UPPER WEST SIDE — While the Department of Transportation has promised to calm traffic at two deadly intersections on West End Avenue, residents want the department to do more across the neighborhood.
With that in mind, DNAinfo New York looked at all crashes involving pedestrians across the Upper West Side, from West 60th Street to West 107th Street and from Central Park West to West End Avenue.
The study found a total of 345 injuries and eight deaths between July 1, 2012 and July 15, 2014 in data from the NYPD. The full list is accessible here or via the map below.
According to the data:
Broadway had the most injuries, with 97, and three deaths, followed by Amsterdam Avenue, with 82 injuries and one death.
Columbus Avenue had 76 injuries and one death, while West End Avenue had 50 injuries and two deaths. Central Park West had 39 injuries.
A pattern emerged regarding the intersections where the most injuries and deaths were reported: West 97th Street, where two children were killed in the past 14 months, was the most dangerous street across all the major avenues.
► Central Park West and West 97th Street: 5 injuries
► Columbus Avenue and West 97th Street: 7 injuries
► Amsterdam Avenue and West 97th Street: 2 injuries, 1 death
► Broadway and West 97th Street: 4 injuries
► West End Avenue and West 97th Street: 5 injuries, 1 death
Similarly, West 95th and 96th streets had some of the highest injuries of any cross streets:
► Central Park West and West 96th Street: 2 injuries
► Columbus Avenue and West 95th Street: 2 injuries
► Columbus Avenue and West 96th Street: 5 injuries
► Amsterdam Avenue and West 95th Street: 5 injuries
► Amsterdam Avenue and West 96th Street: 5 injuries
► Broadway and West 95th Street: 4 injuries
► Broadway and West 96th Street: 9 injuries, 2 deaths
► West End Avenue and West 95th Street: 1 injury, 1 death
► West End Avenue and West 96th Street: 3 injuries
This winter, after the death of a 73-year-old man and a 9-year-old boy at West 96th Street and Broadway and West 97th Street and West End Avenue respectively, DOT set to work redesigning the intersection of Broadway and West 96th Street.
But advocates, like the group Neighborhood in the Nineties, have argued the redesign isn't enough. The group lobbied unsuccessfully for a speed limit reduction to 20 mph.
"Heavy traffic entering and exiting the West Side Highway, combined with badly designed intersections, creates constant hazards," the group has said.
The data showed another cluster of problematic intersections in the West 60s, in the crisscross of streets known as "the bowtie."
A group led by Community Board 7 member Ethel Sheffer is looking for solutions to make the area safer, but hasn't produced its findings yet.
Overall, according to the data the 10 most dangerous intersections in the past two years are:
► Broadway and West 96th Street: 9 injuries, 2 death
► Amsterdam and West 66th Street: 9 injuries
► Amsterdam and West 86th Street: 7 injuries
► Columbus and West 97th Street: 7 injuries
► Broadway and West 63rd Street: 6 injuries
► Central Park West and West 86th Street: 6 injuries
► West End Avenue and West 97th Street: 5 injuries, 1 death
► Columbus and West 65th Street: 4 injuries, 1 death
► Central Park West and West 97th Street; Columbus Avenue and West 60th, 72nd, 94th, 95th and 96th streets; Broadway and West 85th and 89th street; and West End Avenue and West 70th Street: 5 injuries each.
Out of all the crashes, the cause of 176 was labeled "unspecified," while failure to yield right-of-way caused 53 crashes. In 45 crashes, driver distraction or inattention was to blame, according to the data.
At a meeting to discuss the redesign of West End Avenue Thursday night, Department of Transportation Manhattan Borough Commissioner Margaret Forgione said the DOT was reviewing changes to Amsterdam Avenue and a possible redesign of the avenue, as well as making changes to the bowtie in the near future.
