Philadelphians die in traffic crashes more than people who live in Chicago, Boston, Washington and New York.
In fact, three times more Philly residents than New Yorkers died in traffic crashes in 2024, according to a from the Philadelphia city controller’s office based on the most recent data available.
I research road traffic safety, and nearly two years ago I wrote about to address its pedestrian and bicyclist traffic fatalities in response to the death of , a pediatric resident at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who was fatally struck by a drunk driver while biking though Center City.
Freides was one of in Philadelphia, and while that decreased to , according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Philadelphia remains an outlier compared with its peers.
Despite making important traffic safety investments and policies, even before Freides’ death, Philadelphia is still far from reaching . originated in Sweden and is a policy strategy to reduce road traffic deaths to zero deaths annually.
Who in Philadelphia is most affected by traffic deaths, and what is the city currently doing – and what else can it do – about road safety?
Who is most affected, and where
According to the and , pedestrians and bicyclists make up half of Philadelphia’s traffic deaths since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Yet drivers and motorcyclists also have higher rates of traffic fatalities in Philadelphia compared with all of its peer cities.
Fatal crashes in Philadelphia are mostly concentrated in poorer neighborhoods. Hunting Park, Juniata Park and Upper Kensington saw the highest increases in frequency, while Franklinville, Tioga and Allegheny West had some of the highest rates overall.
Based on U.S. Census data on , Philadelphia’s higher fatality rate is not due to residents walking, biking or driving more frequently than in the other cities. Philadelphians walk half as much as Bostonians and commute by car about the same as people in Chicago. The vehicle fleet involved in crashes is similar in all five cities, so larger vehicles cannot account for the difference, either.
What is different in Philadelphia compared with the peer cities is that fatal crashes are more likely to involve speeding, be a hit-and-run, and happen at night or on a major roadway. However, fatal crashes in Philadelphia are .
What might be working in Philly
PennDOT’s most recent crash data suggests a 27% drop in fatal crashes in Philadelphia in compared with the previous year. So far, is mirroring 2025 numbers.
The number of fatal crashes also dropped in Chicago, Boston, Washington and New York, so there are likely broader at play.
that that were installed on Roosevelt Boulevard in 2020 have made Philadelphia’s safer. Fatal and serious crashes decreased 11% after installation, despite increasing 16% citywide.
Broad Street, however, which runs from South Philadelphia through Center City to North Philadelphia, tripled its share of the city’s traffic deaths. It was the site of a total of 45 deaths between 2020 and 2024. Its automated enforcement program started in November 2025, so it is too early to evaluate its effects.
Besides speed cameras, Philadelphia introduced or expanded other traffic safety programs, which may also be having a positive effect. For example, the pairs city planners and engineers with neighborhood residents to design traffic safety solutions together. The city also installs dozens of each month, in addition to other traffic-calming and . And the and includes more , which use physical barriers like parked vehicles or concrete blocks to separate cyclists from motor vehicle traffic.
from that such measures can for all road users.
are expected from newer measures such as automated speed enforcement in as well as on in West Philadelphia.
via cameras on public buses may also help. Parked or stopped vehicles blocking public transit can lead to impatient drivers who may drive against opposing traffic to pass a stuck bus or trolley, which could lead to striking another vehicle or a pedestrian or cyclist that is not immediately visible.
Lessons from peer cities
The peer cities have implemented similar measures and others, often on a wider scale than Philadelphia.
New York had a , its lowest since 1910 when recordkeeping began. Its program covers 750 school zones and runs all day, every day. New York also has speed cameras , and the city lowered to 20 mph (32 kph) in some locations.
was mandated in New York City in 2026. A pilot program begun in 2022 demonstrated a 64% reduction in the time that city workers drove over the speed limit by 11 mph (18 kph) or more.
New York also implemented congestion pricing, in January 2025, which may have contributed to a in the congestion cordon. But a recent analysis showed that the pricing changes led to compared to control areas. This may be due to an overall reduction in crashes.
Finally, New York implemented in 2016. Turn calming is when intersections are reconfigured to reduce turning speeds and sharp turns. At treated locations, the risk of pedestrian injuries dropped 16% and the risk of .
, , , and have also implemented policies similar to those in New York.
Next steps
Expanding automated speed enforcement and traffic calming are, I believe, the highest-value policies that Philadelphia can continue expanding to catch up to peers and move closer to its Vision Zero goals.
Peer cities were able to enact these changes through home rule or via their state granting them powers to do so. In Philadelphia, state leaders in Harrisburg over changing or installing speed cameras. This is notable considering 74% of Philadelphia’s road traffic deaths , and the deadliest 15 roads in the city all have a state road designation.
work closely on road safety in Philadelphia, but the preemption rule can make it more difficult to implement changes.
Philly’s high rate of hit-and-run crashes is a more intractable issue. Better lighting would likely help: More than three-quarters of hit-and-run crashes in Philadelphia happen at night.
Vision Zero is obtainable – cities and in the have reached zero traffic deaths – but it will require persistence. The gap in traffic safety between Philadelphia’s richest and poorest neighborhoods is a key inequity to address. No matter how you get around the city, ensuring our streets are designed to help all residents get safely to and from work, school, home or other destinations is a goal we can all work toward.
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