Crash Data
NYC Motorcycle Crash Data: Where Riders Get Hit
NYC motorcycle fatalities hit 55 in 2023, a record high. Borough breakdown, dangerous corridors, seasonal patterns, and what the data says.
Key Finding
NYC motorcycle deaths hit 55 in 2023, a record high. The national fatality rate runs 66.57 per 100,000 registered motorcycles, the highest of any vehicle type. Of the 55 NYC riders killed in 2023, only 13 (27%) held a proper motorcycle license, and NYC DOT reports just 36% of the motorcycles involved were properly registered.
NYC recorded 55 motorcycle fatalities in 2023, the highest single-year total on record. The number dropped to 39 in 2024. Riders stay dramatically overrepresented in fatal crashes: statewide, motorcyclists were 17% of all traffic deaths in 2023 even though they are a small fraction of registered vehicles, according to ITSMR.
Through the first nine months of 2025, deaths among all motorized two-wheelers (e-bikes, mopeds, and motorcycles combined) fell to 51 from 60 in the same period of 2024, a 15% decline, per NYC DOT.
The trend is moving in the right direction, but the fundamental math has not changed: riding a motorcycle in New York City is far more dangerous than driving a car.
66.57
motorcyclist deaths per 100,000 registered motorcycles nationwide in 2023, almost six times the rate for passenger car occupants (11.61). NYC recorded a record 55 rider deaths the same year.
NYC vs. the National Average
The national picture is stark. Nationally, NHTSA’s 2023 Traffic Safety Facts for Motorcycles recorded 6,335 motorcyclist deaths, 15% of all traffic fatalities. The fatality rate runs 66.57 per 100,000 registered motorcycles, almost six times the rate for passenger car occupants(11.61) and the highest of any vehicle type.
Per mile traveled, the gap is even wider. Motorcyclists die at 31.39 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles, almost 28 times the rate for passenger car occupants.
| Metric | National (2023) |
|---|---|
| Deaths per 100K registered motorcycles | 66.57 |
| Deaths per 100M vehicle miles traveled | 31.39 |
| Motorcycle share of all traffic deaths | 15% |
| Riders in fatal crashes with no valid license | 34% |
The unlicensed rider problem is acute in the city. NYC DOT reported that of the riders killed in 2023, only 13 (27%) held a proper motorcycle license, and only 20 (36%) of the motorcycles involved were properly registered.
Borough Breakdown: Where Riders Die
Not every borough carries the same risk, but a precise ranking is harder to state than it looks. NYC does not publish a motorcycle-specific fatality breakdown, and the borough field is missing on roughly half of the fatal-crash records in NYC Open Data.
What the records that do carry a borough show, and what NYC DOT corridor analysis confirms, is that Brooklyn and Queens see the most motorcycle fatalities while Manhattan sees the fewest.
The pattern tracks road design. Brooklyn and Queens have wide, high-speed arterial roads. Atlantic Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, Northern Boulevard, and Queens Boulevard were all built for vehicle throughput, not safety. These corridors create the conditions where left-turn collisions, a leading motorcycle crash type, happen with lethal frequency.
Dangerous Corridors for Motorcyclists
NYC does not publish a motorcycle-specific crash map. But combining NYC Open Data collision records with NYPD crash reports reveals consistent problem areas.
Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn
Atlantic Avenue saw 713 total collisions in 2023, including 6 fatal crashes and 357 injury crashes across all vehicle types, per NYC Open Data. The corridor’s width, speed, and heavy truck traffic from the Brooklyn port area make it particularly hazardous for riders.
The most dangerous stretch runs through East New York and Brownsville, where the avenue widens and drivers accelerate.
In September 2025, a motorcycle collision with an SUV on Atlantic Avenue killed two people, underscoring the corridor’s danger for riders.
Queens Boulevard, Queens
Queens Boulevard earned its “Boulevard of Death” nickname after 186 people were killed on it between 1990 and 2014. The corridor expands to 12 lanes in some sections.
NYC DOT completed a full seven-mile redesign in November 2024 that cut traffic fatalities 68% and injuries 35% on the redesigned stretch. The boulevard still carries high motorcycle risk because of its volume and multi-lane turning movements.
Grand Concourse, Bronx
The Grand Concourse is the Bronx ’s primary north-south arterial. Its wide lanes encourage speeding, and the number of cross streets creates frequent conflict points where turning vehicles collide with through-riding motorcyclists.
FDR Drive, Manhattan
The FDR Drive runs 9.68 miles along Manhattan’s east side. Its narrow lanes, abrupt merges, and lack of shoulders make it dangerous for riders who have no escape route in emergency braking situations. Multiple fatal motorcycle crashes have occurred on the FDR, including incidents that shut down the entire northbound side.
Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn
Ocean Parkway’s wide lanes and long straightaways encourage high speeds. The road’s design, with a center mall separating directions of travel, creates hazardous left-turn situations at cross streets. Road safety advocates have pushed for speed-limiting technology on this corridor.
Seasonal Crash Patterns
Motorcycle crashes follow predictable seasonal cycles, and summer dominates. Across NYC Open Data motorcycle-involved crash records, roughly four in ten crashes happen in the summer months of June through August, while fewer than one in ten happen in winter.
The pattern aligns with peak riding season, when both the number of riders and the miles traveled climb sharply.
The May 2024 NYC DOT press release announcing expanded motorcyclist safety measures was timed precisely for this reason: crashes spike as warmer weather brings more riders onto the road.
What Causes These Crashes
The contributing factors point to driver negligence. In NYC Open Data crash records, driver inattention or distraction is the single largest specified factor in motorcycle crashes, cited in roughly one in five.
Failure to yield is the leading multi-vehicle conflict, and it includes the left-turn collision, where a car or truck turns across the path of an oncoming motorcycle. National crash research, going back to the landmark Hurt Report, has long found that turning, failure-to-yield collisions are among the most common ways riders get hurt.
Younger riders carry elevated risk. NYS data shows operators aged 21 to 39 make up the largest share of riders in fatal and personal-injury motorcycle crashes. The combination of inexperience and NYC’s high-volume traffic environment compounds the danger.
The Insurance and Legal Landscape
New York’s no-fault system does not cover motorcyclists. Insurance Law § 5103 leaves the rider and passengers of a motorcycle out of Personal Injury Protection(PIP) benefits.
A car occupant has PIP to pay medical bills and lost wages no matter who caused the crash. A rider does not. A rider’s own health insurance has to carry that cost instead.
Riders sit outside no-fault, so they also escape its biggest restriction. A rider does not have to clear the “ serious injury ” threshold under Insurance Law § 5102(d) to sue the at-fault driver. A rider can recover first-dollar economic loss, the full medical bills and lost earnings, straight from the driver who caused the crash.
That matters because motorcycle crashes are severe. Traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, and multiple fractures are common outcomes when a 4,000-pound vehicle collides with an unprotected rider, and the rider has no PIP to fall back on.
Note
If a government entity is involved, a Notice of Claim under General Municipal Law § 50-e must be filed within 90 days.
A personal injury suit must be filed within three years under CPLR § 214(5). A wrongful death claim runs on a shorter clock: two years from the date of death under EPTL § 5-4.1.
What We Found
The pattern is clear. Brooklyn and Queens see the most motorcycle fatalities, driven by their wide arterial roads. Summer concentrates most crashes into three months. And driver inattention, not rider behavior, is the leading specified cause.
The 2023 record of 55 motorcycle deaths came with a troubling detail: only 13 of the riders killed (27%) held a proper motorcycle license, which means 73% did not.
Licensing and registration compliance remains a significant factor. But for properly licensed riders who follow traffic laws, the risk comes overwhelmingly from other drivers who fail to see them or fail to yield.
If you were injured in a motorcycle crash in NYC, the data supports what you already know: the other driver was likely at fault. An experienced motorcycle accident attorney can use crash data, traffic camera footage, and accident reconstruction to prove exactly what happened.
Sources
- NYC DOT. (2024). NYC DOT, NYPD, and State Officials Announce Partnership to Expand Motorcyclist Safety and Enforcement. https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2024/nyc-dot-expand-motorcyclist-safety.shtml
- NYC DOT. (2025). Vision Zero: Traffic Deaths Continued to Decline in Third Quarter. https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2025/decline-in-traffic-deaths.shtml
- NHTSA. (2024). Traffic Safety Facts: Motorcycles, 2023 Data. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813732.pdf
- NYC Open Data. Motor Vehicle Collisions, Crashes. https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Public-Safety/Motor-Vehicle-Collisions-Crashes/h9gi-nx95
- ITSMR. (2024). New York State Fact Sheet: Motorcycle Crashes. https://www.itsmr.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/NYS_FactSheet_Motorcycle_Crashes_Published_Dec_2024.pdf
Updated June 15, 2026
Frequently asked questions
- Which NYC borough is most dangerous for motorcyclists?
Brooklyn and Queens record the most motorcycle fatalities, a pattern NYC DOT ties to their wide, high-speed arterial roads like Atlantic Avenue and Queens Boulevard. A precise borough ranking is hard to state because the city does not publish a motorcycle-specific fatality breakdown, and the borough is missing on roughly half of the fatal-crash records in NYC Open Data. What the data shows clearly is that the outer-borough arterials, not Manhattan, carry the highest rider risk.
- When do most motorcycle crashes happen in NYC?
Summer is the deadliest stretch. Across NYC Open Data motorcycle-involved crash records, roughly four in ten crashes happen in the summer months of June through August, while fewer than one in ten happen in winter. The pattern tracks riding season: more riders and more miles traveled when the weather warms.
- How long do I have to file a motorcycle accident claim in New York?
New York's no-fault system does not cover motorcyclists, so a rider does not file a PIP claim the way a car occupant does. A rider sues the at-fault driver directly. The statute of limitations for a personal injury lawsuit is 3 years from the date of the crash. If a government entity was involved, you must file a Notice of Claim within 90 days. A wrongful death claim must be filed within 2 years of the date of death. Missing any of these deadlines can permanently bar your claim.
- How many motorcycle deaths per year in NYC?
Motorcycle fatalities in New York City have remained a serious public safety concern, with the NYC Department of Transportation and Vision Zero reporting that riders account for a disproportionate share of traffic deaths relative to their presence on the road. In 2023, NYC recorded a record 55 motorcyclist deaths, the highest single-year total the city has tracked, a figure that has fluctuated but trended upward in recent years. Queens and Brooklyn consistently appear in NYC DOT corridor analysis as boroughs with elevated motorcycle crash concentrations, particularly along high-speed arterials and expressway service roads. Seasonal patterns matter too, as NHTSA data confirms that the majority of fatal motorcycle crashes in the New York metro region occur between May and October when ridership peaks. If a rider or a surviving family member needs to understand their legal options after a crash, the deadlines are two of the most time-sensitive issues an attorney would address first. A personal injury claim runs three years from the crash under CPLR § 214, while a wrongful death claim under EPTL § 5-4.1 runs only two years from the date of death.
- Where do most motorcycle crashes happen in NYC?
A large share of motorcycle crashes happen at or near intersections, where a turning or crossing vehicle fails to yield to an oncoming rider. National crash research has long identified this left-turn, failure-to-yield conflict as one of the most common and dangerous motorcycle crash types. In NYC it repeats along high-volume corridors in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. If you were hurt in an intersection crash, the statute of limitations under CPLR § 214 generally gives you three years to file a personal injury claim, though a claim against a city agency may require a notice of claim within 90 days under GML § 50-e.
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Antin, J. S. (2026, March 4). NYC Motorcycle Crash Data: Where Riders Get Hit. AEE Law Insights. https://aeelaw.com/insights/motorcycle-accident-hotspots-nyc/
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