NYC walkers: Look out for male drivers
TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: When you think of taxis, you might think of white-knuckled rides in the back of some big yellow car bouncing off some other big yellow cars. But a new analysis of major crashes in New York City —
those between cars and pedestrians — shows a different picture.
From the Marketplace Transportation Desk at WNYC,
Collin Campbell reports on who New Yorkers should really be afraid of.
Collin Campbell: Khalid Mammoud’s yellow cab has paid his bills for the last six years. So he’s not surprised that new data shows New York’s cabbies are rarely responsible for hitting people.
KHALID MAMMOUD: We don’t want lose our license. So we are very responsible drivers, you know.
City transportation officials reported this week that cab drivers cause just 13 percent of crashes in which pedestrians are seriously hurt or killed. The data — 7,000 recent crashes — points to a new source: men.
Male drivers are behind in the wheel in four out of five of these kinds of collisions. And they’re most likely to be driving their own car — not a taxi, truck or bus. Men are also most likely to be the ones hit.
These injuries and deaths cost the New York economy about $1.4 billion dollars a year in lost income.
In New York, I’m Collin Campbell for Marketplace.
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