NYC Traffic Collisions Scraper

NYC Traffic Collisions Scraper

Scrape NYC motor vehicle collision records from the official city database, up to one million per run. Each record includes crash date, time, location, borough, injuries, fatalities, and contributing factors. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

NYC's Vision Zero initiative publishes detailed crash data, but the official portal limits exports and requires manual filtering. This Actor reads the public collision dataset directly, lets you filter by borough, and returns every matching record in a consistent, analysis-ready schema. No API key, no manual downloads.

Who uses it	What they scrape NYC Open Data for
Traffic safety researchers	Analyze crash patterns across boroughs to identify high-risk intersections.
Insurance analysts	Model claim frequency and severity by neighborhood and time of day.
Urban planners	Evaluate street design changes by comparing collision rates before and after interventions.
Journalists	Investigate traffic fatality trends for public accountability reporting.

What it does

This Actor collects NYC motor vehicle collision records from the city's open data portal and returns each crash as a flat row with date, time, location, borough, injuries, fatalities, and contributing factors.

• 🏙️ Borough filter: limit results to Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, or Staten Island.
• 📊 Flat row output: every crash is one row with date, time, location, injuries, fatalities, and contributing factors.
• 📁 Multi-format export: download your dataset as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML for any analysis tool.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with NYC Open Data data

🚦 Identify high-risk intersections.

A traffic safety researcher pulls all collisions in Brooklyn for the past year, groups by cross streets, and ranks intersections by pedestrian injuries to prioritize safety upgrades.

📈 Model insurance risk by neighborhood.

An insurance analyst collects Manhattan crash data, joins it with census tracts, and builds a frequency model to adjust premium zones.

🗺️ Evaluate street redesigns.

An urban planner scrapes Queens collisions before and after a protected bike lane installation and compares injury counts to measure the intervention's effect.

📰 Report on traffic fatalities.

A journalist pulls all fatal collisions citywide, maps them by borough and time of day, and publishes a story on Vision Zero progress.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Official NYC crash data	Direct from the city's open data portal, the same source used by Vision Zero reports.
Borough-level filtering	Narrow results to a single borough or pull all five at once.
Analysis-ready schema	Every record includes date, time, location, injuries, fatalities, and contributing factors in a flat structure.
No API key required	Reads the public dataset directly. No registration, no rate-limit headaches.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets NYC Open Data the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	NYC Traffic Collisions Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When NYC Open Data changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Set a maximum number of records and optionally filter by borough. The filter runs as data is fetched so only matching collisions reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.021 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$2.10
1,000 results	$21.00
10,000 results	$210.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the NYC Traffic Collisions Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to NYC Open Data through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/nyc-traffic-collisions-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check your borough filter. If you selected a borough with fewer collisions than your maxItems setting, try increasing maxItems or switching to 'All boroughs'. Also confirm the dataset is not temporarily unavailable on the NYC Open Data portal.

The run is taking a long time. Is that normal?

Yes, especially for large maxItems values. The Actor pages through the dataset sequentially. A run collecting 100,000 records can take several minutes. Reduce maxItems if you need faster results.

Some fields are empty in my output. Why?

Empty fields reflect missing data in the source. Not every collision report includes all contributing factors, and some location details may be incomplete. This is normal for real-world police report data.

I got fewer records than my maxItems setting. Why?

The Actor stops when it reaches either your maxItems limit or the end of the dataset for your chosen filters. If the borough you selected has fewer total collisions than your maxItems, you will get all available records.

The run failed with an error. What should I do?

First, retry the run. The NYC Open Data endpoint occasionally returns transient errors. If the error persists, check the Apify platform status and the NYC Open Data portal availability. Contact support with the run log if the issue continues.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What data source does this Actor use?	It reads the NYC Open Data Motor Vehicle Collisions dataset, the official city record of all police-reported crashes. This is the same data that powers the city's Vision Zero dashboards.
How far back does the collision data go?	The dataset includes all police-reported collisions from July 2012 onward. The city updates it daily, so recent crashes appear within a day or two of being filed.
Can I filter by date range?	The current input schema supports filtering by borough and a maximum record count. Date-range filtering is not yet a built-in input, but you can filter the output dataset by date in your analysis tool.
Does this include cyclist and pedestrian injuries?	Yes. Each record includes separate fields for the number of pedestrians injured or killed, cyclists injured or killed, and motorists injured or killed.
What contributing factors are included?	The dataset includes up to five contributing factors per vehicle involved, such as driver inattention, failure to yield, speeding, or alcohol involvement.
Do I need an NYC Open Data account or API key?	No. This Actor reads the public dataset endpoint directly. No registration, no API key, and no rate-limit management on your side.
How many records can I collect in one run?	You can set the maximum up to one million collisions per run. The full dataset contains several million records, so you may need multiple runs with different filters to collect everything.
What export formats are supported?	You can export your dataset as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML directly from the Apify platform.
Does this Actor include geolocation coordinates?	Yes. Each collision record includes latitude and longitude fields so you can map crashes in any GIS tool.
Can I schedule this Actor to run automatically?	Yes. Apify supports scheduled runs. You can set this Actor to collect new collision data daily, weekly, or on any cron schedule.

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Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by City of New York. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.