2023 was not New York City’s year unfortunately. Even with the traffic accident prevention initiative, Vision Zero, this was one of New York’s worst years for traffic accidents. This also comes at a time when the New York City Mayor, Mayor Eric Adams, prided himself on the fact that last year New York had one of the lowest rates of traffic-related deaths and injuries. This year broke opposite records, having consistently increasing levels of traffic accidents.
By mid-November, there were 226 reported traffic accident caused deaths in the city.
Also by mid-November, New York City saw over 2,250 severe injuries caused by a traffic accident. These numbers showed a 26% rise in traffic accident reports since 2018. The city hit the 100 deaths marker the earliest they have seen since 2014, having 100 deaths happen in the city from traffic accidents by June 7th. These numbers are not only scary for the residents living in the city, but also are indicative of bigger problems looming over the city, such as more frequent reckless driving, often with intoxicated drivers behind the wheel.
In late November, just one day after Thanksgiving, one reported accident went viral on TikTok. A 25-year-old driver, Miguel Delacruz-Martinez, drove his Nissan Rogue into a subway entrance. The accident was recorded by Marty Morua, a local real-estate agent. He was nearby when the crash happened, reporting that Delacruz-Martinez was “driving so slow that I didn’t even hear the bang.” The SUV is seen in the video with its front half seemingly swallowed by the subway entrance stairwell. The NYPD Emergency Service Unit showed up to remove the SUV and arrest Delacruz-Martinez on charges of driving under the influence and reckless endangerment.
Naturally, some crowds gathered around the accident, but most continued on unphased.
In Morua’s now viral video posted to TikTok, he narrated the accident with a trap beat audio playing over his speech. People took to the comments to crack jokes, saying things like “Damn GPS be having you go through tunnels” and “Sir, you can’t park there.” The general consensus stayed within the realm of lacking surprise. Oftentimes people are not surprised by commonly surprising behavior when it happens in New York City. However, this also reflects the devasting reality of the frequency in which these types of accidents happen.
