Fatal car crashes in Brooklyn, NY: deadliest roads, 2020-2024

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 332 fatal crashes inside Brooklyn, in which 338 people died. The roads with the most were Belt Pkwy (State Route 907C) with 19 fatal crashes, Atlantic Ave with 15 and 4th Ave with 8.

Filing deadline, fault rule, insurance and the court for a crash in Brooklyn: Brooklyn, NY injury guide.

NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the federal record of traffic crashes in which someone died, lists 332 fatal crashes in Brooklyn from 2020 through 2024 and 338 people killed in them. Brooklyn and Kings County are the same area, so these are the county's totals as well. The 2020 to 2023 figures come from NHTSA's Final Files; the 2024 figures come from its Annual Report File, the first release for that year, which may be revised.

The yearly totals rose and fell. Fatal crashes numbered 58 in 2020, jumped to 81 in 2021, then fell to 70 in 2022 and 59 in 2023 before rising to 64 in 2024. Deaths were 59, 82, 70, 63 and 64. The 2021 peak alone is 24 percent of the five-year crash total. In 2020, 2021 and 2023, at least one crash killed more than one person; in 2023, 59 crashes took 63 lives.

Each of New York City's five boroughs is also a county, and Brooklyn's toll is the second highest of the five. Queens County recorded more, 363 deaths in 342 fatal crashes; the Bronx recorded 254 deaths, Manhattan (New York County) 184 and Staten Island (Richmond County) 59. Brooklyn's 338 deaths are 28 percent of the five boroughs' combined 1,198 and 6 percent of New York State's 5,601. Outside the city, Buffalo recorded 104 deaths and Rochester 101.

Belt Pkwy (State Route 907C) has the most fatal crashes in Brooklyn's road table: 19 from 2020 through 2024, killing 20 people, the latest in 2024. That is four more than Atlantic Ave, second with 15 crashes and 15 deaths, also most recently in 2024. Two roads tie for third with 8 fatal crashes and 8 deaths each: 4th Ave, whose latest was in 2024, and Eastern Pkwy, whose latest was in 2023.

Four rows follow with 7 fatal crashes apiece. On Pennsylvania Ave those crashes killed 8 people, the latest in 2024; I-278's killed 7, also with a crash in 2024; 3rd Ave and Utica Ave had 7 deaths each, the latest in 2023. Flatbush Ave and Linden Blvd (State Route 27) complete the table with 6 crashes and 6 deaths each, and both had a fatal crash in 2024.

The ten rows add up to 90 of the 332 fatal crashes, 27 percent, and 92 of the 338 deaths, which leaves 242 crashes, 73 percent, on roads outside the table. The table shows where people died; who was at fault in a given crash is a separate question, answered by that crash's police report, witnesses, video and vehicle damage.

Evenings had the most fatal crashes. Between 6 p.m. and midnight there were 111, or 33 percent, while the other three six-hour blocks were close to even: 75 from midnight to 6 a.m., 74 from 6 a.m. to noon and 72 from noon to 6 p.m. By light, 172 crashes, 52 percent, happened after dark, almost all of them on lighted streets (165), with 6 on unlit roads and 1 where the lighting was unknown. Daylight accounted for 142, and dawn and dusk for 18.

No day of the week stands far apart. Saturday had the most fatal crashes, 52, with Monday at 51, Friday at 49 and Thursday at 48; Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday had 44 each. Most crashes happened in clear weather, 278 of them, with 30 under clouds and 24 in rain. Seventy-five crashes happened inside an intersection and 128 were intersection-related, such as on an approach, together 203, or 61 percent, while 119 were away from any junction. Single-vehicle crashes numbered 205, two-vehicle crashes 88 and larger ones 39.

How the crashes began stands out. In 245, or 74 percent, the first harmful event was not a collision with another motor vehicle in transport, meaning one in use on the road rather than parked: a pedestrian was struck first in 156, a cyclist in 36 and a person on a personal conveyance in 9, while 9 began with a parked vehicle and 8 with someone falling or jumping from a vehicle. Of the 87 crashes that began as collisions between vehicles in transport, 58 were angle crashes, 14 rear-end, 7 same-direction sideswipes and 5 head-on.

More than half of the people killed in Brooklyn's fatal crashes were pedestrians: 170 of the 338. Bicyclists were 36 more, or 11 percent, and 9 were people on personal conveyances, a FARS category kept separate from walking and cycling. Together, 215 of the dead, 64 percent, were outside any vehicle. For a person struck on foot or on a bike, a claim usually turns on the crossing, the signal, the lighting and what the driver could have seen in time.

In or on vehicles, 95 drivers and 28 passengers were killed, 123 in all. Motorcycles stand out: 66 of the people killed, 20 percent of all deaths, were on a motorcycle or moped, which is more than half of the 123 who died in or on a vehicle. These 66 are part of the 338, not additional deaths. Motorcycle cases tend to hinge on whether other drivers saw the rider, left enough room or turned across the bike's path.

This example is invented, and its round numbers only show how New York's rules fit together. Suppose you are driving through a Brooklyn intersection after dark when a driver turning left cuts across your lane and the cars collide at an angle. You break a leg, need surgery and miss four months of work. Because New York is a no-fault state, your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage generally pays the first medical bills and part of the lost wages, whoever caused the crash.

A claim against the other driver for pain and suffering is generally allowed only when the injury meets New York's serious-injury threshold, which state law defines; assume yours does. A jury values your pain and suffering and other losses at $150,000 and finds you 25 percent at fault for entering the intersection too fast. New York's pure comparative negligence rule reduces the award by your share, to $112,500. Even at 70 percent fault, you would still recover 30 percent, or $45,000.

Collecting is the next question. New York's minimum liability coverage is 25/50/10: $25,000 for one person's injuries, $50,000 for all injuries in one crash and $10,000 for property damage. If the other driver carried only that, the policy would pay $25,000 of the $112,500, leaving $87,500 beyond that policy; whether the rest can be collected from any other source depends on the policies and the facts.

A Brooklyn crash can start two legal clocks. The first is immediate: when someone is hurt or killed, a driver has to call the police right away, and if no officer is close by, go to the nearest police station or judicial officer as soon as the driver physically can (VTL § 600). The second runs 10 days. Form MV-104, the Report of Motor Vehicle Crash, goes to the DMV from every driver whose crash killed or injured someone or caused over $1,000 of damage to any one person's property, counting the driver's own (N.Y. Vehicle and Traffic Law § 605).

The DMV accepts the MV-104 online or by mail, and the same agency handles requests for copies of crash reports, which an insurer or attorney will ask for early. Keep a copy of the MV-104 you file. Beyond the forms, the first days decide much of the evidence, because injuries can surface late and street video is often recorded over:

• Note the responding officer's name and the report number before anyone leaves the scene.
• Photograph the crossing, the signal, the lane markings and the street lighting as they were; 203 of Brooklyn's fatal crashes were at or related to an intersection.
• Check whether any nearby building has a camera pointed at the street, and ask the owner to save the recording.
• Get medical care right away and keep every bill and record for the no-fault claim.
• Tell your own insurer promptly; in New York, no-fault coverage pays first.
• If a city vehicle or city employee may share the blame, raise the 90-day notice of claim with an attorney at once (Gen. Mun. Law § 50-e).

Lawsuits over Brooklyn crashes are typically brought in the Kings County Supreme Court, which, despite the name, is where New York tries cases like these. An attorney confirms the proper court, since a case can belong in another one. New York generally allows three years from the injury to start a personal injury suit (N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 214(5)). Most claims settle with an insurer, but for a claim not involving a municipality, the three-year limit still sets the outer date.

Claims against a government body run on their own deadlines. When a city vehicle, a city employee or another municipal party may be responsible, New York requires a notice of claim within 90 days (Gen. Mun. Law § 50-e), and the deadline for suing a municipality is set separately by state law. An injury at work can also bring in workers' compensation, run by the New York Workers' Compensation Board: notice to the employer within 30 days and a claim generally within two years. Wrongful death claims follow their own deadline, so families should confirm the date early.

New York's pure comparative negligence rule is why the driver in the example still recovers at 70 percent fault. Many states bar recovery once a person's share passes 50 percent, and in contributory negligence states such as Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, even a small share of fault can generally defeat a claim, so the same facts can end very differently.

No-fault insurance is the other big difference. Like Florida, Michigan and New Jersey, New York uses a no-fault system: your own PIP coverage generally pays first, regardless of fault, and lawsuits for pain and suffering are generally limited to more serious injuries. In at-fault states, claims run against the at-fault driver's liability insurance. Deadlines vary too; Tennessee allows one year for most injury claims, a third of New York's three years.

Ask Legal Matters is a personal injury lead-generation service that collects free case review requests from injured people in the United States and shares them with independent attorneys and law firms. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in your state. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency, meaning their fee is a percentage of any recovery. An attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say whether a claim exists. If you were hurt in a crash in Brooklyn, you can request a free case review.

• What do federal records show about fatal car crashes in Buffalo?
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• What should you do after a car accident?

More on this type of claim: Car accidents: evidence, deadlines and when to ask an attorney.

• Brooklyn, New York: local injury guide, court and deadlines
• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation

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