The study was conducted by Bruce Schaller, a consultant and former…
By Philip Newman
The streets of Queens accounted for almost a fifth of the more than 17,400 smash-ups involving taxis and livery cabs throughout New York City in 1999, according to an independent study.
The study was conducted by Bruce Schaller, a consultant and former director of Policy Development and Evaluation at the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, using data from the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
The study found that there were 134,000 taxi and livery cab smash-ups in New York City for the period from 1990 through 1999.
For 1999, there were 17,404 taxi and livery cab accidents, including 4,270 involving taxis and 13,134 involving livery cabs.
In Queens, the study said, there were 519 taxi smash-ups and 2,808 livery cab accidents for a total of 3,327 accidents, accounting for more than 19 percent of the citywide total.
The problem was the worst in Manhattan, where taxi accidents totaled 3,369 in 1999 and livery cab accidents 2,951.
Brooklyn’s 4,369 livery cab accidents in 1999 were the city’s worst record and that borough had 323 taxi accidents.
In the Bronx, there were 54 taxi smash-ups and 2,742 livery cab accidents. Staten Island reported six taxi accidents and 265 livery cab smash-ups.
Alan Fromberg, a spokesman for the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, which had no connection with the report, said the agency planned to conduct a comparison with its own data from the state DMV.
Fromberg said there were questions about conclusions reached in parts of the study. He also said his agency had implemented widespread safety reforms, which he described as a success.
Schaller said taxi passengers were three times more likely than those riding in regular passenger cars or livery cabs to sustain serious injuries. He said it may have been the reluctance of taxi passengers to fasten seat belts — only 17 percent did so in 1999 — despite recorded warnings by celebrities. He said passengers in livery cabs were twice as likely as taxi passengers to use seat belts.
The report also said:
• Fatalities in taxi and livery cab crashes have averaged 30 a year but declined from 44 in 1990 to 29 in 1999.
• Besides lack of using seat belts, serious injuries to taxi passengers may also result from striking the hard plastic partitions between front and back seats.
• Sixteen of the 29 people fatally injured in taxi and livery crashes in 1999 were pedestrians, and one was riding a bicycle.
• The study found taxi and livery cab accidents made up 16 percent of all automobile accidents in the five boroughs resulting in injuries in 1999, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
Reach contributing writer Philip Newman by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
