MTA Buses & Semi-Truck Risks in NYC: Sniper Law Calls for Targeted Safety Reforms

Sniper Law urges NYC safety reforms as MTA bus crashes rise and large-truck collisions cause hundreds of injuries and deaths, despite overall fatality declines.

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, September 19, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Sniper Law is calling for targeted safety upgrades and stronger transparency around large-vehicle crashes in New York, citing state and city data showing the outsized harm from semi-trucks and ongoing concerns around MTA bus collisions. While overall citywide fatalities have declined in 2025, serious injuries, especially among people walking, remain a critical public-safety issue.

Key data points (Verified)

Large trucks in NY crashes: In 2024, New York recorded 3,466 crashes involving large trucks, with 100 fatalities and 3,984 injuries. Through the current 2025 reporting snapshot, there are 1,653 large-truck crashes, 37 fatalities, and 1,769 injuries (MCMIS snapshot 8/29/2025).

Citywide safety context (2025): NYC DOT reports 87 traffic fatalities in the first half of 2025, a 32% decline from 128 in the same period of 2024, evidence that macro Vision Zero measures are helping, even as large-vehicle risks persist. https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2025/vision-zero.shtml

Pedestrian serious injuries: In the first nine months of 2024, 645 pedestrians in NYC were seriously injured, a 13% increase from the same period in 2023, underscoring vulnerability for people walking (KSI monitoring by Transportation Alternatives & Families for Safe Streets). https://transalt.org/press-releases/new-data-from-transportation-alternatives-and-families-for-safe-streets-shows-vision-zero-works-should-be-expanded-congestion-pricing-has-made-streets-safer

MTA bus collisions trend: The MTA’s NYC Transit Key Performance Metrics (June 23, 2025) note that bus collisions increased slightly in the most recent rolling 12-month period versus the prior period, while collision injuries decreased. (The report presents collision rates and trend direction rather than a citywide count.) https://www.mta.info/document/176416

“The numbers confirm what our clients live through,” said Erik Ikhilov, Esq., Sniper Law. “Even with broad safety gains, semi-trucks and buses still create disproportionate danger in complex city environments. New Yorkers deserve vehicle technology, intersection designs, and transparent data that cut serious injuries before they happen.”

Sniper Law’s targeted reforms

1. Vehicle safety tech on all fleets

• Side underride guards for trucks; blind-spot detection/collision-avoidance for both MTA buses and heavy trucks. (These interventions are consistent with federal Vision Zero toolkits encouraging targeted, data-driven countermeasures.) https://highways.dot.gov/sites/fhwa.dot.gov/files/2024-04/Vision%20Zero%20Toolkit%20508_0.pdf

2. Transparent safety reporting

• Quarterly public dashboards from MTA and NYC DOT: location-level summaries of bus-involved and heavy-truck-involved crashes and resulting injuries/fatalities, plus outcomes of internal investigations.

• Continued publication and usability of NYPD monthly collision statistics for boroughs/intersections to help communities and media track high-risk corridors. https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/stats/traffic-data/traffic-data-collision.page

3. Safer intersection design where trucks/buses dominate

• Leading pedestrian intervals, protected turns, wider crosswalks, and daylighting on corridors with high bus frequency and truck volumes (e.g., approaches to depots and designated truck routes), aligned with Vision Zero best practices. https://highways.dot.gov/sites/fhwa.dot.gov/files/2024-04/Vision%20Zero%20Toolkit%20508_0.pdf

4. Operator oversight & training

• Continue MTA’s safety performance tracking and publish trend lines for bus collision rate and collision injuries; require comparable reporting for truck carriers operating in NYC (leveraging FMCSA safety data). https://www.mta.info/document/176416

Why this matters now

• Citywide fatalities are down in 2025, good news, yet the severity of crashes with very large vehicles remains high. FMCSA’s New York data show hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries tied to large-truck crashes each year; local KSI monitoring shows serious harm persists for people walking. The next step is precision: target where and how big vehicles are causing the greatest damage and engineer the risk out.

https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/crashstatistics/Tables/GetReportStateTable?is_pdf=true&q.carrier_type=&q.carrier_type_text=&q.crash_type=&q.crash_type_id=4&q.datasource=1&q.datasource_id=1&q.description=&q.domicile=US&q.domicile_text=United+States&q.measure_id=1&q.measure_text=Vehicles&q.number_of_vehicles=99&q.operation_id=&q.operation_text=&q.report_date=0&q.report_date_text=2021%7C2025&q.report_desc=&q.report_id=1&q.state=%2CNY%2C&q.state_text=New+York&q.time_period_id=2&q.title=&q.vehicle_type=2&q.vehicle_type_text=Large+Trucks

About Sniper Law

Sniper Law is a New York–based personal-injury firm representing victims of truck, bus, and motor-vehicle crashes across the five boroughs and surrounding counties. The firm couples litigation with data-driven advocacy to reduce serious injuries on New York streets. Sniperlaw.com

Sources

• Large-truck statistics reference the FMCSA MCMIS statewide table for New York (2021–2025), which reports vehicles and crashes in fatal and non-fatal categories. Latest snapshot: 8/29/2025; counts can be revised as records finalize.
https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/crashstatistics/Tables/GetReportStateTable?is_pdf=true&q.carrier_type=&q.carrier_type_text=&q.crash_type=&q.crash_type_id=4&q.datasource=1&q.datasource_id=1&q.description=&q.domicile=US&q.domicile_text=United+States&q.measure_id=1&q.measure_text=Vehicles&q.number_of_vehicles=99&q.operation_id=&q.operation_text=&q.report_date=0&q.report_date_text=2021%7C2025&q.report_desc=&q.report_id=1&q.state=%2CNY%2C&q.state_text=New+York&q.time_period_id=2&q.title=&q.vehicle_type=2&q.vehicle_type_text=Large+Trucks

• MTA bus collision trends come from the NYC Transit Key Performance Metrics (June 23, 2025) which reports rates and trends (increase/decrease) rather than a raw yearly count; MTA indicates bus collisions increased slightly over the most recent rolling year, with injuries declining. https://www.mta.info/document/176416

• Citywide fatalities (first half 2025) are from NYC DOT.
https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2025/vision-zero.shtml

• Serious pedestrian injuries (first nine months 2024) are from Transportation Alternatives & Families for Safe Streets KSI tracking.
https://transalt.org/press-releases/new-data-from-transportation-alternatives-and-families-for-safe-streets-shows-vision-zero-works-should-be-expanded-congestion-pricing-has-made-streets-safer

• NYPD Motor Vehicle Collisions (Traffic Data) page: updated monthly by borough, intersection, highway/bridge/tunnel. https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/stats/traffic-data/traffic-data-collision.page

• NYC Open Data – “Motor Vehicle Collisions: Vehicles” dataset: includes the vehicle type involved in each collision (e.g., truck, bus). https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Public-Safety/Motor-Vehicle-Collisions-Vehicles/bm4k-52h4

• NYC Open Data – “Motor Vehicle Collisions: Person” dataset: injuries/fatalities by people involved (pedestrian, cyclist, occupant) and borough. https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Public-Safety/Motor-Vehicle-Collisions-Person/f55k-p6yu

• NYC Vision Zero & Vision Zero open data: provides collision data and dashboard info.
https://www.nyc.gov/content/visionzero/pages/open-data

Erik Ikhilov, Esq.
Sniper Law
+1 212-222-0000
email us here

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