Car drivers are bigger killers in NYC than gunmen

Plus: What’s up with the passageway between Penn and 34th St.-Herald Square? [View this email in a browser.]( [On The Way - from WNYC and Gothamist]( Gothamist relies on your support to make local news available to all. Not yet a member? [Consider donating and join today.]( Inside today's newsletter: - Will the passageway from Penn Station to 34th Street-Herald Square ever reopen? - Driverless shuttles at the airport - How the heat is messing with your commute Drivers killed more people in New York City than gunmen so far this year By [Stephen Nessen]( and [Clayton Guse]( New Yorkers are now far more likely to be killed in a car crash than a shooting. City data shows 127 people were killed by drivers across the five boroughs during the first six months of 2024, about 55% more than the 82 who were fatally shot over the same period. The stark difference comes as Mayor Eric Adams has directed the NYPD to aggressively crack down on illegal guns. Street safety advocates, meanwhile, have criticized him for not doing enough to keep people from dying in car crashes. “From day one, the mayor’s administration has made it very clear that our top priority is combating gun violence,” NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said during a news conference last week. The NYPD argues its approach is working. Shooting homicides in the city dropped 29% during the first half of the year compared to 2023. “Politicians respond when there's a media storm around gun violence. And I'll tell you, they'd respond to a media storm around traffic violence.” - Mike McGinn, the former mayor of Seattle and current executive director of America Walks But traffic fatalities are headed in the opposite direction. Traffic deaths in the city are on pace to reach their highest number since at least 2013, the year before former Mayor Bill de Blasio took office and launched his “[Vision Zero]( initiative with the goal of reducing fatal car crashes. "If there's a spike in shootings in a city you will see not just the politicians responding, but you'll see the media saying, 'What's going to be done about this?'" said Mike McGinn, the former mayor of Seattle and current executive director of America Walks, which advocates for improvements to pedestrian space. "Politicians respond when there's a media storm around gun violence. And I'll tell you, they'd respond to a media storm around traffic violence." Data shows that pedestrians make up the bulk of traffic fatalities so far this year, with 61 people being killed by car crashes compared to 48 during the same period of 2023. City Department of Transportation officials say dangerous driving has been a growing problem across the country since the COVID pandemic, and blame the rise in pedestrian deaths on reckless driving and jaywalking. Street safety advocates say the numbers aren’t an accident. They blame Adams for slow-walking street redesigns and for bowing to the interests of car owners — who make up less than half the city’s population — at the expense of everyone else on the streets. “I don't think that our government officials are very responsive. Basically, they're not very courageous about addressing this,” said Angie Schmitt, author of “Right of Way: Race, Class and the Silent Crisis of Pedestrian Deaths in America.” “But sometimes I think they're just sort of using that as an excuse for inaction and there really are really bad consequences for a lot of ordinary people.” Curious commuter Have a question for us? [Use this form]( to submit yours and we may answer it in a future newsletter! “The passageway from Penn Station to the 34th Street-Herald Square station was closed in 1986. Are there any plans to reopen this corridor nearly 40 years later?" - Vinnie in Brooklyn That area is often referred to as the “Gimbels Passageway” because it used to connect directly to the department store bearing the same name. While the MTA doesn’t have plans to restore the underground walkway, the state’s previous proposals to renovate Penn Station included plans to build a new passageway between the train hub and Herald Square, entirely separate from the old one that was closed in the 1980s. But that redevelopment plan is still in the works, and a final version has not yet been released to the public. Curious Commuter questions are exclusive for On The Way newsletter subscribers. Did a friend forward this to you? [Sign up for free here]( to start asking your questions. What New York is reading this week - New York City’s record-high summer temperatures [will continue to wreak havoc]( for commuters, experts say. - Speaking of: The Third Avenue Bridge, which connects Manhattan to the Bronx, was temporarily [stuck in an open position]( on Monday due to the heat. - Driverless shuttles are [coming to JFK airport parking lots](. - The Kent Avenue bike lane along the north Brooklyn waterfront has become a dangerous mess, cyclists say. [Advocates and elected officials are pressing the city for a fix.]( - Curbed is really into [this new MTA lamp](. This week in 1987: Metro-North tries to stop monster truck race Metro-North Railroad officials were concerned about an event called “Mud Bog Madness,” a monster truck race in Westchester County that would take place near the Hudson Line’s tracks. But two days before the rally was set to take place, a state judge ordered a halt to the event in response to Metro-North claims that it could cause “catastrophic damage to its operations — including the loss of life and limb.” State police officials in Poughkeepsie said there wasn’t enough time to enforce the judge’s order and the organizers vowed to proceed with the race. “It’s showtime baby, you better believe it,” Mud Bog promoter Bob Tall declared. “The state police are gold in our book.” The Metro-North continued to operate after the event. [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [YouTube]( [New York Public Radio] [WNYC]( | [WQXR]( | [NJPR]( | [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( | [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. 160 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013 [TERMS OF USE]( You can update your [PREFERENCES]( or [UNSUBSCRIBE]( from this list.