NEW YORK — Seventy-eight people in New York have been killed this year in traffic crashes, according to city data, putting 2024 on track to be the deadliest year since the start of the city’s Vision Zero traffic safety program in 2014.

The deadly statistics follow those of 2023, which had a particularly low rate of pedestrian deaths, the DOT said.

“We grieve for the loss of any life on our streets,” DOT spokesman Nick Benson told The New York Daily News. “After 2023, a year that saw near-record-low pedestrian fatalities and record-high production of protected bicycle lanes in New York City, we remain dedicated to our Vision Zero goals.”

The grim numbers prompted criticism of Vision Zero, the city’s initiative to improve street safety, from Transportation Alternatives, a cycling and safe-streets advocacy group.

“It is unconscionable that this is the deadliest first quarter under Vision Zero, a whole decade after the program first launched,” Danny Harris, Transportation Alternatives executive director, said in a statement. “Whether you’re in a car, walking, biking, or taking transit, everyone should be able to survive just traveling throughout the five boroughs.”

Pedestrians make up the largest portion of those killed, with 35 people fatally struck by motor vehicles so far this year, according to the data, which counts fatalities through Wednesday, April 24.

That compares with 32 pedestrians killed time last year. A total of 102 pedestrians were killed in New York City in 2023.

It’s also been a dangerous year for motorists and passengers, with 24 people killed driving or riding in cars so far. That’s a 50% jump from the same period last year, when 16 people were killed.

Among the victims are five people killed in a gruesome New Year’s Day crash on the Cross Island Parkway. They died in the early hours of the new year when their Mazda overturned near the entrance to the Whitestone Bridge.

In the whole of 2023, 112 people were killed in motor vehicles.

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