Photo by andrea.taracchini.

Our recent post which featured a map of pedestrian accidents in D.C. generated a variety of comments, questioning why such accidents keep happening, who is at fault and how the number of accidents might be diminished. A new study from the New York Department of Transportation may get us closer to such answers.

In an article yesterday, the New York Times looked closely at the NYDOT study, which used data from over 7,000 accidents and pulled out some interesting, and somewhat surprising, findings. Here are some of the Department’s conclusions:

• Cars — not taxicabs, buses, or trucks — are more likely to be involved in a pedestrian accident.
• Pedestrians legally crossing in crosswalks are more likely than jaywalkers to be hit. But, jaywalkers who were hit “were likelier to be killed or seriously hurt by the collision.”
• Men were behind the wheel in 80 percent of pedestrian “accidents that resulted in a pedestrian’s death or serious injury.” The article notes that “fifty-seven percent of New York City vehicles are registered to men.”
• Pedestrian accidents were three times more likely when the cars made left-hand turns than when they made right-hand turns.
• Distracted drivers were the most likely to hit pedestrians, more likely than even intoxicated drivers.