A 32-year-old man was fatally struck in a hit-and-run crash on February 8th at 6th and Bryant streets — becoming SF’s second pedestrian death this year.
As bike-friendly and walkable as San Francisco is, especially when contrasted with, say, Los Angeles, the city is latticed with extremely dangerous intersections. Vision Zero’s San Francisco chapter notes just 12% of City street miles account for some 68% of all severe and fatal pedestrian injuries; the 6th and Brytan streets intersection in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, where a thirty-something man lost his life crossing the road early in the morning on February 8th, is among those City-managed roadways included in Vision Zero’s high-injury network — the small percentage of San Francisco streets that account for the overwhelming majority of pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
💔that we have lost two pedestrians in <2 weeks.
We stand with @BayAreaFSS ready to support the victim's loved ones.
And we stand for serious changes on streets like Bryant, w/FIVE lanes of one-way traffic encouraging dangerous speeds.
Our statement:https://t.co/lPZip6k59O
— Walk San Francisco (@walksf) February 13, 2024
“We grieve this loss of life on our streets,” said Jodie Medeiros, executive director of Walk San Francisco, in a news release about the death. “Our hearts break for this man’s loved ones. These tragedies are all too frequent and all too preventable.”
Underscore was the first regional media outlet to report the death of a 72-year-old man on January 31st at Fulton and Arguello, which is another intersection included in Vision Zero’s high-injury network, was the first recorded pedestrian death of 2024; the death of the yet-named 32-year-old whose mortality was cut short last week is now the second recorded pedestrian death in San Francios for 2024 — setting an alarming pace for the type of fatality.
Bryant Street is one of San Francisco’s most notoriously dangerous and difficult-to-traverse roads, with five travel lanes and two parking lanes, all of which make the street incredibly wide. And wide streets beget themselves to prolonged pedestrian traverses, creating more opportunities for vehicular crashes. The road is also a one-way street; the combination of these two factors, per the pedestrian protection advocacy nonprofit, evokes a sense of reckless driving, thus endangering other motorists and pedestrians alike.
Walk SF has been on record canvassing SFMTA since August of last year to reduce the width of Bryan Street. Unfortunately, the death of the adult man this past Thursday isn’t something novel for this part of SoMa; in August, a four-year-old child was hit and killed at 4th and King streets, which is another known dangerous intersection near a freeway on-ramp that, too, is dangerously wide.
There are only so many pedestrian safety measures that can be resolved in the wake of treacherous urban planning.
“Basic pedestrian safety improvements are simply not enough on a street like Bryant,” continues Medeiros in the release. “The City must bring serious redesigns – especially lane reductions – to Bryant and streets like it.”
Just like guns, cars are the problem. Shooting bullets kill people; driving vehicles kill people. And the faster each travels, the more likely they are to severely injure or even kill the person on the receiving end of those bits of speeding metal.
Feature image: Screenshot via Google Maps
This is a tragic, real life ( or death ) situation that should never have happened. A young man lost his life due to a problem that needs attention and pragmatic thought. For myself, this hit close to home as a good friend of mine was killed on the same street 20 years ago.