STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The early results of Vision Zero, Mayor Bill de Blasio's strategy to reduce traffic fatalities have been promising.

Citywide traffic deaths dropped 12.9 percent from 2013 to 2014, the safest year for New York City pedestrians in over a century, and appear likely to decrease again this year.

In every borough but Staten Island.

Nearly twice as many people have been killed on Island streets this year compared to last, and while city officials caution against using small sample sizes to judge Vision Zero -- a long-term strategy -- there is real concern over the Island's uptick.

In November, Mayor Bill de Blasio called Hylan Boulevard -- where 14 of the year's 20 traffic deaths have occurred -- "very, very problematic." More recently, Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said the city would be "redoubling" efforts to bring Vision Zero's early successes to Staten Island.

"While traffic fatalities citywide are down in 2015, this has been a challenging year on Staten Island's roadways," Trottenberg wrote in a Dec. 4 statement emailed to the Advance. "So DOT and NYPD are redoubling our efforts to make Staten Island's roadways dramatically safer for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, especially the most vulnerable -- children and seniors."

FROM 11 LAST YEAR TO 20 IN 2015

In 2014, the first year of Vision Zero, the city's traffic fatalities dropped from 295 in 2013 to 257, according to Department of Transportation data. DOT expects another drop in traffic fatalities in 2015.

But this year on Staten Island, there have been 20 traffic fatalities -- up from 11 in 2014, according to DOT data as of Dec. 4. In the five years prior to Vision Zero, Island traffic deaths averaged about 18 per year.

Eight pedestrians and one cyclist have died on Island in 2015. The majority of those deaths, and all traffic deaths, took place on Hylan Boulevard, the borough's 13-mile thoroughfare through the East Shore. With those numbers, advocates dubbed Hylan the "Boulevard of Death," the macabre moniker originally reserved for Queens Boulevard.

Despite the sharp increase in fatalities this year, the average number of Staten Island traffic deaths per year during Vision Zero, 15.5, is still lower than the average from the five years prior, 18.

So while it may be too soon to judge whether a more focused approach needs to be taken on Staten Island, the DOT has begun to address areas like Hylan Boulevard. It installed Leading Pedestrian Intervals, or LPIs, two months ago at eight intersections along the boulevard to give pedestrians additional time to cross what is a six-lane road at its widest sections.

The department's Signals Division is studying the boulevard to determine if there is a need for new signals or further timing modifications based on traffic volumes and pedestrian demand.

Debris strewn on the sidewalk and right lane of Hylan boulevard as seen in photos taken on Monday, May 11, 2015, during fatal, two-car crash on Mother's Day . (Staten Island Advance/Maura Grunlund)

OUTDATED INFRASTRUCTURE

Public officials and transportation advocates say the number of traffic fatalities on Staten Island are part of a larger problem that's tied to the borough's inadequate mass transit network and infrastructure that has remained largely unchanged since the population boom following the opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in 1964.

"What we're seeing is the result of a community that's outgrown its infrastructure," said Greg Mihailovich, the Staten Island organizer at the nonprofit Transportation Alternatives. "People constantly talk about the rapid development and the road system is simply inadequate. There's a lack of real mass transit. It's not really pedestrian friendly or bike friendly. With more and more people on the same roads we're starting to see the system bursting at its seams."

As Borough President James Oddo put it, "You literally have horse-and-buggy trails that are now main thoroughfares."

Since 1970, Staten Island's population has grown by about 60 percent, from 295,443 to 473,279 in 2014, according to Census data. It's a much greater growth than any other borough experienced during that time period. (Queens, with an estimated 17 percent increase over that 44-year span, is the next closest.)

"Part of the problem is that, because Staten Island has seen such a seismic shift in population, there are a lot of people that remember when you could drive from Tottenville to the ferry in 15 minutes," Mihailovich said. "And once upon a time that was possible, but the borough changed. Those days are gone. Instead of lamenting over what it used to be -- how can we make it better from here?"

VISION ZERO CLASHES

That's where the city, advocates and residents differ.

Staten Island officials and traffic safety advocates clash on key policies of Vision Zero, like reducing Staten Island speed limits and using cameras for speeding enforcement.

"Vision Zero is wrapped around an ideology that, at its core, is hostile to cars and drivers," Councilman Steven Matteo (R-Mid Island) said. "We live in a borough where cars are essential. It fails to recognize the fundamental transportation differences between Staten Island and the other boroughs and that we face unique challenges."

Matteo believes that the Island's more rural roads in the Mid-Island and South Shore are better fit for a 30 MPH speed limit and that speed cameras, like the one at a school near a Staten Island Expressway exit, are blatant cash grabs. (The city has vehemently denied this.)

Matteo, Oddo and Councilman Joe Borelli (R-South Shore) all have reservations about the effectiveness of automated enforcement and speed limits. All favor an "intersection by intersection" approach to traffic safety. Since taking office, Matteo said he has made 61 requests for stop signs, more than 40 requests for left turn signals, with varying degrees of success, in the name of safety.

One man died and three people were injured in an two-car crash at Hylan Boulevard and Old Town Road in Dongan Hills on Monday morning Nov 9. (Staten Island Advance/Maura Grunlund)

CULTURE OF RECKLESS DRIVING

But Oddo agrees with advocates on one key element concerning traffic safety on Staten Island: A culture of reckless driving has developed over decades of navigating over-congested roads. And it needs to be addressed.

According to DOT data, 67 percent of all Island pedestrian fatalities from 2011 to 2013 are a result from "dangerous driver choices."

Oddo hosted a meeting recently with Mihailovich and Transportation Alternatives representatives to share ideas.

"One truth that I think we all need to embrace is that every day, there is a growing prevalence of selfish, ignorant and reckless driving," Oddo said. "The second truth is that we have to acknowledge that there are many who believe that parts of Vision Zero are unfair, unproductive or grounded in revenue. So these are the parameters and we have to figure out something in between them where we can find common ground to work."

The long-term way to change that culture, Mihailovich and other advocates believe, is through providing better mass transit for the borough through projects like the North Shore Bus Rapid Transit. With reliable mass transit, the dependency on driving would decrease. Commuting perspectives would shift and a culture of reckless driving would naturally recede.

"Decades of inadequate planning and weak transportation infrastructure has led to a system of unsafe roadways," Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore) said in a statement.

MORE ENFORCEMENT

More immediately, advocates and officials see room for more police enforcement and simple infrastructure upgrades. In 2013, the NYPD issued an average of seven speeding tickets each day, according to an Advance report last month. Under Vision Zero in 2014, that daily average increased to 14. Oddo said the Island could stand to see more.

"Go out and enforce the existing speed limits and hand out as many tickets as you can," he said. "And begin to change behavior that way. I'm about handing out tickets to hit you where it hurts and hopefully make you think twice about blowing through the left hand turn single on Richmond Road and Old Town Road and continuing to go straight -- which I see on a daily basis."

Borelli said that some of Staten Island's more straightforward issues, like pedestrian infrastructure on the South Shore, seem to be lost when it comes to Vision Zero. He points to roads in his district near Staten Island Railway stations that also serve city and school bus stops but don't have sidewalks.

"That's what frightens me -- every time there is a mention of Vision Zero, it's not something that addresses the problems here," Borelli said. "The reality for Staten Island is that we need sidewalks."

The department said it will continue to work with the community on safety initiatives, like the Vision Zero adjustments at Clove Road and Richmond Avenue. And advocates welcome the redesigns.

"Staten Island is crying out for some serious redesign," Mihailovich said. "Adding a turn signal or small change at an intersection -- it's like a Band-Aid approach and eventually that catches up. Acknowledge where Staten Island is going and make the changes accordingly."

A LOOK AT PEDESTRIAN, CYLIST DEATHS