New information from the Department of Transportation and NYPD reveals that more people were killed or seriously injured in traffic accidents in the South Bronx than compared to the rest of the neighborhoods in the borough.  

According to Transportation Alternatives, a safety advocacy group, City Council District 8 had 10 fatalities and 117 serious injuries.  

They say that many of the crashes can be attributed to the highways and bridges that run throughout the South Bronx, especially those involving cyclists coming off of the Willis Avenue Bridge.  

“It was a very devastating year, citywide, nationwide, particularly, but we felt that particularly throughout the South Bronx,” said Shawn Garcia, Bronx organizer for Transportation Alternatives. "We're talking about mostly pedestrians, a lot of children… we saw record numbers of children being killed walking to and from school." 

Although the DOT announced that the city saw a decline in traffic fatalities for the first time since 2019, Transportation Alternatives says there’s much work to be done to improve safety in the streets.  

“We are encouraged by the moves the DOT are making to improve safety enhancements, but we think they need to step it up, specifically in the South Bronx, in communities of color where we see the highest number of traffic fatalities,” said Garcia.  

Tranportation Alternatives is asking officials to install more bike lanes, speed bumps, and speed cameras.