SFist Photo: Fell and Masonic Deathtrap Revisited

Here's how it's supposed to work: a vehicle in the left lane of Fell turns left at Masonic (making sure to stay on the right side of that curved white line) without hitting anybody in the crosswalk.

Here's the problem: the crosswalk is part of a Class 1 Bike Path through the Golden Gate Park Panhandle, so there's lots of cyclists and joggers around. The driver in this car properly yielded, but some do not.

So here's our advice: crane your neck around thusly to see what's coming every time. Just think to yourself,"They're trying to kill me!" Driver negligence appears to be the main problem at this intersection.

Here's an illustration of the problem, looking from the other direction. Famous local "Ringo" heels over her hot pink Austrian moped and zips on through. That's a failure to yield right there because the cyclist in blue was forced to stop for motorized cross traffic. That's what we're talking about. Bad form, Ringo. Also note the red Nissan taking up half the crosswalk. This unusual intersection CAN be a little confusing even to drivers who try paying attention.

This stretched wheelbase Mercedes properly displays the "Jonesy" scenario of northbound traffic blocking the crosswalk.

Here's another issue: when northbound cars don't sit in the crosswalk, then the left turners from Fell cheat a bit thusly. People using the crosswalk don't really expect traffic to come at them at this part of the crosswalk. The line shows drivers the way to go, but it's routinely ignored.

This cyclist shows good technique with the neck craning but is she crossing Masonic too late? Claims adjusters at some insurance companies would say yes. Do bike riders assume the risk of getting hurt when they are on a "recreational" or "wilderness trail"? This is not entirely clear.

So what's the solution? Will putting up a dedicated left turn arrow help? Would that idea cause more accidents on Fell? How about them Safe Hit posts that helped out a lot on Octavia? Putting them in the median of Masonic just north of the crosswalk would teach the lazy turners a lesson, right?

Alright, but how about thinking outside the box? Moving the bike trail so it's closer or farther away from the intersection? Banning left turns from Fell onto Masonic? Paving over Masonic and making the recreational trail a real recreational trail?

Is it true, as that other famous Ringo said, "Everything government touches turns to crap"? Let's hope not cuz we need a some attention here. Creative ideas and a little money from the govmint - that's what we need.

[Update: Thanks for all your comments. Legally, the volunteers could be considered "street workers" (such as constructioneers and therefore entitled to more attention from drivers), pedestrians (because they are "afoot") or the equivalent of Frank Chu wandering around an intersection with a sign. It's not clear how they are authorized, if at all.

Just because you are outside of a crosswalk does not necessarily mean you are fair game - sometimes being close enough to a crosswalk is good enough when CA courts look at these issues.

The jogger is indeed facing a countdown timer with 10 seconds left (even though it might look like 0 seconds left). If he got hit by a car, we don't know the legalities. Could end up being a joint liability thing since the jogger crossed against the ped light. We don't know the legal history of the accidents at this location.

We don't know if cyclists need to walk their bikes over the crosswalk. It sounds ridiculous, but who knows.]