Vision Zero means what it says in 8 NYPD precincts without traffic deaths in 2023

Vision Zero — the push in New York City and around the world to eliminate traffic deaths — has real meaning in some NYPD precincts.

Police brass on Friday recognized eight precincts in Manhattan and Brooklyn for their “outstanding success in improving overall street safety” for reporting no traffic deaths in 2023.

In Manhattan, the 1st Precinct, covering Battery Park City and Tribeca, and the 7th Precinct, covering Chinatown, both reported zero traffic deaths, down from one each in 2022. The Central Park precinct had zero traffic deaths in both 2022 and 2023.

In Brooklyn, the 76th precinct — Carroll Gardens and Park Slope — also kept up its zero-fatality record from 2022.

The 81st Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant and the 83rd Precinct in Bushwick both fell from one traffic death in 2022 to zero in 2023. The 67th in East Flatbush had four deaths in 2022, but had zero in 2023.

The department also recognized the 77th Precinct in Crown Heights for the largest year-over-year reduction in deaths — nine in 2022 down to one last year.

That fatality was the December death of comedian Kenny DeForest, who died after the electric Citi Bike he piloted collided with a parked car at the intersection of Rogers Ave. and St. Marks Ave.

When Vision Zero was established by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2014, it aimed to eliminate all traffic deaths.

2023 was a mixed year for street safety. Ninety-nine pedestrians were killed on city streets in 2023, according to Department of Transportation data — the lowest number since 2020, when 94 pedestrians were killed.

But the year was the second deadliest on record for those on two wheels, with 29 cyclists killed when e-bikes are counted along with human-powered bikes.

Motorists and their passengers made up the largest portion of traffic fatalities, with 110 people killed in 2023.