Mamdani unveils 10-year street safety plan as NYC hit-and-run deaths mount

Nine people were killed by hit-and-run drivers in a single month this summer. Protesters gathered outside City Hall for a 'die-in' demonstration. And on Tuesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani released New York City's first new citywide traffic safety plan in years — a 100-plus-commitment blueprint called 'Vision Zero Reimagined' that promises to remove the city's most dangerous drivers from the road, redesign its deadliest streets, and create pedestrian-only districts across the five boroughs.

The plan sets an agenda for the next decade, building on the Vision Zero initiative established in 2014. Traffic deaths are down 30% since that program launched, according to the city. But the summer's wave of hit-and-run fatalities — and the advocates demanding action outside the mayor's door — made clear that the progress is fragile and unevenly distributed.

We should not have to wait for another family to lose a loved one before we make a street safer. We are committed to building safe streets before tragedy — not because of it.— Mayor Zohran Mamdani

The plan's most striking finding is about who is actually causing the carnage. City data show that a relatively small group of drivers with records of reckless behavior are responsible for 37% of all traffic deaths. Cars that accumulate more than 16 speed camera violations in a year carry twice the risk of being involved in a crash that results in serious injury or death. Drivers without a valid license, those whose licenses have been suspended, or those with multiple convictions are connected to 41% of all traffic fatalities.

To go after those drivers, the plan calls on state lawmakers to pass a 'Drugged Driving Bill' that would let prosecutors charge drivers impaired by drugs other than alcohol, legislation allowing seizure of license plates from reckless drivers, and higher penalties for repeat offenders. A 'Super Speeder' program — the city's first — is also in the works, made possible by state law changes that Governor Hochul secured in this year's state budget, with State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assembly Member Emily Gallagher having championed the effort, according to the city.

On street design, the plan restores a commitment to 'daylighting' — removing parking spaces near corners to improve visibility — at a minimum of 1,000 intersections per year, with a key difference from a similar promise made under former Mayor Eric Adams. Under the Adams administration, daylighting was first embraced and then abandoned on the grounds that it posed its own safety risks. Mamdani officials say their version adds physical obstructions like planters at treated corners to prevent drivers from cutting them.

acknowledges that we all make mistakes, it's human nature, and that our road systems should be designed so that those mistakes don't cost us our lives as we simply try to get around our city.— Michael Flynn, City Transportation Commissioner

The backdrop to Tuesday's announcement is a specific and recent tragedy. Jiayi Zheng, a 28-year-old nurse at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, was struck by a driver in a 2014 Cadillac sedan one Saturday morning in late August as she made her way across Third Avenue at 55th Street in Sunset Park, only a few blocks from her workplace. EMTs transported her to the same hospital. She died there. Her death was the ninth hit-and-run fatality that month, according to Streetsblog.

Zheng was crossing under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, part of what Transportation Alternatives describes as a deadly two-mile stretch where drivers have killed 11 pedestrians and cyclists since 2014. In 2023, the DOT proposed reducing traffic to two moving lanes there after community calls for change — but the Adams administration canceled the redesign due to concerns raised by business groups, according to Streetsblog. Within a year, a speeding driver ran a red light and killed two men crossing that same street.

New York City streets should be the envy of the world, but we are the envy of no one today.— Ben Furnas, executive director, Transportation Alternatives

The Mamdani administration has since announced a BQE renovation plan that includes a traffic safety redesign of Third Avenue in Sunset Park — though implementation is not planned until 2030, according to Streetsblog.

Hit-and-run crashes are rarely prosecuted. NYPD data cited by Streetsblog show that out of 34,952 hit-and-run cases in 2025 involving property damage or personal injury, only 362 — just 1% — led to an arrest. A 2019 Streetsblog investigation found that strict state laws, understaffed NYPD units, and a general lax attitude toward vehicular crimes contribute to chronic under-prosecution. Some drivers avoid charges by claiming they didn't know they had hit someone — a claim that, experts told Streetsblog, often leads police to drop the case even though experts say such a claim is itself an admission of guilt.

We have seen tragic hit-and-runs across the city over the past seven days, and they underscore the importance of Vision Zero.— Mayor Zohran Mamdani

The plan also includes goals around micromobility safety, oversized vehicles, freight, and autonomous vehicles, and proposes a mobile wallet to give low-income New Yorkers discounted access to subways, ferries, Citi Bike, and e-scooters. Advocates welcomed the direction. Sara Lind, co-executive director at Open Plans, said in a statement cited by Gothamist that "Vision Zero can be both a critical tool for street safety and the means through which we create a more pleasant, safe, and livable New York."

Many of the plan's most aggressive proposals — drugged driving prosecutions, license plate seizures, higher repeat-offender penalties — require approval from state lawmakers in Albany. Several commitments also reflect work the city has already begun, such as expanding Sammy's Law speed limit reductions, which state lawmakers authorized in 2024.

Why it matters — The plan's success depends heavily on Albany — and on whether the city can close a prosecution gap that currently lets 99% of hit-and-run drivers walk free.

Reported by gothamist.com, nyc.gov, nyc.streetsblog.org