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes showed some shifts between October 2023 and October 2024. While the peak hour for collisions remained the 4 p.m. hour in both periods, the peak day moved from Tuesday in 2023 (1,404 crashes) to Thursday in 2024 (1,309 crashes). Overall daily crash volumes were lower across the week in the current period compared to the prior year.

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The rate of fatal crashes decreased from 0.34% in October 2023 to 0.26% in October 2024, with the absolute count of fatal crashes falling from 30 to 20. While the total number of injuries also declined, the proportion of crashes resulting in an injury saw a slight increase, rising from 43.6% of all crashes in the prior period to 46.3% in the current period. Crashes resulting in no injury made up 53.4% of events in October 2024, down from 56.1% a year earlier.

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 20 fatal crash events resulted in 22 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal20fatal crashes0.3%
↓-33.3%prior 30
Injury3,612minor injury crashes46.3%
↓-5.0%prior 3,801
No Injury4,164no injury crashes53.4%
↓-14.8%prior 4,886

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · 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 · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors remained consistent, with 'Driver Inattention/Distraction' being the top specified cause in both October 2023 (2,109 crashes) and October 2024 (1,893 crashes). The count of crashes attributed to this factor decreased by 10.2% year-over-year. While counts for most major factors declined, crashes attributed to 'View Obstructed/Limited' increased by 53.8%, from 65 incidents in the prior year to 100 in the current period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Driver Inattention/Distraction1,893 (24.3%)↓-10.2%prior 2,109
Failure to Yield Right-of-Way536 (6.9%)↓-19.4%prior 665
Following Too Closely455 (5.8%)↓-14.6%prior 533
Passing or Lane Usage Improper319 (4.1%)↓-16.3%prior 381
Passing Too Closely253 (3.2%)↓-5.2%prior 267
Backing Unsafely251 (3.2%)↓-4.2%prior 262
Unsafe Speed247 (3.2%)↓-18.2%prior 302
Traffic Control Disregarded242 (3.1%)↓-7.6%prior 262
Other Vehicular218 (2.8%)↓-21.6%prior 278
Turning Improperly192 (2.5%)↓-8.1%prior 209

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Vehicles & Demographics

The top vehicle makes involved in collisions, including Toyota, Honda, and Ford, maintained their rankings year-over-year, though the number of vehicles from each make involved in crashes declined. Analysis of persons involved shows a modest shift in age demographics; for instance, the proportion of involved persons aged 65 and older increased slightly from 8.4% to 9.2% of the total. Conversely, the 26-34 age group's representation decreased from 23.4% to 21.2% of all persons involved.

Top Vehicle Makes (15,479 vehicles)

1
TOYT -CAR/SUV1,891 (12.2%)
↓-8.8%prior 2,073
2
HOND -CAR/SUV1,471 (9.5%)
↓-14.7%prior 1,724
3
FORD -CAR/SUV1,010 (6.5%)
↓-15.9%prior 1,201
4
NISS -CAR/SUV988 (6.4%)
↓-13.9%prior 1,147
5
CHEV -CAR/SUV550 (3.6%)
↓-5.2%prior 580
6
MERZ -CAR/SUV459 (3%)
↓-8.9%prior 504
7
HYUN -CAR/SUV448 (2.9%)
↓-11.1%prior 504
8
BMW -CAR/SUV441 (2.8%)
↓-13.9%prior 512
9
JEEP -CAR/SUV437 (2.8%)
↓-15.5%prior 517
10
DODG -CAR/SUV292 (1.9%)
↓-14.9%prior 343

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Vehicle unit records

4,595 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (23,450 persons with recorded sex)

Male16,041 (68.4%)
↓-9.4%prior 17,705
Female7,409 (31.6%)
↓-12.5%prior 8,471

Source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions · Socrata Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · 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: 2024-10-01 through 2024-10-31
  • Report generated: June 16, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-10-01 through 2024-10-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: New York, NY
  • Total crash records analyzed: 7,796
  • Total persons involved: 26,958
  • Total vehicles involved: 15,479

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: October 2024." Published June 16, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31. Data source: NYC Motor Vehicle Collisions, Socrata Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/new-york/new-york/october-2024-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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