Male drivers accounted for 91% of the 949 pedestrians, and 97% of the 71 cyclists, killed in NYC during the 4-year period covered by the report. Even allowing for males' high share of driving in the city - Right Of Way assumed 75% - deaths caused by male drivers are still far out of proportion to their level of driving. Per mile, men drivers kill pedestrians at 3.2 times the rate of women drivers. In the case of bicyclists, the kill rate of male drivers is 10 times that of women. These results hold when trucks, buses and taxis are excluded, eliminating effects of commercial vehicle weight and patterns of use.

As the Times reported today, "If everyone driving a vehicle in New York City drove like a woman … the annual death toll among pedestrians would drop to about 100, from 250 now. The number of bicyclists killed would fall to 2 or 3, from 18 a year now."

The Right Of Way finding refutes the conventional wisdom of policymakers, who blame the victim for most pedestrian and cyclist deaths. As noted in Killed by Automobile "the fact that 97 percent of cyclist-killers were men strongly suggests that driver aggression (and not just cyclist impulsiveness) plays a significant role in killing bicycle-riders in New York City." The same holds for fatalities to pedestrians.

Killed by Automobile may be viewed at www.rightofway.org. The printed, bound 64-page report may be purchased for $7.50 postpaid from Right Of Way, 305 Broadway, Room 402, NYC 10007.