The fatal car collision, which happened inside San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on January 31st, occurred while an elderly man was crossing Fulton Street.
Vision Zero SF — the City’s road safety policy and council that aims to bolster safety and livability in San Francisco streets — records around 30 pedestrian fatalities each year, with another 500 people becoming severely injured as a result of pedestrian-related incidents. Last year, Vision Zero documented 16 pedestrian deaths in San Francisco; the 16th pedestrian death of 2023 occurred Post and Hyde marks 16th this year.
We are heartbroken to share that a pedestrian was hit & killed yesterday at Fulton & Arguello.
This is the first pedestrian death of 2024.
We stand with @BayAreaFSS ready to support the loved ones of the victim.
Our statement: https://t.co/h2ACVmguE1
— Walk San Francisco (@walksf) February 2, 2024
This week, San Francisco recorded its first pedestrian fatality when a 72-year-old man was fatally struck by a passenger vehicle crossing Fulton Street Thursday morning, in the intersection next to Golden Gate Park, and later succumbed to his injuries.
“Our hearts go out to this man’s loved ones and community,” said Jodie Medeiros, executive director of Walk San Francisco — a nonprofit dedicated to improving pedestrian safety measures across the city — in a press release. “No one’s life should end this way. We should all be able to cross the street safely.”
Per the nonprofit, Fulton Street, which runs along the edge of Golden Gate Park, is “particularly dangerous” and has a history of “serious issues” related to vehicular speeding and crashes; this same intersection is also included in Vision Zero’s high-injury network”; collectively, all intersections and roadway junctions that make up the network account for 12% of SF’s streets… and 68% of all crashes within San Francisco occur inside them.
The elderly man wasn’t the first to be fatally struck at the intersection, mind you. Walk SF notes that an elderly woman was also killed crossing Fulton Street at 37th Street in May of 2021 — right outside the Golden Gate Park Senior Center.
Neighbors in the area are hopeful that SF will install speed cameras along the street as part of a recent pilot program approved by the City; because of Fulton Street’s history of fatal pedestrian accidents and inclusion in Vision Zero’s high-injury network, Fulton Street could make for a good candidate for the initiative come 2025.
As American cars continue to grow larger and faster, pedestrian accidents are bound to become more severe as time passes. These said speed cameras, quite frankly, can’t come soon enough.
Feature image: Courtesy of SFMTA
Pedestrians deaths are a problem.
What also is a problem is you not looking at the research already done in the US on why they are happening. I listened to an NY Times podcast that was very thoughtful research on why in the United States pedestrian deaths continue to go up: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily/id1200361736?i=1000640524454
Just thought you’d like to know.
[…] had died on San Francisco roads due to collisions with vehicles; the first of this year involved a 72-year-old man leaving a senior community center in Golden Gate Park; the man was fatally struck crossing the notoriously dangerous intersection at Fulton Street and […]