At first glance, New York City just logged its safest year for traffic deaths in decades — down 31% since Vision Zero launched in 2014. But that progress hasn’t reached every neighborhood equally, and the neighborhoods it has passed by are disproportionately lower-income communities of color. Making matters worse, those same neighborhoods are some of the city’s most desolate transit deserts.

Consider Canarsie and Flatlands in Brooklyn, where New Yorkers are struck and injured in traffic at nearly double the citywide rate — 84 serious crashes per 10,000 residents, compared to 47 citywide. Consider also that eight of the 10 city neighborhoods with the highest crash rates are lower-income communities of color, and have received far fewer of the slow zones and safety upgrades driving citywide numbers down.

This is not two separate failures, as low-income New Yorkers are often the last to reap the benefits of new policy and innovations. To start,........

© NY Daily News