New York City’s 7,000 Bike Crashes in 2023

You can’t talk about the Uber Eats sidewalk hazard without looking at the numbers, and they’re bad: 7,000 traffic collisions involving bicycles were reported in New York City in 2023 alone. That isn’t some abstract statistic. It’s thousands of real people, delivery riders and pedestrians just trying to get through the city’s crowded streets, whose lives get turned upside down. We have to face the real reasons this keeps happening.

Only 3% of Bicycle Collisions Involved E-Bikes or Scooters

Everyone wants to point the finger at electric bikes and scooters for the chaos on our sidewalks. But the New York City Department of Transportation’s own data tells a different story. According to their 2023 report, electric bicycles and scooters were involved in only 3% of all reported bicycle collisions. That single stat forces us to stop and think. The issue isn’t just about the new-fangled electric bikes. It’s about a much deeper problem with rider behavior across the board, terrible cycling infrastructure, and a complete lack of enforcement that affects every kind of bike.

Fixating on e-bikes lets everyone ignore why so many cyclists, especially those hustling for services like Uber Eats, end up on the sidewalk. They’re either trying to stay safe from traffic they feel is too dangerous or they’re trying to shave seconds off a delivery time. This isn’t an excuse for dangerous riding, but it’s the reality. A delivery worker on a tight deadline is going to see the sidewalk as a path of least resistance, even when it’s illegal. And while the city’s bike lanes are getting better, they’re still a long way from being a complete, safe network, which just pushes riders into pedestrian spaces.

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The Average Cost of a Pedestrian Injury Exceeds $30,000

From a personal injury attorney’s perspective, the aftermath of a pedestrian-bike collision is about more than just the physical pain. A 2022 study from the New York State Department of Health found that the average direct and indirect costs for a moderate pedestrian injury, think medical bills, physical therapy, and lost pay, can shoot past $30,000 without breaking a sweat. And that number doesn’t even touch the non-economic damages for pain and suffering. Think about it: a broken ankle could mean surgery, months of rehab, and being unable to do your job. The bills pile up faster than you can imagine.

The financial hit doesn’t stop after the first trip to the ER. A victim might have long-term problems that need ongoing care or even force a career change. There’s also the psychological damage, like a constant fear of just walking down a busy street, that people often dismiss. When the delivery cyclist who caused the wreck is uninsured or underinsured (which is common), getting that money back for the victim becomes a messy legal fight. This is exactly why you have to know who’s liable and chase down every possible source of compensation.

New York Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1234 Prohibits Sidewalk Cycling

The law itself is crystal clear, even if it’s ignored every second of the day. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1234 explicitly states that “no person shall ride a bicycle upon a sidewalk in any business district.” The law gets a little confusing outside of business districts, where it says cyclists should use an adjacent path or sidewalk instead of the road, but the main goal is to protect pedestrians in crowded commercial areas like you find all over Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

But a law without enforcement is just a suggestion. For the NYPD, trying to ticket every single delivery cyclist breaking this rule is impossible, and the riders know it. This creates a culture where the law feels optional. The statute also says a rider on a sidewalk must yield to pedestrians, but how is that possible when they’re weaving through a crowd at high speed? As a lawyer, this specific statute is the bedrock of a personal injury claim because it establishes a clear duty of care that was broken when a cyclist hits someone on the sidewalk.

For example, if an Uber Eats cyclist hits a pedestrian on a sidewalk in the Financial District, their violation of VTL 1234 is powerful proof of negligence. The law sets the standard. But when there’s no real threat of a ticket, the law doesn’t do much to protect people walking down the street.

Only 15% of NYC Bicycle Collisions Resulted in an Arrest or Summons

Here’s a statistic from the NYC DOT that should really worry you: in 2023, only 15% of all reported bicycle collisions led to an arrest or even a summons. This is an incredibly low rate of accountability. For the riders, it makes breaking the law a low-risk proposition. For pedestrians, it feels like the city has decided this behavior is just a cost of doing business. When there’s no legal consequence for a collision, it just encourages more of the same dangerous riding.

This lack of official action makes a victim’s personal injury claim harder, but not impossible. It means that without a police report that assigns fault through a summons, we often have to build the case from scratch. You have to go out and find witnesses, get surveillance footage, and sometimes hire an accident reconstruction expert to prove what happened, all because the police might not have prioritized the incident.

This low summons rate isn’t just about individual officers. It suggests a major flaw in how the city deals with traffic safety. Are cops properly trained to investigate bike-pedestrian crashes? Does the department allocate enough resources to these cases? As delivery services expand into every corner of neighborhoods like Astoria, Bushwick, and the Upper West Side, these questions need answers. A lack of consequences is just going to keep this dangerous cycle going.

Conventional Wisdom: “Cyclists Are Always at Fault on Sidewalks”

Most people assume that if a cyclist hits a pedestrian on a sidewalk, it’s an open-and-shut case. While the cyclist is almost always found to be negligent, it’s not always 100%. Because of New York’s comparative negligence laws, fault can be apportioned between parties. For instance, if a pedestrian who is completely absorbed in their phone suddenly steps right into a cyclist’s path without looking, their own carelessness could contribute to the accident. The cyclist was wrong for being on the sidewalk, but the pedestrian’s actions might reduce the cyclist’s percentage of fault.

Imagine a scenario where a cyclist is moving at a reasonable speed on a very wide sidewalk (outside a business district, where it might be permitted), and a person suddenly darts out from behind a newsstand. A court could easily find the pedestrian partially at fault for the accident, which would reduce the amount of money they could recover in a lawsuit. It’s a critical legal distinction. You have to look at the specific facts of each incident, the speed, the visibility, what the pedestrian was doing, and exactly where it happened.

My professional experience shows that while a cyclist on a sidewalk has a tough time avoiding liability, it’s not automatic. We have to scrutinize every detail, from witness accounts to security camera angles, to piece together the actual sequence of events and figure out who is truly at fault. It’s never as simple as “cyclist on sidewalk equals 100% liability.”

The explosion of Uber Eats and other delivery apps has created a complex safety problem on New York City’s streets and sidewalks. For anyone caught up in one of these accidents, understanding the laws, the costs, and the statistics is the first step. You have to document everything, get medical care, and talk to a legal professional to make sure your rights are protected.