Of all recorded pedestrian casualties in SF this year, 11 have been seniors, proving that the elderly are particularly vulnerable to traffic deaths.
A 72-year-old individual was struck at a Russian Hill intersection yesterday and has since died from their injuries.
With less than a month left in the year, San Francisco has improved dramatically in its pedestrian death account. 2024 saw 24 individuals die from being struck by a motor vehicle — the highest figure SF recorded since 2007. Last year also saw 42 people die in traffic-related instances; this was the highest number in over a decade.
2025 has fared better, having recorded over 60% fewer pedestrian deaths as of publication. However, a worrisome trend was carried over from 2024: Elderly San Francisco pedestrians are astronomically more likely to die from a vehicular strike than any other age cohort.
This tendency materialized on Tuesday when a 72-year-old individual was struck and killed in SF’s Russian Hill neighborhood.
In a release from the pedestrian safety nonprofit Walk SF, the aforementioned senior citizen was struck crossing the intersection of Mason Street and Broadway earlier this week
“Walk SF learned from the San Francisco Police Department that a pedestrian was hit by a driver on the morning of Tuesday, December 2, 2025, at the intersection of Mason Street and Broadway in the Russian Hill neighborhood,” the nonprofit reports, later confirming that the individuals eventually succumbed to their injuries. As of publishing, not much is known about the specifics of the crash or the individuals, but the pedestrian safety threats to senior citizens in San Francisco are unignorable.
“2025 has been an especially deadly year for older pedestrians in San Francisco,” said Jodie Medeiros, executive director for Walk San Francisco. “Almost three-quarters of pedestrians killed this year have been seniors.”
Mederios also tied the link between child and senior pedestrian safety, saying that, as a collective barometer, San Francisco can “measure” the City’s safety by how safe its kids and seniors are.” Thus, it’s abundantly clear that SF isn’t doing nearly enough when it comes to traffic safety — “we all deserve to be safe crossing the street in our city,” Mederios adds.
The location of the fatal crash occurred inside a high-injury network corridor designated by SF in 2022; San Francisco’s lattice of high-injury roads occupies just 12% of the city’s total streets, but accounts for about 68% of all traffic crashes.
[…] correlations between traffic speed and fatality rates. However, 2025 saw a year-over-year 42% decrease in pedestrian deaths; most who did die in traffic-related deaths did so inside SF’s network of high-risk corridors, […]