Despite Recent Measures to Reduce Pedestrian Fatalities San Francisco Remains an Unsafe City for Pedestrians
San Francisco remains an unsafe city for pedestrians, despite recent municipal efforts to curb pedestrian accidents and fatalities. San Francisco is considered a pedestrian friendly place in many respects, compared to other U.S. metropolitan areas according to a new report by Transportation for America, which ranks San Francisco as the 13th Safest City for Walkers, based on statistics that incorporate annual pedestrian deaths and the percentage of walking commuters.
However, “Streetsblog SF” found that these statistics are misleading, because “47.7 percent of all traffic fatalities in San Francisco are pedestrians, more than four times the national average of 11.8 percent. The rate of pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 residents is 2.60 in San Francisco, 70 percent higher than the national average of 1.53.”
Although efforts have been made to improve pedestrian safety, the death rate has remained fairly consistent in San Francisco over the past five years. For example, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority has procured several millions in state and local grants for pedestrian safety measures along 19th Avenue, which has long been regarded as a dangerous roadway for pedestrians.
For instance, there have been increased fines for traffic violations, lowered speed limits, and traffic signal upgrades along 19th Avenue. Additionally, the SFMTA has implemented a pedestrian safety project that aims to reduce the distance for crossing the thoroughfare and increasing pedestrian visibility.
The safety upgrades along 19th Avenue, which have been implemented for over a year, seem to have reduced the hazardous conditions there, as there has only been one pedestrian fatality since that time.
While these measures appear to be working in the vicinity of where the focus was concentrated along 19th Avenue, there appears to be little effort to implement these safety precautions citywide.
According to Manish Champsee, who heads a pedestrian safety advocacy organization called Walk SF, “the City has not made a great effort to improve pedestrian safety outside of 19th Avenue, which has been a success.” Moreover, he says, “It would be great if they could make similar efforts in other parts of San Francisco.”
Another sobering reminder of the problem is the recent death of a woman who was killed in a busy residential road near West Portal. Again, Manish Champsee stated, “The City has to invest in pedestrian safety to avoid these kinds of tragedies.”
There is now a Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee that has been created in San Francisco to deal with this ongoing problem. They last met on June 8, 2010 at City Hall to discuss the topic, “Safe Walking: An Environmental Right or a Utopian Fantasy.” Additional upcoming meetings will be announced in the future to address this topic within a community forum in the hopes of finding a solution to reduce the number of pedestrian fatalities in San Francisco. For more information, contact www.WalkSF.org to inquire about further efforts within the community to participate in finding a solution to the hazardous conditions for pedestrians in the City. I would urge all who are concerned about this problem to get involved and assist in making the streets of San Francisco a safer place for all who travel by foot in our delightfully walkable city.
By Jennifer Nicoletto, Esq.