PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 25, 2023
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)
Pedestrian killed this morning at known dangerous intersection
Third pedestrian death in less than two weeks in San Francisco
San Francisco, Calif. – A 53-year-old man was hit and killed crossing at Marin Street and Bayshore Boulevard this morning, marking the third pedestrian death in less than two weeks in San Francisco.
“Our hearts go out to this man’s loved ones and community,” said Jodie Medeiros, executive director of Walk San Francisco. “We grieve the lives lost so senselessly on our streets.”
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 twelfth pedestrian death in San Francisco so far in 2023, and the third in less than two weeks. On August 15, a four-year-old girl was fatally hit in the crosswalk at 4th and King. On August 14, a pedestrian was killed at Harrison and Seventh.
The location of the crash this morning was at Marin Street and Bayshore Boulevard, a known dangerous intersection on the City’s designated “high-injury network.”
The high-injury network is the 12% of streets where 68% of all severe and fatal traffic crashes occur. This intersection is part of what’s known as the ‘Hairball’ due to the many bridges and ramps that come together around Highway 101. A pedestrian was killed just a few hundred feet away at Bayshore Boulevard and Jerrold Avenue on July 19, 2020.
“It’s incredibly devastating that another life has been lost on our streets,” said Medeiros. “What’s extra painful is that once again, this happened at a known dangerous intersection near a freeway entrance that has yet to get the kind of comprehensive changes needed so drivers go slowly and cautiously.”
The SFMTA did complete safety improvements in the area as a part of the Cesar Chavez/Potrero/Bayshore Boulevard Intersection Improvements project in summer of 2022, but most of the pedestrian improvements were simply painting continental crosswalks and didn’t give more protection to pedestrians.
The SFMTA, along with the Department of Public Works, is planning to add raised crosswalks at four locations, upgrade multiple curb ramps and bulbs, and install a Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacon in the area. But the timing is unknown for these needed street safety changes, as are the precise locations.
“We should be able to cross the street safely, it’s that simple,” said Medeiros. “We are looking to City leaders to show us they understand that and step up in a big way. Safety improvements are too little, too late, and that has to end. The City has the data and solutions to be proactive, which is what Vision Zero is all about.”
Earlier this week in light of the four-year-old killed at 4th and King, Walk San Francisco called on City leaders to take three actions in order to address deadly intersections. (Read in detail at walksf.org/threeasks.)
These include:
- Addressing serious safety issues at the 4th and King Street intersection immediately – and comprehensively. What the City is proposing is inadequate given the threat to pedestrians.
- Bringing serious speed-slowing solutions to the 25+ high-injury intersections that, like 4th and King Streets and Bayshore and Marin, are at transition points between highways and neighborhood streets.
- Creating 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 City must design streets near freeway entrances and exits so that drivers go slowly and cautiously – not like they’re on an on- or off-ramp,” said Medeiros. “These are neighborhood streets, and we need drivers to treat them as such. The City needs to bring more solutions to these especially risky areas, like narrowing and reducing lanes and raised crosswalks.”
In total, 20 people were killed while walking in San Francisco in 2022. 39 people were killed in all traffic crashes in 2022, which is the deadliest year since the City adopted Vision Zero in 2014. Vision Zero is a comprehensive, data-based, preventative, and proven approach to ending severe and fatal crashes that has been successful worldwide.
“We don’t need another tragedy for fixing deadly intersections to be a top priority of City leaders and agencies,” said Medeiros. “This death follows a pattern, and that pattern can be stopped.”
Nationally, pedestrian deaths are at their highest numbers since 1981 and an average of 20 pedestrian deaths every day.
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.
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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.