Results tagged “safety”

Brittney Gilbert at Eye On Blogs brings our attention to what could be our new favorite blog, The Pedestrianist. More than any driver or cyclist, the delicate pedestrian is the single most maligned minority in the history of the world, ever. (Examples: Where are our energizer stations? Where are our street closures? Where are our coalitions? Where in the hell are our biergartens with porta-potties?) Apparently, jaywalkers make streets safer. We're living speed bumps, if you will. The Pedestrianist says:

After a Muni train crashed into another train at the West Portal station, boo-booing 47 people, and two F-Markets streetcars brutally sandwiched a sport-utility vehicle, injuring six people, Supervisor (and possible mayoral candidate) Bevan Dufty has called for a "hearing before the City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee to discuss Muni safety procedures that would prevent such crashes." The meeting will happen today. Lots of brows will be furrowed, blame will be placed, hands will be wrung. Not to be outdone, Supervisor Sean Elsbernd called for "a second hearing before the committee on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's safety standards, including medical screening procedures for bus and light-rail operators."

It has now been revealed that Saturday's collision at West Portal was the result of train operator Henry Gray switching to manual mode when approaching the platform -- a violation of official Muni protocol that was an informal practice by most operators -- twenty-four seconds before blacking out at the controls. Department of Motor Vehicle records show that Gray has a spotless driving record.

While swimming in the water at Montara State Beach on Monday afternoon, a mother and daughter were yanked in by a riptide. Several people, in fact, got caught up in the rip current. Acccording to CBS 5, "four adults were treated at the scene and two childen were taken bby helicopter to Stanford Hospital." An unidentified mother and daughter team, however, were later pronounced dead. Yikes. Also, here's a riptide reminder: Rip currents can be recogzined by “unusually calm waters, caused by the channel of water flowing out." The water color might also appear different from the surrounding water next to it. You should ALWAYS check for any possible rip currents before dashing off into the warter. If you find yourself caught in a rip current, you should fight it by swimming sideways, parallel to the beach, until you have reached safer, calmer waters . Read more about riptides at Wikipedia. UPDATE: The mother and daughter have been identified as Romila Higgins, 41, and Indali Higgins, 5, of Walnut Creek.

SFist loves cameras. Public, private, wherever, whenever -- we want them up, we want them rolling. So, we were tickled exuberant after hearing that San Francisco transit officials plan to install continuously-running cameras on Muni buses. The cameras would "trigger an alert every time a driver hits the brakes hard, swerves or gets into a collision," according to reports, and be placed inside and outside buses. If all goes according to plan, they will capture electrifying footage like this.

Four months after a Muni agency report showed collisions between Muni buses and pedestrians "nearly doubled from the end of fiscal year 2006 to the same period in 2008," a new safety chief has been crowned. A 24-year transit-safety veteran, James Dougherty, has been announced as the chief safety officer and director of transportation safety. The former GM of safety and security of Charlotte, N.C.'s transit agency -- which, as it turns out, is not an intricate horse and buggy system -- will be in charge of "making sure bus and streetcar drivers follow the rules of the road and are properly disciplined when they cause accidents or drive unsafely." That is to say, Dougherty will be in charge of making sure Muni stays off Dan Noyes' radar.

We typically poke fun at coalitions. You know, for giggles. But not SF Bike Coalition. Because they do good work. Great work, in fact.

Here's why.

Beth W. from Muni Diaries writes about this latest ad campaign, and she's none to thrilled.

Free bicycle lights will be handed out at five service stations throughout San Francisco tonight. This is all a part of "Light Up the Night," a darkness awareness event, if you will, brought to you by SFMTA and the SF Bicycle Coalition. Since December is the darkest month of the year and bike commuters must deal with an earlier nightfall, volunteers will install front and back bicycle lights at Market Street at Duboce Avenue, Howard Street at 8th Street, Valencia Street at Cesar Chavez Street (St. Luke's Hospital), McAllister Street at Webster Street (Ella Hill Hutch Center), and Polk Street at California Street. Remember: it happens from 6 p.m. - 7 p.m. tonight.

Your daily commute just got safer. Well, hopefully. The Office of Homeland Security just awarded the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) a crisp $7 million "to improve security and public safety on San Francisco's transit system," AKA Muni. Stemming from voter-approved state Proposition 1B way back in 2006, the windfall will, theoretically, go to help bettering such things as lighting, camera surveillance, and communication technology.

Early this morning at 8:24 a.m., an "adult female" was struck a 60-foot 71-Haight-Noriega bus on Market and Sixth Streets. She was transported to SF General Hospital, where she later died. According to San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's press release:

Oh, and here are some tips from the NERT (National Neighborhood Emergency Response Team), care of Ed Chu of the San Francisco Fire department. It's not the most entertaining bit of footage you'll see this year, but could be the most important. (Quick quiz: how many gallons of water per person is recommended for the 72 hour period after an earthquake? Five!)

Oh, this looks like fun.

Jesus Christ, this has sent us into a tailspin. While we can safely say that our biggest accomplishments in life thus far have been finding synonyms for the word "poop" and being able to thoroughly enjoy steak tartare, it seems that a few other driven, Type-A individuals have done more at our age. Much, much more. Behold what we should have done at this point on Earth:

Today's toy test event in Union Square.

Oh this is bizarre. And scary. An old man was arrested today for not following a "restraining order that prohibited him from having any contact with employees of The Chronicle." Oh my. It seems that Julian Hartzell, 64, made "inappropriate contact" with some of the Chronicle staff this past summer. The paper then got themselves a restraining order against him, but he continued to try contacting employees. So? He was arrested. What kind of...

San Francisco is America's most "walkable" city

Non-union member Edward Hall, 47, was crushed to death by a tractor-trailer at the Port of Oakland. It seems that a driver (accidentally) backed into Hall last night as he was working. This is the second fatal accident to have happened at the Port of Oakland this year, which happened in September. According to the Examiner, "ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees said this latest incident highlights the need for better safety protocols at the port."...

By day he's an Alight Electric employee. By night? A Ford F-350 Super Duty hero. It seems that last night on the Golden Gate Bridge, John Beatty of Mill Valley saved the day, so to speak, after noticing a woman unconscious in her Jeep, moving into oncoming traffic. At around 6:50 p.m., Sylvia Durrance, 62, came to a stop while driving southbound in the No. 2 lane. She appeared lifeless, her body slumped over...

Either under the table for protection or hiding from someone sporting a fiendish fannypack-khakis combo, Catherine Kilkenny of San Jose's Willow Glen looks scared as all hell, doesn't she? Many people were. Last night's 5.6 earthquake, which we didn't feel but hear the majority of you did, tore nerves to shreds, shook the ground, and sent magazines flying to the floor. In a little over 12 hours, it managed to cause quite the stir....

Ah, beautiful Diviz. Is there no boulevard more perfect, more blissful? When we think "nice places to take an afternoon constitutional," we are drawn instantly to its divine charm. It is, simply put, an Eden. To alter it would be to play God.

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian. Tim Redmond says the Navy is the gayest armed services branch. Well, sure. Cars are worse than homeless people, says a letter writer. Halloween will suuuuuck. A former director of Intersection for the Arts died in a car crash. The new crackdown on homelessness, and why aren't people more upset? Cover article: Our pals at SwapSF make the cover! About the whole freetail trend! Yay SwapSF! (and other freegans!) Annalee Newitz loves to IM. This Woggles concert sounds like fun ("I go to a lot of shows where dudes in hoodies stand around, solemnly head-bobbing with their hands in their pockets" -- but the Woggles won't be one of those!) Okay, the band name Eat Skull caught our attention. Damon and Naomi are coming to town. Is a Chinese restaurant filled with non-white people really better than the other option? And L.E. Leone wishes she were an alcoholic.

-- Fog City Notes has a crush. Also, our favorite Little Debbie outlet, Rainbo discount bread store, is closed. Dude. [Fog City Notes]

Attention citizenry! The SFPD needs your help. if you're a web designer. They're currently conducting a poll, with the help of a Massachusetts company called, ominously, the Public Safety Strategies Group. Do you like foot patrols? Do you know where your police station is? Have you been the victim of a crime lately? These and other exciting questions will be answered on tonight's episode of "The San Francisco Police Effectiveness Review"!

Oh No, Chris Kavanaugh! Berkeley's own Ed Jew, a Green Party member of the Berkeley rent board who was actually living (and litigating with his landlord) in Oakland, pled not guilty to three charges of voter fraud, one charge of perjury, and one of grand theft (for taking a stipend from the Berkeley rent board) yesterday. Kavanaugh spent Friday night living in the Santa Rita jail before being released on $30,000 bond, and will report back to court on Oct. 26. Kavanaugh has reportedly told other board members that he lives in Berkeley but his girlfriend lives in Oakland.

Following up on yesterday's blotter, we're sorry to pass along word from today's Chronicle that one of the murder victims over the weekend, David Sterling, was killed on the way home Monday afternoon, after picking up a burrito for his girlfriend. Investigators think it was supposed to be a retaliation shooting from the guy shot in the garage by kids on bikes a day earlier, but because Sterling had no record and no known gang affiliations, the investigators think it might have been a case of mistaken identity.

Bad series of news items for the SFPD -- the rookie cop who accidentally shot himself at a party earlier this month when trying to demonstrate tips on gun safety was legally drunk (just barely), that cop, Jesse Serna, who keeps (allegedly) beating up people like Barry Bonds' trainer and Willie Brown's friends in North Beach just got the city sued again, this time for beating up a doctor starting his residency at Harvard (whose case was previously profiled by the Chron.)

-- Veronica Klaus: High-art performer and jazz songstress croons alongside her Boom Boom Boys tonight at 9 p.m. at Cafe Du Nord, 2170 Market Street (at Sanchez); $15.

We were running in the Presidio this morning, and after a few cars nearly creamed us it struck us that one of San Francisco's preeminent outdoor plagrounds is a very dangerous place in which to play outside. Bike lanes appear and disappear randomly, and when they're doing maintenance and logging on the Coastal Trail (like today), runners and walkers coming from Arguello are forced to Washington Street, praying that cars don't splatter them on the many blind curves.