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It was with absolutely zero shock that we read yesterday's article in the Examiner about a police sting aimed at drivers who cruise through the crosswalk when people are trying to cross the street at Taraval and 21st. The sting continues, as
San Francisco police are conducting undercover pedestrian sting operations to cite drivers “blatantly violating the pedestrian right of way.” On Wednesday, officers at Taraval Street and 21st Avenue cited 45 drivers in just two and a half hours from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., according to police.
If you're doing the math, that's a scofflaw every three minutes! The cops say they're playing nice and giving the drivers the benefit of the doubt, which we believe - if they were to really crack down out there, they'd be giving out tickets every ten seconds. Now, if they can only go after the people who try to pass the L on the right when people are getting on and off, we'd really be getting somewhere.
Photo from flickr user dannyman, used under a Creative Commons license
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hell yea!
as a pedestrian, there is nothing that infuriates me more than the blatant disregard for my right of way. is there any way to volunteer to be one of the "pedestrians" involved in the sting operation? that would be awesome.
We must find a way to blame critical mass.
How about doing something about pedestrians walking against red lights? I see this all the time now. I almost hit a couple crossing against the red on Oak a few weeks ago. Almost a case of Darwin at work, I guess.
I saw a nutcase teenager crossing on a red at SKYLINE in the Daly City section of the highway! And cars had to wait at the green until the dumbass cleared the way.
Ingleside Police Chief Paul Chignell used to send out a daily police report email that anyone could subscribe to. It often contained details of these pedestrian stings they used to perform on Mission out in Excelsior and the Outer Mission. He was recently transferred to the Taraval station, and the Ingleside reports stopped, but he might be doing them for the Taraval station. I suspect a phone call could answer that question.
Cops playing nice and giving benefit of doubt?!? Why?!?! That's exactly why drivers speed excessively through downtown San Francisco ... because of the pussified response of our police and leaders. Come on... ticket 'em ... $500 a whack ... this is about making them stop, not slapping them on the hand and giving them a lollipop. Jesus Christ. why have laws if they're not enforced?
My daughter did a science project on whether drivers stop for pedestrians in crosswalks a few years ago when she was in 4th grade. Her project was on Sloat at Everglade, at the Lakeshore Plaza shopping center (with me as the decoy pedestrian trying to cross Sloat). Out of 100 cars, two -- count 'em -- stopped. The project was written up in Matier and Ross.
My favorite is when you, the driver, stop for the pedestrian, and someone coming up behind you changes lanes to zoom around you as the pedestrian is crossing in front of you.
Miraloma: That is exactly why I don't always stop for pedestrians in crosswalks that are not signal-protected... I don't trust the guy behind me to also wait. Too many times I have been a driver who stopped, only to have the pedestrian almost get creamed by the inpatient moron trying to pass me, or been the pedestrian in a similar situation. It seems that many drivers, particularly those impaired by cell phones, think that if they can't immediately see the reason a car is stopped, it must just be for sh1ts and giggles. It's like half the drivers out there never grasped the concept of object persistence, a cognitive milestone the rest of us achieved when we were infants.
Add some huge SUVs to the scenery, blocking the view to the front even more, and it's even worse. Then if the impatient car is also an SUV, the pedestrians are done for -- even a hybrid SUV will invariably knock a pedestrian's head to the pavement, while a passenger car is designed (perhaps required?) to scoop up struck pedestrians onto the hood, maybe breaking bones, but greatly reducing the likelihood of severe brain trauma. (I used to work in the neurotrauma ICU at a local hospital -- an alarming number of patients had been in accidents like this.) Unsafe design is why too many SUVs are a problem for San Francisco; that the non-hybrids guzzle an obscene amount of gas is secondary in my book.
[Sorry, I didn't mean that to be an anti-SUV rant, but I just think their pedestrian safety problems are overlooked. :) ]
It's as if drivers in the Sunset no longer have any regard for basic traffic laws. Pedestrians experience the same on Taraval/Noriega/Irving/Lincoln. Perhaps it's because the Taraval Police Station has been so understaffed, there have been no cops on the streets. But there's a brand new police captain at the station now, and I like what I'm seeing.