Moreover: San Francisco was the only California metro included in the ranked list, according to a recent study.
A young family of four was flown into the air when a reckless Mercedes-Benz SUV sped into a bus stop in SF’s West Portal neighborhood this past Wednesday, leaving both parents and their two-year-old son deceased at the scene of the accident; the infant was swiftly taken to a nearby, where the three-month-old infant remained in ICU until passing away Thursday, March 21st.
Yesterday, we hand-delivered a letter from the Vision Zero Coalition to Mayor @LondonBreed.
We have since sent it to MANY more city leaders, b/c it's time for an all-hands-on-deck approach to safe streets.
Read the Vision Zero Coalition's 3 asks here: https://t.co/etZUqZMATK pic.twitter.com/NCSacA9aRc
— Walk San Francisco (@walksf) March 21, 2024
The driver piloting that large German vehicle? A 78-year-old woman who was arrested and charged with “felony vehicular manslaughter” and “felony reckless driving causing bodily injury” before being released from jail, presumably after bail was meant.
On Saturday, another vehicle — a second-generation Toyota Prius — collided with a San Francisco bus stop. A pedestrian waiting for a Muni bus at the Fulton Street and Park Presidio Boulevard Muni bus shelter was struck by the vehicle; the individual sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital; the driver of the vehicle was cited for “multiple moving violations,” per KTVU, but it remains unclear if charges for the vehicular impact injuries suffered by the victim will be pursued.
For all of San Francisco’s touted walkability and bikeability, the city remains dangerous for those who traverse it outside a vehicle. Before last week’s quadruple pedestrian deaths, the City had already recorded four pedestrian fatalities — each of the latter deaths occurring at roadway intersections.
New data procured by personal injury lawyers under Jason Stone Injury Lawyers firm highlighted San Francisco’s unusually dangerous network of intersections, placing it in the top ten counties with the most dangerous intersections based on motor vehicle crash fatalities anywhere in the country. In fact, it was the only California county to make the list.
Per the law firm, the research examined the number of people killed in collisions at intersections to determine the counties where fatalities are most likely to occur, focusing on counties with at least 50 car crash deaths between 2017 and 2021. The study then examined the percentage of fatal crashes at intersections in each U.S. County, according to data published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Motor Vehicle Crash Data Querying and Reporting. (Unfortunately, the analysis didn’t separate pedestrian deaths from motor vehicle deaths.)
In San Francisco specifically, there were 154 deaths recorded due to fatal crashes in the county during that aforenoted timeline, 80 of which took place at an intersection. As such, it was extrapolated that 51.95% of all people killed in a motor vehicle collision in the county died at an intersection.
“42,795 people died from motor vehicle collisions in America,” a spokesperson at Jason Stone Injury Lawyers commented on the findings. “The study considers the number of fatalities caused by crashes at intersections and, in turn, highlights the counties with the deadliest intersections, with Kings County in Brooklyn, New York, coming out on top.” The same spokesperson continued that it almost empirically suggests that more measures should be taken concerning both road safety and pedestrian safety in the counties included in its top ten list — the overwhelming majority of them along the East Coast.
San Francisco stood out as a peculiar outlier. Not only was it the only California county to make the list, but it’s also the only metro along the West Coast found to have such deadly intersections.
The study comes after recent pro-pedestrian legislation and stricter traffic measures. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) released 33 proposed locations for speed cameras in San Francisco, which aim to bolster slower, legal driving speeds in areas known for reckless speeding; additional 20mph speed limits are expected to open in certain downtown neighborhoods (think South of Market, Nob Hill, Chinatown, etc.) later this year, joining the likes of others already installed in certain high-injury corridors designated by Vision Zero; to step away from private vehicle ownership and curb their uses, the City is currently offering low-income residents, which is anyone earning less than around $88,000, $1,000 in rebates to purchase a new e-bike, courtesy of funds through the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC).
Both SFMTA and BART ridership figures are up. More secure bike hangers are being installed downtown. Car-free corridors, like the JFK Promenade and the Upper Highway along Ocean Beach (which remains off-limits to private vehicles on the weekends and holidays), have been resounding, celebrated successes. The center bikeway along Valencia Street has shown us the unignorable benefits of installing curbside bike lanes instead of ones that run in the middle of passing traffic.
Pedestrian-forward infrastructure (that exists alongside robust public transit networks) is the future — or, rather, should be the future. We know this; there’s growing evidence to support this. It’s now hopefully just a matter of time before a critical mass of both the public and members of City, State, and national legislators comprehend this, as well.
In the meantime, continue taking the utmost care when crossing or pedaling through a traffic intersection — especially in San Francisco.
Feature Image: Courtesy of SFMTA
