Crash Claims Involving NYC Municipal Vehicles Cost Taxpayers Over $500M

By: Bryan Jung

New York City taxpayers have paid more than $500 million dollars in civil settlements related to crashes involving city vehicles over the past decade.

The majority of crash claims were made against the New York City Police Department, according to a Feb. 12 report from the office of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.

Payments to people injured in incidents involving municipal vehicles jumped between fiscal years 2012 and 2021, despite the shrinking number of claims against the city.

The statistics suggest that auto crashes were more severe and many resulted in death or life-altering injuries to the victims.

“Fatalities and serious injuries resulting from traffic crashes are persistently high in New York City,” said the report.

“Deadly crashes surged in 2020 and remain at elevated levels relative to pre-pandemic years.”

The rise in settlements with the city coincided with an increase in traffic fatalities nationwide during the pandemic.

Car Crashes Increase Nationwide Since Pandemic

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported in 2020 that American drivers had been engaged in riskier behavior, with an 18.4 percent jump in traffic fatalities to more than 20,000.

Meanwhile, the first half of 2021 saw the largest six-month increase in crashes in the United States on record.

NYC recorded a spike in traffic fatalities over the past two years, with a 20 percent increase from 2019, the year before the pandemic.

In 2022, 253 people were killed in vehicle crashes after reaching a peak of 273 in 2021.

The nationwide trend of increasing traffic fatalities has seen deaths among pedestrians and cyclists reach new highs over the past three years, said the city report.

“The epidemic of vehicle crashes is a serious public safety concern to New Yorkers,” Lander said.

“When a New Yorker is hit and harmed by a squad car or a garbage truck, it’s New York City taxpayers who have to settle the bill.”

NYC Employees Costing Millions

New York City has the nation’s largest municipal fleet of vehicles, with nearly 30,000 in inventory and 85,000 operators.

Claims stemming from over 4,000 crashes involving the municipal fleet have cost the city $653.8 million over the past decade.

The NYPD, which accounts for about one-third of the city’s fleet, is responsible for $246.8 million in settlements, or about 38 percent of the total claims.

The amount to settle road accident claims adds another cost outside the NYPD’s regular budget, for which taxpayers continue to foot the bill.

The city also paid $121.4 million to settle police misconduct claims in 2022—the most in at least five years, which is separate from the payments sent out to civilian crash victims.

The NYPD is also on track to exceed its overtime budget by $369 million this year, according to the Independent Budget Office.

Improvements for Road Safety

New York City mayor and the city comptroller have said that improvements to road safety are in the pipeline.

“By accelerating adoption of fleet safety technologies, reducing the size and number of vehicles in the city fleet, and holding city drivers and agencies accountable, we can save lives—and many of millions of dollars too,” Lander said.

The city comptroller’s report recommended that the size of the municipal fleet be reduced and called for the use of smaller vehicles to reduce the severity of the incidents.

City agencies are also being called to do more to hold their drivers accountable for their driving to prevent reckless crashes.  (TheEpochTimes.com)