PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 8, 2024
CONTACT: Jodie Medeiros, Executive Director, Walk SF, jodie@walksf.org, 415.596.1580 (cell)
Pedestrian hit and killed in Richmond District is 18th this year
San Francisco, Calif. – Walk SF has learned from the San Francisco Police Department that a 94-year-old man who was hit by a driver on October 2, 2024 at the intersection of Geary Boulevard and 25th Avenue has succumbed to his injuries on October 4, 2024.
“We are heartbroken to learn about this loss of life. We are holding the victim and their loved ones in our thoughts,” said Jodie Medeiros, executive director of Walk San Francisco.
Walk San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay Area Families for Safe Streets community are here to support the friends and loved ones of the victims however possible.
There have now been 18 traffic-related pedestrian deaths in San Francisco so far in 2024. This is equal to the number of pedestrian deaths in all of 2023. 18 people were killed while walking in San Francisco in 2023. Pedestrians accounted for 65% of all traffic-related fatalities in 2023. Nationally, pedestrian deaths are at a 40-year historic high.
The first pedestrian death in 2024 was a 63-year-old man on January 31st at Fulton and Arguello. The second was a 31-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. The third was a 76-year-old man who was hit crossing Alemany Boulevard at Rousseau Street in the Excelsior neighborhood on February 25, 2024. The fourth was Michael Lukehart, a 41-year-old man who was fatally hit by a driver on March 2, 2024 at the intersection of Golden Gate Avenue and Hyde Street.
The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth deaths were those of Diego Cardoso de Oliveira (40); Matilde Moncado Ramos Pinto (38); Joaquim Ramos Pinto de Oliveira (2); and Cauê Ramos Pinto de Oliveira (3 months), who were hit while waiting at a West Portal bus stop on March 16, 2024.
The ninth death was a man who was hit while crossing Ellis Street near Jones Street on May 23, 2024. The tenth was 41-year-old Miguel Angel Barrera-Cruz, who was killed by a driver at Mission Street and Cortland Avenue in the Mission District. The eleventh was 37-year-old Eric Marshall Quantrell, who was hit by a driver while walking at Van Ness Avenue and Broadway on June 15, 2024. The twelfth was a 43-year-old woman, Amanda Seifert, who was fatally hit at the intersection of Toland Street and Jerrold on June 17, 2024. The thirteenth was a 29-year-old man who was hit by a driver on Harrison Street between 5th and 6th Street, and succumbed to their injuries on July 5, 2024. The fourteenth was a man who was hit on Geneva Avenue near Cayuga on July 11, 2024. The fifteenth was a 61-year-old woman who was fatally hit while crossing at the intersection of Diamond Street and Bosworth Street on August 15, 2024. The sixteenth was a 70-year-old woman who a driver hit on September 12, 2024 at the intersection of Lombard and Laguna Streets, and later succumbed to her injuries. The seventeenth was a 52-year-old man who was hit and killed at the intersection of Lombard and Gough Streets on September 21, 2024.
Walk SF also learned that a man who was hit by a driver on May 6, 2024 at the intersection of Geneva Avenue and Edinburgh Street succumbed to their injuries on September 21, 2024. This death will not count towards the city’s official Vision Zero death count because it is beyond the 30-day injury-to-fatality window.
Over the past decade, Geary Boulevard has seen a concerning number of traffic crashes and fatalities. Along the corridor, from Market Street to where it terminates at 48th Avenue, there have been ten pedestrian fatalities in the last ten years. The intersection of Geary Blvd and 25th Avenue experienced four crashes involving pedestrians over the last ten years, resulting in five recorded injuries.
The intersection of Geary Boulevard and 25th Avenue is part of San Francisco’s Little Russia commercial corridor and is near many Muni bus stops, religious institutions, and St. Monica School. Geary Boulevard runs through much of the predominantly residential Richmond District.
Geary Boulevard is a wide, six-lane arterial with a 25-mile-per-hour speed limit. Much of Geary Boulevard is on the city’s 2022 “high-injury network” map: the 12% of streets where 68% of traffic crashes occur. The segment of Geary where the crash occurred is not on the high-injury network. The next “high-injury network” map will be released in early 2025.
The segment of Geary Boulevard where the crash occurred is part of the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project. In 2023, the SFMTA completed quick-build safety improvements on the corridor. Quick-build projects use paint, signs, and traffic signals to upgrade streets. Quick-build improvements along Geary included daylighting intersections to improve visibility and retiming pedestrian signals to give pedestrians more time to cross. Additional, more permanent safety improvements will be constructed in 2026 and 2027. These additional improvements include constructing a pedestrian bulbout and expanding two pedestrian median refuges at the intersection where the crash occurred. Pedestrian bulbouts shorten the crossing distance and improve visibility for both drivers and pedestrians. Pedestrian median refuges provide a safe place for people walking to rest or wait, if needed, while crossing the street.
“Everyone should feel safe when crossing the street,” said Medeiros. “This tragedy is a reminder that we need timely, comprehensive safety improvements on our streets.”
Speed is the #1 cause of severe and fatal traffic crashes in San Francisco. The faster a driver is going, the more likely a crash is to occur – and the more serious the consequences.
Pedestrians are highly vulnerable as the speed of a vehicle rises above 25 MPH if the pedestrian is hit. 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.
Vehicles are growing larger and heavier, which increases the odds of death for pedestrians. Vehicles are also increasingly able to accelerate to high speeds in mere seconds, making for a deadly combination.
San Francisco is on track to surpass the number of traffic-related pedestrian deaths in 2023. Citywide, on average 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.
San Francisco is currently planning for its second decade of ‘Vision Zero,’ a proactive approach to end severe and fatal traffic crashes that’s been proven successful in many places around the world. Walk SF is working with organizations across the city to push for a more aggressive and comprehensive approach to Vision Zero. Learn more about our vision for the future of Vision Zero.
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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.