PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, June 3, 2026
CONTACT: Jodie Medeiros, Executive Director, Walk SF, jodie@walksf.org, 415.596.1580; Marta Lindsey, Communications Director, Walk SF, marta@walksf.org, 617.833.7654
Two pedestrians killed this morning in SOMA and Ingleside neighborhoods
Eleven pedestrian deaths in San Francisco already this year
San Francisco, Calif. – Walk SF learned from the San Francisco Police Department that there were two pedestrian deaths this morning in the SOMA and Ingleside neighborhoods. A pedestrian was hit and killed on 7th Street between Brannan and Townsend in the SOMA neighborhood in District 6. Another pedestrian was killed in what is likely a hit-and-run at Geneva Avenue and Paris Street in the Ingleside neighborhood in District 11.
“Our hearts break for the victims and their loved ones,” said Jodie Medeiros, executive director for Walk San Francisco. “People are dying simply walking in our city.”
Walk San Francisco (Walk SF) and San Francisco Bay Area Families for Safe Streets (Families for Safe Streets) are here to support the friends and loved ones of the victim however possible.
Resources, including post-crash checklists in English, Chinese, Spanish, and Tagalog, are available at walksf.org/fss.
There have now been eleven pedestrian deaths in San Francisco in 2026. The first pedestrian death in 2026 was a 76-year-old woman on February 3rd at Bayshore Boulevard & Silver Avenue in District 10. The second was a 47-year-old woman who was hit and killed at Bayshore Boulevard and Arleta Avenue on February 14th in District 10. The third was a two-year-old child who was hit and killed by a driver on February 27th at the intersection of 4th and Channel Streets in District 6. The fourth was a 42-year-old pedestrian who was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver on March 5th at the intersection of Mission Street and Naglee Avenue in the Outer Mission neighborhood in District 11. The fifth was a 46-year-old pedestrian who was fatally struck on March 5th on the sidewalk near Broadway and Kearny in the North Beach neighborhood in District 3. The sixth was a 57-year-old pedestrian who was fatally struck by a MUNI bus on Geary Avenue between Kearny and Grant Streets. The seventh was 49-year-old Cuthberto Zamora, who was fatally struck on the sidewalk near the intersection of Jackson & Beckett Streets in the Chinatown neighborhood in District 3. The eighth was 74-year-old Dannielle Spillman, who was hit and killed near the intersection of Mission Street and South Van Ness in District 6 on April 13th. The ninth was a pedestrian who was fatally hit by a driver on May 25th on Mission Street near 16th Street in the Mission neighborhood in District 9.
According to the City’s traffic fatality tracker, all but one of the twelve people killed in all traffic crashes this year were pedestrians; no motorists have died in traffic crashes. The City’s traffic fatality tracker can be viewed here; note that information is not up-to-the-minute.
“This statistic underscores just how vulnerable we are as pedestrians and the need for more solutions to keep us safe, especially children, seniors, and people with disabilities,” said Medeiros. “Every life lost is a painful reminder that city leaders must treat traffic safety as an urgent priority.”
7th Street between Brannan and Townsend is just a block from two freeway entrances/exits, making it a street with high levels of traffic. There is a speed camera on 7th Street between Folsom and Harrison. The SFMTA completed traffic safety improvements along this segment of 7th Street in 2021 as part of the 7th Street & 8th Street Safety Projects.
“The SOMA neighborhood is one of the most dangerous parts of the city for pedestrians,” said Medeiros. “This neighborhood and everyone who lives, works, and walks in SOMA deserves more solutions to keep them safe. It is painful to learn of another life cut short in SOMA.”
Aggressive driving, especially speeding, pose constant threats to people walking in SOMA. The speed camera at Bryant and 3rd Streets in SOMA issued more citations than any other speed camera in the city from October to December 2025, reflecting how many drivers are going way too fast in this neighborhood.
Streets in the SOMA neighborhood were originally designed for industrial uses like factories and warehouses, with many freeway entrances and exits, wide one-way streets (like Bryant, Harrison, Howard, and Folsom) and high volumes of vehicle traffic. But today, SOMA is a dense residential neighborhood, with schools, parks, and diverse commercial uses. Yet streets in SOMA are still largely designed to prioritize moving high volumes of traffic versus pedestrian safety.
The crash at Geneva and Paris Street is the third pedestrian fatality on Geneva Avenue in three years. On January 21, 2025, a 77-year-old woman was fatally hit by a driver at the intersection of Carter Street and Geneva Avenue and later succumbed to her injuries. On July 11, 2024, a man was hit and killed on Geneva Avenue near Cayuga.
Geneva Avenue is a 60-foot-wide thoroughfare with five lanes of car traffic, a design that both encourages drivers to go fast and is a very long distance for pedestrians to be vulnerable to vehicle traffic. The Geneva Avenue corridor is on the City’s new 2024 “high-injury network” map, the 13% of San Francisco streets that account for 74% of serious injuries and death. In November 2023, the SFMTA and DPW completed traffic safety improvements along this segment of Geneva Ave as part of Segment I of the Mission/Geneva Safety Project. There is a speed camera located approximately half a mile away on Geneva Avenue between Prague and Brooksdale; Geneva Avenue sees high rates of speeding.
“While we don’t have any details on these pedestrian deaths yet, we do know that speeding continues to be the #1 cause of severe and fatal crashes on San Francisco streets,” said Medeiros. “When drivers speed, they increase the chances of a crash and the likelihood of someone dying if 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. This study doesn’t account for how much larger and heavier vehicles are today. The average American passenger vehicle is now 8 inches taller and 1,000 pounds heavier than it was three decades ago. SUVs and trucks are now the dominant type of vehicle, making up almost 75% of the market share.
“We should be able to get around San Francisco safely as pedestrians,” said Medeiros. “It’s not too much to ask. We look to our leaders and everyone driving on our streets to make human life the priority in their decisions.”
Walk San Francisco has been watchdogging progress on both the Street Safety Act passed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors in September and the Street Safety Initiative executive directive signed by Mayor Daniel Lurie on December 15, 2025.
Mayor Lurie launched his new Safe Streets Task Force within the Mayor’s Office in March, which represents a major step for San Francisco in elevating traffic safety.
The week of June 15, Mayor Lurie is scheduled to deliver a range of six-month actions in his Street Safety Initiative. These include:
- Launching a public dashboard showing commitments and progress on key deliverables for safe streets.
- Developing a process to add a suite of safety improvements whenever a street is repaved or other street-level work happens so that streets are made safer in the most efficient ways
- Establishing design standards and maximum review periods agreed to by the Fire Department and SFMTA so traffic calming projects are implemented faster.
- Ensuring consistent vehicle driver training for city employees and the installation of telematics that further the goals of this Executive Directive. Note: A report shows that many city employees are driving dangerously, especially regarding speeding.
- Releasing a Traffic Enforcement Strategy Report identifying top crash-causing behaviors and corresponding enforcement focus.
- Launching a process for residents and community groups to add murals, planters, and other infrastructure into daylit areas at intersections.
- Developing a plan for promoting and enforcing safe e-device (e-scooter, e-bicycle, etc.) operations and parking.
“We’re grateful that Mayor Lurie is making traffic safety a priority, and has committed his office and City agencies to deliver a lot more to prevent these tragedies,” said Medeiros. “Mayor Lurie’s Street Safety Initiative includes much of what’s needed to accelerate progress toward Vision Zero. The public wants and needs safe streets.
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Walk San Francisco (‘Walk SF’) advocates on behalf of all pedestrians in San Francisco. Since its founding in 1998, Walk SF has successfully pushed for solutions to design and enforce streets where people of all ages and abilities are safe walking. 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.