Illegal moped fatalities shoot up 42% in one year

Deaths from illegal mopeds have soared 42% percent this year, city Department of Transportation data shows.

Seventeen people were killed driving illegal mopeds in the city between Jan. 1 and Oct. 20, compared to 12 in the same period the year before.

In August, two people died while riding the illicit vehicles, including a Queens man and a 4-year-old Bronx boy.

The tragic stats come as overall traffic deaths – including pedestrians, cyclists and drivers – have remained stubbornly high, with 173 by the end of August in both 2022 and 2021. That figure is the highest it has been since 2013, when 181 deaths occurred, records show. The traffic death toll stood at 203 as of Oct. 20, DOT data shows.

Illegal mopeds look and operate similarly to legal mopeds like Vespas or the Revel-brand vehicles stationed around the city, which can be accessed via an app like a Citi Bikes. They weigh roughly the same — 185 pounds — and can reach 45 mph. But illegal mopeds have no vehicle identification numbers or license plates, and can’t be registered with the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

On Aug. 29, Jaime Aguilar, 48, was riding his Fly E-Bike brand Z6 moped down Maurice Avenue in Maspeth, Queens, when he hit a speed bump, lost control of the vehicle and slammed into a utility pole. 

Aguilar, who police said was traveling at a “high rate of speed,” suffered fatal head trauma and was pronounced dead at Elmhurst Hospital. Police recovered a helmet at the scene, but it didn’t meet federal safety requirements.

On Aug. 14 , 4-year-old Mario Rosario Jr. of the Bronx died after being flung from a stolen moped operated by his father, also named Mario Rosario, police said. The pair collided with a Toyota sedan and were sent crashing into a curb. The boy was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital. A helmet was recovered at the scene, but it was adult sized. The father was charged with possession of stolen property and endangering the welfare of a child.

The illegal mopeds are also a hazard to pedestrians.

John Buckley, who runs a jewelry shop on W. 47th Street, has to cross Sixth Avenue and survive a flurry of illegal mopeds on his way to work each day — often speeding down the bike line.

“I’ve started noticing a lot more office workers on these mopeds because they don’t want to take the subway, but they have no idea how to handle traffic, they can barely drive a car — going the wrong way, zooming past you on a red light,” he said. “I’ve been a motorcycle rider for years, so I get it. You’ve got to be really careful riding these things.”

The similarities between legal and illegal mopeds has hit food delivery drivers the hardest, said Hildalyn Colón Hernández, who represents the app delivery worker collective Los Deliveristas Unidos, 

She said riders for companies like GrubHub and UberEats will spend thousands of dollars on mopeds without realizing they’re illegal and then get tickets from the police. 

“The vehicles are being sold out in the open at stores all over the city, so the assumption is that it’s OK to ride one on the street,” she said. “Government has failed to address this illegal equipment. Why are we not going after the manufacturer or the stores? The workers end up taking the brunt of it all.”

DOT spokesman Vin Barone said, “We are working closely with the NYPD and labor coalitions to ensure enforcement targets businesses for selling these illegal mopeds.”

Additional reporting by Dean Balsamini