PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 26, 2024
CONTACT: Jodie Medeiros, Executive Director, Walk SF, jodie@walksf.org, 415.596.1580 (cell); Marta Lindsey, Communications Director, Walk SF, marta@walksf.org, 617.833.7654 (cell)
Hit-and-run victim at Alemany Boulevard and Rousseau Street is third pedestrian fatality this year
35 MPH speed limit is too high and must be lowered, says Walk SF
San Francisco, Calif. – San Francisco, Calif. – According to SFPD, a 76-year-old man was hit crossing at Alemany Boulevard at Rousseau Street in the Excelsior neighborhood on February 25, 2024 at 6:40PM, and died from his injuries this morning. The driver fled the scene.
“No one should lose their life simply crossing the street,” said Jodie Medeiros, executive director of Walk San Francisco. “Our hearts break for this man’s loved ones. These tragedies are all too frequent and all too preventable.”
Walk San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay Area Families for Safe Streets community stand ready to support the friends and loved ones of the victim however possible.
This is the third pedestrian death in San Francisco in 2024. The first was a 72-year old man on January 31st at Fulton and Arguello. The second was a 32-year-old man, David Bridges Jr., who was hit and killed at 6th and Bryant Street on February 8, 2024 by a hit-and-run driver.
Alemany Boulevard is on the “high-injury network”: the 12% of streets where 68% of traffic crashes occur. Alemany Boulevard runs near the 280 freeway, has a speed limit of 35 MPH, and has no traffic light at this intersection.
“The street where this man was killed fits the profile of too many streets that desperately need more safety improvements,” said Medeiros. “It’s near a freeway. It has four travel lanes. It has a serious issue with speeding drivers on what is a neighborhood street.”
“Speed kills. Streets like Alameny are more likely to kill,” said Medeiros. “The City needs to design and enforce streets to keep speeds safe.”
“Walk San Francisco is calling on the SFMTA to immediately reduce speed limits on Alemany Boulevard to 30 MPH within their authority with the passage of state law AB 43,” said Medeiros. “And we believe that any high-injury street in San Francisco with speed limits of 35 MPH+ must be lowered immediately, too.” Streets in San Francisco with 35 MPH+ speed limits make up about ~2% of streets. View the City’s speed limit data here.
Pedestrians are highly vulnerable as speed rises above 25 MPH. The most frequently cited study on speed and risk of fatality shows that at 25 MPH and under, a person has a less than 1 in 4 chance of being severely injured or killed if they are hit. But by 40 MPH, this flips, with 75% of pedestrians suffering life-threatening injuries or dying.
Speed is the #1 cause of severe and fatal crashes in San Francisco, and the faster a driver goes, the more likely a crash is to happen – and the more severe the impact is.
17 people were killed while walking in San Francisco in 2023, and pedestrians accounted for 65% of all traffic-related fatalities. Nationally, pedestrian deaths are at a 40-year historic high.
“The frightening reality for pedestrians is that we face bigger, heavier, more powerful vehicles and more dangerous driving than ever when walking,” said Medeiros. “Every solution possible is needed to turn around these deadly trends – and especially to bring down speeds.”
Citywide, around 30 people are killed and more than 500 severely injured each year on San Francisco streets. Older adults make up 50% of these fatalities annually.
The City’s Vision Zero commitment is coming up on a 10-year milestone in March of 2024. Vision Zero is a comprehensive, data-based, preventative, and proven approach to ending severe and fatal crashes that has been successful worldwide. San Francisco has made meaningful strides in embracing Vision Zero, but it’s clear the City must act much faster and more aggressively to take on the rising dangers we all face on our streets.
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Walk San Francisco (‘Walk SF’) advocates for safe streets for everyone who walks, which is everyone. Since our founding in 1998, Walk SF has been leading the way to make San Francisco a pedestrian-first city where people of every age and ability can walk safely. Learn more.
San Francisco Bay Area Families for Safe Streets is a group of people who have been directly affected by traffic crashes, including crash survivors and people whose loved ones have been killed or injured in traffic crashes. Learn more.