Walk SF’s three asks of City leaders to fix deadly crosswalks
Children – and everyone – should be able to cross the street safely.
In the aftermath of the tragic death of a child in the crosswalk at 4th and King on August 15, Walk San Francisco has issued three asks to City leaders.
These are our asks to Mayor London Breed, SFMTA Director Tumlin, and the SFMTA Board of Directors:
1. Address serious safety issues at the 4th and King Street intersection immediately – and comprehensively.
Removing one of the right turn lanes onto King Street does not go far enough. A separate, pedestrian-only phase in the signal light is needed to protect people walking from drivers turning to get to the 280 freeway entrance.
Speeds on the wide, six-lane King Street must also be addressed. SFMTA needs to design this street prioritizing safety, not as though it’s a freeway on- or off- ramp. The current speed limit of 30 MPH is too high. Adding additional infrastructure such as vertical speed reducers and reducing the number of travel lanes to bring down driver speeds is critical given the high numbers of pedestrians in the area going to and from Muni, Caltrain, and Oracle Park.
2. Bring serious speed-slowing solutions to the 25+ high-injury intersections that, like 4th and King Streets, are at transition points between highways and neighborhood streets.
The City must design streets near freeway entrances/exits so that drivers go slowly and cautiously – not like they’re on an on- or off-ramp. All high-injury intersections that are near freeway entrances/exits need serious solutions like narrowing and reducing lanes and raised crosswalks to protect the most vulnerable on what are, actually, neighborhood streets. These intersections include:
- 1st and Harrison
- 4th and Harrison
- 5th and Harrison
- 7th and Harrison
- 8th and Harrison
- Fremont and Harrison
- 4th and Bryant
- 5th and Bryant
- 7th and Bryant
- 9th and Bryant
- 10th and Bryant
- 6th and Brannan
- Fremont between Howard and Folsom
- Mission and 13th/Otis
- South Van Ness/Central Freeway
- Indiana and 25th
- Cesar Chavez and Pennsylvania
- Cesar Chavez and Kansas
- Cesar Chavez and Potrero
- Cesar Chavez at Hampshire
- Bayshore and Marin
- Bayshore and Industrial
- Monterey and Baden
- Ocean Ave Southern Freeway Ramp
- Ocean Ave Southern Freeway Ramp
- San Jose Blvd and Alemany
- 3rd Ave and Meade
- Bayshore Blvd and Hester
- Jamestown Ave and 3rd
3. Create a detailed, publicly-available plan within 60 days for how the SFMTA will meet its commitment to fix the 900 high-injury intersections that have yet to receive any safety improvements by the end of 2024.
The SFMTA committed to bring baseline pedestrian safety improvements to 900 high-injury intersections by December 2024. This includes high-visibility painted crosswalks, daylighting, and traffic signals that give pedestrians a headstart plus more time to cross.
But we need accountability so this actually happens on-schedule. The SFMTA must create a public plan for how they will, quarter-by-quarter, reach their goal by December 2024. The SFMTA must also add no-turn-on-red, left turn calming, and pedestrian safety zones to every eligible intersection within the 900 simultaneously to really boost crosswalk safety at these intersections, all of which can be implemented with the SFMTA’s ‘Quick Build’ toolkit.
We need you to help push City leaders to deliver on these three asks
As of publishing this blog on August 24, the City has yet to commit to any of these three actions.
So please: after you send your email, ask friends and neighbors to email City leaders, too. We need to show that enough people are demanding this that they have to respond. Thank you!
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Banner image: Emily Huston
