22nd Pedestrian San Francisco Death This Year
Attorney
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An elderly Asian woman was killed last Tuesday afternoon when she was struck by a black Chevrolet sedan on Geary Boulevard, just across from St. Mary's Cathedral. This is the 22nd pedestrian death on the streets of San Francisco this year, a markedly deadly year for seniors, and a sharp increase from the 2006 pedestrian fatalities. Although this woman may have been jaywalking, according to an eye witness, the driver who struck her had ample time to stop. This tragedy is symptomatic of an obvious San Francisco pedestrian problem, with jaywalkers, and car drivers who insist on their right of way, even if there will be deadly consequences.
According to the SFPD, this woman is at least the fourth senior to die on The City's streets this year. On Aug. 19, 77-year-old Roger Tennyson was struck by a car after parking on Sanchez Street in the Castro. Eighty-three-year-old Marina Vafiadis was killed Aug. 14 after being run over by a Muni bus on Park Presidio at Balboa Street, and Kenji Suzuki, 69, was run over and killed by a Muni bus while crossing Fillmore Street at Geary.
Since that data was calculated, John O'Neill, 47, was struck and killed by a Muni J-train, while walking on the tracks near the Glen Park station, and then the incident last Tuesday.
Tuesday's pedestrian accident occurred a block from the intersection of Geary and Franklin Street, which is one of the ten worst intersections for accidents in The City, according to the 2006 San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Collision Report. The intersection of Geary and Park Presidio was also in the top (worst) ten, according to the report. The statistics are astoundingly bad for pedestrian fatalities in San Francisco.
For each year for the past 10 years these many walkers have died in traffic collisions:
1998 - 32
1999 - 25
2000 - 30
2001 - 16
2002 - 17
2003 - 22
2004 - 18
2005 - 14
2006 - 16
2007* - 24
* to date
Source: SFPD Traffic Collision Summary 2006,
For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.