San Francisco Department of Parking & Traffic
Pedestrian Fatality Report for 1997-98
By Nick Carr

In the wake of an alarming rise in vehicular pedestrian fatalities during the 1997-98 fiscal year (July 1, 1997 - June 30, 1998) and growing public concern about pedestrian safety in San Francisco, the Department of Parking and Traffic has collected and analyzed data on the fatal pedestrian traffic collisions that occurred during the period. The report examines the various factors involved in 1997-98 traffic collisions resulting in pedestrian loss of life. The Department aims to determine interventions which will prevent pedestrian death on San Francisco streets, with special attention given to engineering, enforcement and educational solutions.

The collision factors analyzed in this report are from San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Collision Reports. In several cases descriptive data is not available for pedestrian victims or motor vehicle operators because of lack of personal identification or a party fleeing the scene. The specific data analyzed will focus on the following variables: primary cause of collisions, descriptive information on motor vehicle operators and pedestrian victims, locations and roadway characteristics, and time-frame (time, day, season) in which each crash occurred. Where the cause of the collision was questionable from the Collision Report, witness accounts were examined to corroborate physical facts. Where the motor vehicle operator was the only witness, their account was weighed accordingly.

While the San Francisco Medical Examiner (SFME) and local media reported 43 and 41 pedestrian fatalities for 1997-98 ¹, this report will examine only the 37 cases which were motor vehicle versus pedestrian collisions that occurred within San Francisco during that period and resulted in loss of pedestrian life. This report does not examine two cases in which people were injured in northern San Mateo County but died after being transported to San Francisco General Hospital. The report also excludes two fatal collisions involving rail vehicles on off-street rail rights-of-way, one motor vehicle operator killed while refueling his vehicle on the Bay Bridge, and a pedestrian fatality in which the victim was injured in a 1996 traffic collision and subsequently died in May of 1998. These four cases were all included in the Medical Examiner’s Annual Report and subsequently published in local media.

The sources of data for this report are SFPD Collision Reports, the California Highway Patrol’s Statewide Integrated Records Tracking System (SWITRS), the Vehicular Deaths section of the SFME Annual Report, the 1990 California Census, the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Profile of Injury in San Francisco, the Status Report of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and California Department of Motor Vehicles records.

Of the 37 fatalities that were traffic related, vehicle operators were reported at fault in 21 cases, pedestrians in 15 cases, and one case was not known. The largest single factor in pedestrian fatality was vehicle operator failure to yield right of way to the pedestrian, which occurred in one third of the collisions. Seniors were the largest group of pedestrian victims, comprising 40 percent of fatalities. Two thirds of involved drivers were San Francisco residents, and more than half were between the ages of 40 and 64. Two-thirds of fatal collisions happened on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Although there is less traffic at night, almost half of the fatalities occurred during darkness. Fatal collisions during rainy weather made up 28 percent of the total, and 22 percent occurred when it was both dark and rainy. For complete analyses of the demographics of victims, motor vehicle operators, parties at fault, and environmental factors, see Appendices I-IV. Individual collision narratives are provided in Appendix V.

During the 1960's San Francisco averaged 48 pedestrian fatalities annually, with a high of 62 fatalities in 1963 and a low of 38 in 1966. The 1970's showed a marked decrease in pedestrian fatality rates, with an average of 37.3 pedestrian fatalities per year. 1974 had the low for the decade, with 31 pedestrian fatalities, and 1975 was the high with 49 pedestrian fatalities.² The 1980's saw another drop in pedestrian deaths, with an average of 28.2 pedestrians killed each year. 1986 was the low with 20 fatalities, and 1988 was the high with 38 fatal collisions.³ In the nine and a half year period 1990 - mid 1999, 307 pedestrians were killed on San Francisco streets, an average of 32.3 fatalities per year.⁴

Despite this overall downward trend in pedestrian fatalities, San Francisco has experienced a slight overall increase, from the 1980's, in average annual pedestrian fatality during the 1990's and a sharp rise in pedestrian fatalities during the fiscal year 1997-98. The 41 pedestrians killed in that period is the first time in more than ten years that 40 or more pedestrian fatalities have been reported in San Francisco. While this one year increase in pedestrian fatalities was within a normal expectation for statistical variations, the city must do everything possible to prevent all pedestrian traffic deaths.

San Francisco experiences a rate higher than the national average of pedestrian injury and death. Generally, pedestrians account for one third of motor vehicle fatalities in big cities,⁵ but in 1996 San Francisco pedestrians made up 41 percent of motor vehicle related deaths and 36 percent of motor vehicle related hospitalizations.⁶ In fact, San Francisco pedestrians have equaled or outnumbered car occupants in traffic fatalities in nine of the past ten years.⁷ Nationwide, in 1996, pedestrians accounted for 13 percent of all motor vehicle deaths and 2.3 percent of motor vehicle related injuries.⁸

While any increase in pedestrian mortality is alarming and unacceptable, the causes and conditions related to the 1997-98 pedestrian fatalities show only a few conclusive or specific patterns. The general issues appear to be failure to exercise the proper caution and observe right of way requirements. The consequences of these failures are made more serious by increased vehicle speeds and densities on our streets. This problem appears to be more prevalent in the middle of the week, with the majority of fatalities occurring between Tuesday and Thursday.

It is also clear from the data that greater measures must be taken to protect senior pedestrians, who are killed at a much higher rate than any other age group. This could be done by establishing senior pedestrian education programs, increasing enforcement, and implementing senior pedestrian friendly engineering solutions in areas of concentrated senior pedestrian activity.

In summary, the roots of this problem are diverse and no one simple solution presents itself upon examination of the reported facts. Some issues clearly would improve pedestrian safety, reducing morbidity and mortality. Motor vehicle operators and pedestrians must yield right of way when appropriate. This could be done through increased enforcement of the existing Vehicle Code, engineering changes such as improved traffic controls that are more visible or that force drivers to slow and yield, and education of drivers and pedestrians. Vehicle speeds must be reduced in areas of pedestrian activity to reduce the incidence and severity of motor vehicle-pedestrian collisions. Reducing vehicle speeds may also be achieved through traffic enforcement, engineering, and education. One of the major engineering changes to the urban environment that would increase all traffic safety is traffic calming, a process of changing the physical landscape to limit the engineered speed of a street or network of streets.

Gender of Pedestrian Victims

There were 20 male pedestrians and 17 female pedestrians killed. Men, representing slightly less than half the total population, were over-represented by population as the victims in fatal pedestrian collisions.

Age of Pedestrian Victim

More seniors, 65 or older, were killed than any other age group (12 persons or 40 percent of the total). In 1990, persons 60 years of age and older made up only 19 percent of San Francisco’s total population. In the previous four year period, 1994-1997, seniors made up 36 percent of pedestrian fatalities⁹ and so, are typically almost doubly represented in fatalities compared to their percentage of the total population. Above age 65, all injury death rates (per population, including traffic related injury) rise sharply to double that of almost all other age groups in San Francisco, and rates of all injury hospitalization also rise sharply above age 65.¹⁰ Ten pedestrians aged 16-39 (33 percent), and seven pedestrians 40-64 years of age (23 percent) were killed in FY 97-98. Seven pedestrians killed were of unknown age.

Caucasian pedestrians comprised 67% of those killed, followed by Asian-Americans (19%) and African-Americans, and Hispanic-Americans (5.5% each). In comparison to 1990 Census data, Caucasians were the only racial or ethnic group over-represented in pedestrian mortality. All other groups were under-represented per the total population.

Vehicle Operator Gender

In fatal crashes where the gender of the motor vehicle operator was known, 70 percent of the drivers were male and 30 percent were female. This is consistent with overall motor vehicle crash patterns. Since men comprise 55.6 percent of licensed drivers in San Francisco,¹¹ male drivers were over-represented in fatal pedestrian collisions.

Vehicle Operator Age

Where age of the driver was known, more than half of drivers involved in fatal collisions were between the ages of 40 and 64 years of age, and 27 percent were aged 16-39. Thirteen percent of known drivers were 65 or older, but they only comprise 8.9 percent of San Francisco’s licensed driver’s.¹² No drivers under 18 were involved in fatal collisions. Due to Hit and Run collisions and other unrecoverable variables, 6 vehicle operators were of unknown age.

The race of the known drivers involved as indicated on SFPD collision reports was predominantly Caucasian (55 percent), followed by Asian Americans (21 percent), African Americans (17 percent), Hispanic-Americans (7 percent). Due to Hit-and-Run collisions and other gaps in collision reporting, the race of the driver was not known in seven cases. Caucasian and African- American drivers were over-represented in fatal collisions, in comparison to their make-up of the total population. Drivers of Asian and Hispanic ethnicity were under-represented in fatal collisions.

An examination of the drivers’ city of residence found that the majority of known vehicles involved in fatal pedestrian collisions were operated by San Francisco residents (69 percent). Only 31 percent of identified drivers were known to reside outside the city. Five drivers’ city of residence were unknown.

More than half (58.3 percent) of pedestrian fatalities were reported to be the fault of the motor vehicle operator, according to SFPD Collision Reports. Pedestrians were reported at fault in 41.7 percent of cases.

This analysis of legally reported fault, according to the vehicle code, does not preclude the prevention of injury and death that could be achieved by additional driver caution and speed reduction in cases where the pedestrian was deemed at fault. Appropriate attention and caution on the part of vehicle operators, and enforced or engineered vehicle speed reduction would prevent pedestrian fatality and reduce the severity of pedestrian injury in many cases. In collisions with vehicle speeds of 40 mph, the probability of fatal pedestrian injury is more than 80 percent. That probability is reduced to 50 percent at 30 mph, and drops to only 5 percent at 20 mph.¹³

As reported in SFPD Collision Reports, the largest primary cause of pedestrian fatality during the period was motor vehicle operators failure to yield right of way to pedestrians (California Vehicle Code 21950A). This failure to yield was cited as the primary cause in 12, or 33 percent, of the fatal collisions. This is a sharp increase from the findings of a 1984 study (Liebermann/Shoaf) which showed only 7.9 percent of pedestrian collisions caused by motor vehicles violating pedestrian right of way.¹⁴ This apparent increase in driver violation is especially alarming because Liebermann and Shoaf found that "other cities do not report this type of accident at all. It is also not mentioned in the comprehensive list of accident types in the Official User’s Manual issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation."¹⁵

The second leading primary cause of fatal collisions was pedestrians entering or crossing against red light (17 percent) . In another 17 percent of the fatal collisions, the pedestrian failed to yield right of way to the motor vehicle, or entered the roadway in a manner that was deemed to present an immediate collision hazard. These two factors are consistent with percentages from Liebermann/Shoaf’s 1984 findings. In 14 percent of the fatal collisions, motor vehicle operators failed to exercise due caution or used excessive speed. Although speed was cited as a factor in only 5 collisions, it is worth noting that actual vehicle speed is not reported in SFPD collision reports, and excessive speed is estimated from observable facts and driver and witness statements.

Citations

Four reported citations were issued to motor vehicle operators in the 21 collisions in which they were assigned fault in fatal pedestrian collisions during the period. The drivers were cited for: failure to yield right of way to a pedestrian; failure to exercise due caution; use of excessive speed; and, driving under the influence of alcohol. Of the 15 pedestrians assigned fault in the fatal collisions, one was cited for jaywalking.

It must be noted that failure to cite the party at fault in a fatal collision is attributable to double jeopardy issues in the penal code that preclude citing a vehicle operator for traffic violations if they are likely to be charged with a felony, such as vehicular manslaughter, for the same incident. If the driver pays the initial fine (ie. for a violation of CVC 21451A, failure to yield to traffic or pedestrians in an intersection) they could not then be charged with vehicular manslaughter at a later date. Because of this conflict, SFPD Officers on the scene of a collision with possible fatal injuries are instructed to defer any citation to the proper investigative section.¹⁶

According to the Hit and Run Detail of the SFPD there were Manslaughter charges filed in three cases, and a few cases are still open to investigation. Two drivers were charged with Vehicular Manslaughter, and one with Gross Vehicular Manslaughter while intoxicated.

One motor vehicle operator was known to have been drinking.

Four pedestrian victims were known to have been drinking.

The majority of pedestrian fatalities occurred at intersections (68 percent), with less than one third occurring at mid-block locations. More than half of the pedestrians killed were hit while in crosswalks (54 percent). Two pedestrians were hit while on a sidewalk and 1 on a median island.

The majority of crashes also occurred on 4 lane streets (23 or 62 percent) and 15 of those occurred on streets that have median islands. More than three quarters of San Francisco streets have 2 lanes, so it is worth noting that our 4 lane streets clearly present more danger for pedestrians.

Almost four of five pedestrian fatalities occurred when vehicles were proceeding straight (78 percent). Only four fatal collisions were the result of left turning vehicles, and in only 1 case was a vehicle turning right. One pedestrian was killed by a vehicle attempting to parallel park and another was killed by a runaway unattended parked vehicle.

Almost three quarters of the fatal collisions occurred on streets with a 25 mph speed limit, with slightly less than a quarter of collisions occurring on 35 mph speed limit streets. The remaining 5 percent occurred on 30 mph speed limit streets. This is consistent with the make-up of San Francisco’s streets as a whole, with the vast majority of streets posted at a 25 mph speed limit, with less than a quarter of San Francisco streets having a speed limit of 30 mph or higher.

This is only an examination of the posted speed limit at the site where the collision occurred , and is not directly correlated to the actual speed of the vehicle involved. Actual vehicle speed is not recorded in SFPD Collision Reports, except to indicate excessive speed where it is identifiable from evidence or witness statements.

Nearly half of the fatal collisions occurred at night (44 percent), and another 5 percent occurred at dawn or dusk.

More than a quarter of fatal collisions occurred during wet weather, and 22 percent occurred when it was both dark and wet. Both of these factors are worth noting. Vehicle density on the streets decreases after dark reducing the total potential number of vehicle pedestrian conflicts. With an average of approximately 50 days per year that have rainfall, San Francisco averaged a pedestrian fatality every fifth day of rain. This compares to a dry weather of for the year of one fatality every 11.5 days. Pedestrians were killed more than twice as often during wet weather in 1997-98.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday saw the highest number of fatal collisions, with 8 each of these days of the week. Friday followed with 6 fatalities. There were three fatalities on Sundays, and 2 each on Saturday and Monday.

1. July 20, 1997, 12:15 p.m. Bayshore Blvd., 12 feet south of Silver Ave. A woman of undetermined age was struck while crossing against a red light, by a straight traveling passenger car. Pedestrian at fault.
2. July 22, 1997, 11:15 a.m. 1^st Street, at Minna. A 68 year old man was killed by a straight traveling passenger car, while running from a diagonal crosswalk across two lanes of traffic. Pedestrian at fault.
3. August 13, 1997, 1:40 p.m. 7^th Street, 30 feet north of Market Street. A 47 year old man was killed after he walked, crawled or fell under the rear wheels of a straight traveling tractor-trailer truck. Victim was under the influence of methadone, heroin, and alcohol. Pedestrian at fault.
4. August 14, 1997, 2:03 p.m. Sloat Blvd., 18 feet west of Beachmont Street. A 94 year old woman was killed while crossing mid-block, by a straight traveling pick-up truck. Driver at fault. Cited.
5. August 27, 1997, 2:24 a.m. Turk at Gough. A man undetermined age was struck and killed by a straight traveling Hit and Run vehicle. The "pedestrian" was riding a shopping cart in the right lane down Turk, through a red light at Gough. Pedestrian at fault.
6. August 27, 1997, 7:09 p.m. Winston, 4 feet west of 20^th Street. A 24 year old woman was killed as she crossed in a crosswalk, by a straight traveling minivan. Driver at fault. Cited
7. August 29, 1997, 8:42 p.m. Harrison at 16^th. A 36 year old man was killed when he darted out against a red light, by a straight traveling passenger car. Pedestrian at fault.
8. September 11, 1997, 8:35 a.m. 19^th Ave., 8 feet south of Judah. A senior woman was killed as she walked in a crosswalk, by a straight traveling tractor trailer truck. Driver at fault.
9. September 17, 1997, 6:55 a.m. California, 68 feet east of Funston. A 97 year old man hit as he crossed mid-block, by a straight traveling passenger car. Pedestrian at fault.
10. September 17, 1997, 9:20 a.m. Broadway, 9 feet east of Montgomery. A 97 year old woman was killed in the crosswalk, by a left turning van. Driver at fault. Driver charged with Vehicular Manslaughter.
11. September 18, 1997, 7:20 a.m. Alemany Blvd., 6 feet south of Niagra. A 12 year old boy was killed while crossing in a crosswalk, by a straight traveling passenger car. Driver at fault. Driver charged with Vehicular Manslaughter.
12. October 7, 1997, 10:46 a.m. Sutter, 33 feet west of Leavenworth. A senior woman was killed in the crosswalk, by a left turning panel van. Driver at fault.
13. October 14, 1997, 5:08 p.m. Polk, 114 feet south of Vallejo. An 80 year old woman was killed attempting to jaywalk mid-block, by a passenger car that was backing into a parallel parking space. Pedestrian at fault.
14. October 16, 1997, 10:00 a.m. Geary Blvd., 4 feet east of 23^rd Ave. A 62 year old woman was killed in the crosswalk, by a left turning van. Driver at fault.
15. October 24, 1997, 10:40 a.m. Stockton, 4 feet south of Sacramento. A 74 year old man was killed in a crosswalk, by a left turning van. Driver at fault.
16. November 3, 1997, 7:40 a.m. Sanchez, 42 feet north of Hill Street. A 53 year old man was killed on the sidewalk by a runaway unattended parked van. Driver (owner) at fault.
17. November 4, 1997, 7:05 p.m. Mission 187 feet south of 20^th Street. A 28 year old man was killed jaywalking, by a straight traveling passenger car. Pedestrian at fault. Cited.
18. November 19, 1997, 7:23 a.m. Alemany 4 feet east of Rousseau. A 54 year old woman was killed in the crosswalk, by a straight traveling mini-van. Driver at fault.
19. December 5, 1997, 7:03 a.m. Evans, 424 feet east of Mendell. A 37 year old woman was killed crossing mid-block, by a straight traveling passenger car. Pedestrian at fault.
20. December 21, 1997, 11:00 a.m. Arleta, 5 feet west of Alpha. An 82 year old woman was killed in the crosswalk, by a straight traveling passenger car. Driver at fault.
21. December 22, 1997, 7:50 a.m. Geneva, 7 feet east of Madrid. An 83 year old woman was killed in a crosswalk, by a straight traveling passenger car. Driver at fault.
22. January 8, 1998, 3:25 p.m. Naples, 5 feet south of Italy. A 72 year old woman was killed in a crosswalk, by a straight traveling MUNI bus. Driver at fault.
23. January 9, 1998, 6:45 p.m. McAllister, 3 feet south of Leavenworth. An 84 year old man was killed on the edge of a sidewalk, by a right turning tractor-trailer truck whose trailer rode up on the curb. Driver at fault.
24. January 11, 1998, 7:01 p.m. Mission, 6 feet south of Ottawa. An 88 year old man was killed in an unmarked crosswalk, by a straight traveling Hit and Run passenger car. Driver at fault.
25. January 13, 1998, 10:35 p.m. 3rd Street at 19^th Street. A 37 year old man, under the influence of alcohol, was killed in the middle of the intersection, after falling from his bicycle and refusing to move from the intersection, by a straight traveling tractor trailer truck. Pedestrian at fault.
26. January 29, 1998, 6:10 a.m. Irving, 7 feet west of 8^th Ave. A 66 year old woman was killed in the crosswalk, by a straight traveling Hit and Run vehicle. Driver at fault.
27. February 4, 1998, 1:49 a.m. 4^th Street, 123 feet north of Mission. A man of undetermined age was killed mid-block, by a straight traveling taxi. Pedestrian at fault.
28. February 8, 1998, 2:00 a.m. 19^th Ave., 4 feet north of Irving. A 22 year old man, under the influence of alcohol, was killed in a crosswalk, crossing against a red light, by a straight traveling Hit and Run passenger car. Pedestrian at fault.
29. March 26, 1998, 7:58 p.m. Judah, 127 feet east of 39^th Ave. A woman of undetermined age was killed in the MUNI LRV lane while crossing mid-block, by straight traveling Hit and Run sport-utility vehicle. Driver at fault.
30. March 31, 1998, 6:46 p.m. John F. Kennedy Drive, 6 feet south of Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. An 80 year old woman was killed in a crosswalk, by a straight traveling passenger car. Driver at fault. Cited.
31. April 3, 1998, 10:12 p.m. The Embarcadero, 19 feet north of Townsend. A 48 year old man was killed in a crosswalk, crossing against a red light, by a straight traveling van. Pedestrian at fault.
32. April 20, 1998, 5:33 p.m. Market, 35 feet east of Hyde. A 31 year old man was killed on a MUNI island, by a straight traveling pick-up truck traveling in the transit lane. Driver at fault.
33. April 24, 1998, 9:51 p.m. 3^rd Street, 52 feet south of Revere. A 47 year old man was killed while crossing mid-block, by a speeding Hit and Run passenger car. Driver at fault.
34. April 26, 1998, 9:50 p.m. Duboce, 18 feet east of Pearl. A 44 year old man was killed while crossing mid-block, a straight traveling passenger car. Pedestrian at fault.
35. May 12, 1998, 7:32 p.m. Guerrero at 16^th Street. A 27 year old man was killed in the crosswalk, crossing against a red light, by a straight traveling motorcycle. Pedestrian at fault.
36. June 6, 1998, 2:13 a.m. Market, 7 feet west of Noe. A 29 year old man was killed in a crosswalk, by a straight traveling vehicle whose driver was under the influence of alcohol. Driver at fault. Cited. Driver charged with Gross Vehicular Manslaughter while intoxicated.

Footnotes

¹ San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office Annual Report, Vehicular Deaths Section, p.33.

² SFPD Collisions Reports.

³ California Highway Patrol's State-Wide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS)

⁴ SWITRS

⁵ Status Report. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Vol. 34, No. 3, March 1999. P.2.

⁶ Profile of Injury in San Francisco, San Francisco Department of Public Health, December, 1998. P. 71.

⁷ Ibid. P. 70.

⁸ Status Report. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Vol. 34, No. 3, March 1999. P.1.

⁹ SWITRS

¹⁰ Profile of Injury in San Francisco, San Francisco Department of Public Health, December, 1998. P. 18-19.

¹¹ CA Department of Motor Vehicles (D.M.V.) Report, July 2, 1999.

¹² CA D.M.V. Report, July 2, 1999.

¹³ Dan Burden, Director, Partnership for a Walkable America.

¹⁴ San Francisco Pedestrian Safety Study, Liebermann and Shoaf, 1984. P.9.

¹⁵ Ibid. P.9.

¹⁶ San Francisco Police Department Bulletin # 98-226. November 20, 1998.