What Causes Car Accidents in NYC

When an officer fills in a crash report, they can name what contributed to it. A specific factor was given for 67% of crashes in 2023–2025; the rest were marked "unspecified". The list below covers factors with at least 300 crashes in that period.

Each factor page shows the yearly trend, how many people were hurt in those crashes and the boroughs and ZIP codes where officers cite it most.

• Driver Inattention/Distraction59,332 33%
• Failure to Yield Right-of-Way17,301 9.5%
• Following Too Closely13,859 7.6%
• Passing or Lane Usage Improper9,836 5.4%
• Unsafe Speed8,993 4.9%
• Other Vehicular8,751 4.8%
• Passing Too Closely7,698 4.2%
• Backing Unsafely7,140 3.9%
• Traffic Control Disregarded6,692 3.7%
• Turning Improperly5,591 3.1%
• Driver Inexperience5,404 3.0%
• Alcohol Involvement4,750 2.6%
• Unsafe Lane Changing4,676 2.6%
• Pedestrian/Bicyclist/Other Pedestrian Error/Confusion3,068 1.7%
• Reaction to Uninvolved Vehicle2,912 1.6%
• View Obstructed/Limited2,512 1.4%
• Aggressive Driving/Road Rage2,168 1.2%
• Pavement Slippery1,751 1.0%
• Fell Asleep1,122 0.6%
• Oversized Vehicle987 0.5%
• Brakes Defective913 0.5%
• Passenger Distraction749 0.4%
• Outside Car Distraction609 0.3%
• Steering Failure567 0.3%
• Lost Consciousness563 0.3%
• Obstruction/Debris552 0.3%
• Illness466 0.3%
• Tire Failure/Inadequate421 0.2%
• Glare417 0.2%

Percentages are shares of crashes where police named a specific factor. A factor on a police report is not a finding of legal fault.

How to read these figures

Each figure counts crashes that an NYPD officer reported on the MV-104AN form, which is required when someone is injured or killed or when damage reaches $1,000. One crash can injure several people, so injuries can exceed crashes.

Police do not record the borough or ZIP code for every crash — about 23% of crashes citywide in the same years have no borough — so local totals are a floor, not an exact count. The contributing factor is the one listed for the first vehicle in the report.

Source: NYPD crash reports published by NYC Open Data (Motor Vehicle Collisions – Crashes). Data through October 31, 2026. Figures are preliminary and may change. How we calculate these figures.