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In a first-of-its-kind compilation of crashes involving a bike and a car, city officials recorded a whopping 754 six-wheeled collisions during the last three months of 2011, according to the just-released data.
Those accidents resulted in 755 injuries and three fatalities, according to the accident reports collected from the NYPD and released by the Department of Transportation.
Brooklyn had the most collisions of any borough with 285 crashes, the data show.
Fort Greene had 24 reported car and bike crashes, while Williamsburg had 23.
Manhattan came in second with 229. The highest concentration of bike-car crashes in all of the city was on the Upper East Side, which had 26.
The West Village had 21 crashes, and the East Village and Midtown East, each had 19.
Queens had 178 crashes, while The Bronx had 56 and Staten Island had only six.
The number of bike and car accidents pales in comparison to other types of smash-ups.
In the same period, there were 3,650 pedestrian injuries and deaths in motor vehicle accidents and 10,297 people died in cars.
But City Councilman James Vacca, who heads the transportation committee, said it is still crucial to keep track of bike crashes.
“We want to get a handle on accidents because bicycle use is becoming more prevalent,” said Vacca, who pushed through the law requiring the DOT to record accident statistics.
“We have bike share coming.”
The numbers would likely be much higher for bike accidents if more people reported crashes that they see, he said. “Many people do not report it,” he said.
“I want people who see accidents and may not be part of the incident to come forward. It’s an important part of the legislation.”
He speculated that a large number of the accidents involve rogue delivery cyclists.
“Almost all of the complaints I get [on cyclists] are on them,” he said.
Vacca has proposed a bill to penalize business owners if their employees are caught breaking traffic rules.
That bill would also make delivery cyclists wear helmets and undergo training to ride a bike.
Neighborhoods with the most crashes between bikes and cars in each borough (totals from last three months of 2011):
Manhattan
Upper East Side: 26
Brooklyn
Fort Greene: 24
Queens
Jackson Heights: 24
Bronx
Yankee Stadium area: 10
staten Island
NewDorp: 4