September 25, 2008
Woman Struck by Cable Car Dies
If you recall, on Wednesday, just before 6 a.m., a northbound cable car collided with a female pedestrian on Mason Street near Broadway. The unidentified woman died later at SF General. Nathaniel P. Ford, SFMTA Executive Director, calls it "a truly tragic incident, going on to say, "[o]n behalf of the SFMTA, I would like to extend our deepest condolences to her family and friends." Both the Gripman and the Conductor have been placed on non-operating status, given booze and drugs tests,
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Sad sad sad. Anyone want to guess how much they would settle?
how the fuck can anyone get killed by a cable car? i'm telling you, those people are just ttrying to get rich, that's how they become an hero for their other family members
@Akit: $16Million?
As I have said before, DO NOT USE MUNI!
MUNI KILLS
and why they gotta take her to SF General? It's called Chinese Hospital that's, like, what, 4 blocks away? or maybe St. Francis Hospital?
I don't know the details but allow me to go out on a somewhat insensitive assumption limb:
Over 70 (if Asian - likely over 80)
Deaf
Slower than molasses
Nearly dead before she woke up that morning
Couldn't see the cable car coming
Didn't hear the bell feverishly ringing
Enjoy the afterlife
RIP
that explains everything
God you are all fucking idiots.
SF General has the best trauma center in the city. One of the best in the nation even. If you get turned into hamburger in the city, that's the place to go. Full stop.
As for how someone gets hit by a cable car, try the goddamned wooden brakes that suck. Sure there *is* better technology out there, but MUNI won't invest in it. What if the brakes failed and suddenly you're going at more than the 12mph clip they usually run at. What if the gripman didn't stop for the pedestrian. What if what if what if.
Or just keep up the racist, ageist bullshit.
P.S. Ringing the damn bell is not an excuse for running a stop sign or a red light.
now now, watch our tone, zm.
Being of older age and wisdom should teach one that attempting to cross quickly with an elderly body is neither wise nor advisable. Being old and a little less than wise gets one run over by a slow moving, track based mode of transport.
I hate THE MUNI as much as the next SF'er but the cable car operators are usually a higher, more careful standard of driver. (Unlike that arrogant dickhead with the goatee who runs the 45/41 at warp speed up and down Union St - tossing passengers to and fro - a very public 'fuck you' to him) My money is that the driver was acting responsibly, no drugs or booze present in the blood and witnesses putting the frail elder wandering into the path of a slow moving cable car. If I am wrong, I will issue you a public apology.
And before we go off on the racist, ageist wah wah BS.
A. I can count on all toes and both hands the number of elderly people I see each week hell bent on beating the blinking DO NOT WALK light and nearly getting mowed over by a variety of moving vehicles once the light changes. What the hell is the rush, they're RETIRED.
B. My mom is nearing 70 and STILL a crossing guard, ferrying little kids across city streets safely, 5 days every week. She knows how to goose step and what I don't see each day, I get to hear from her about the idiots who try to beat the lights. That includes drivers of satanic automobiles and people lacking basic common sense.
C. Racist? Nigga please.
In short, save your bitter wrath for someone else.
Yeah, (old) people need to be careful when they cross the street. Cable cars need to stop, something they're less reliable at than nearly anything else in the MUNI fleet save for the Peter Witt cars.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/26/BA5K135V9F.DTL
Robin pegged part of it at least, 80 year old Asian.
The sun hasn't risen by 6am so they probably had a difficult time seeing her.
This reminds me of one of my fave Mr. Show sketches - "Do you and your college friends enjoy underground video and audio tapes? But you always have to know someone to get them?" Then they run through the available videos until this one pops up:
"train hits dumbass"
I feel bad about it but I lol every time I think about how harsh the reality is that if you get his by a train, or in this case, a cable car, how stupid you have to be. This has nothing to do with race, just natural selection.
I feel like Muni spends about as much money on operations as it does on cleaning up its messes.
Cable cars are 100 year old technology, and kept that way because they're a national historic landmark. This is why they take longer to stop than standard vehicles.
But there is no ambiguity about where they are going! People need to LOOK before crossing. Period.
aj: and people need to anticipate that the cable car won't stop for a stop sign / traffic light or that the brakes might fail. Or MUNI could get their act together and upgrade the brakes. There are a lot of what ifs, but if the behaviour of the operators of modern MUNI vehicles counts for anything... it's mostly the MUNI operators' fault.
Take for instance the @#$! LRV operator who didn't even bother looking up from his crossword as he entered the intersection (a four way stop sign where I was about half way through the crosswalk).
Rules of the road apply to MUNI vehicles and MUNI lackeys alike.
Yep. Jin Xi Yu Lin, 80. Of course you feel sad for the family, but if you watch the way some of the elderly (yes we're looking at you elderly Chinese women) run into the street against the lights, it really amazes me that more of them don't get run down.
Slow down and enjoy your old age.
Yep. Jin Xi Yu Lin, 80. Of course you feel sad for the family, but if you watch the way some of the elderly (yes we're looking at you elderly Chinese women) run into the street against the lights, it really amazes me that more of them don't get run down.
Slow down and enjoy your old age.
Robin, and if you look at the way you run your mouth... slow down and enjoy your old biases.