After taking a lot of crap this year for shutting off cellphones and shooting a guy, the BART Police force is looking to make good this holiday season. In a press release, by way of SFAppeal, BART announces their plans to step up foot patrols around downtown San Francisco and offer escorted walks home from the West Oakland and San Leandro stations. more ›

Keep your appendages inside the cable car at all times, kids, because a kid riding the Powell-Hyde cable car line was hurt Wednesday afternoon. According to SF Appeal, "a car drifted toward thee cable car and its side mirror struck an 11-year-old boy in the stomach who was on the cable car." The child was suffered non-life-threatening injuries. more ›

Tomorrow's a big day for San Francisco. At 10:21 a.m., we have the state-wide Great ShakeOut earthquake drill, in which Californians are advised to "Drop, Cover, and Hold On." So, don't be alarmed when you hear the big siren that's normally reserved for Tuesdays at Noon. more ›

Like the plot to a John Waters movie, Riverside County supervisors voted to ban sex offenders from decorating their homes with holiday accents and leaving lights on during Halloween night. "They also cannot answer their door to pass out candy to children," reports AP. more ›

Next Thursday, October 20th, the annual Great California ShakeOut earthquake drill, reportedly the third largest in history, will take place at 10:20 a.m., once again reminding us to continue working on our preparedness. Do you have that emergency preparedness kit prepared? (For the hopelessly lazy busy, may we suggest a swanky Vintage-Style kit?) Do you know what Drop, Cover, and Hold On is? And most importantly, is your furniture secured? more ›

Nancy Ho, the 25-year-old helmetless cyclist who was crashed into a truck at Fremont and Mission on Tuesday morning, succumbed to her injuries and died. If you recall, "Nancy Ho, of San Francisco, was traveling east on Mission Street when she was struck by a westbound Berkeley Farms truck as she turned left onto Fremont street around 8 a.m." Even though Ho and the driver saw a green lights ahead of them, "she was making an illegal left turn." [SFAppeal] more ›

Ugh, exhibition season is upon us. Now that that's out of the way, during last night's Home Run Derby a fan almost fell from the stands to the pool deck below. (Yes, there was a pool deck. Don't ask.) The Examiner reports: "Fans [held] the legs of Keith Carmickle from Kingman, Ariz. as he nearly fell over a railing trying to catch a ball during the MLB Home Run Derby Monday, July 11, 2011, in Phoenix. The ball arching against Chase Field's bright lights, Keith Carmickle climbed up on a narrow table, leaned forward and lost his balance, momentum carrying him toward a 20-foot fall to a pool deck below." more ›

Part of National Missing Children’s Day on Wednesday, May 25, the Presidio Trust, the United States Park Police and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association will hold a free Fingerprint Your Child from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. Fingerprint cards will be given to parents to keep and distribute to law agencies if, God forbid, anything bad should happen. Parents can also add additional information such as a physical description, medical and dental records, even a DNA sample on the cars, which can then be used by any law enforcement agency to help identify a missing child. No other personal information collected will be kept or stored by any government agency. more ›

The Bay Citizen has created a handy new interactive map pinpointing all of the reported bike accidents that occurred in San Francisco during the past two years. Crashes reported to SFPD increased from 555 in 2009 to 602 in 2010. They note that many accidents don't get reported. So, help them out by adding yours to the map. more ›

Depressing news, folks. An infant was killed last night in an apparent car accident. According to reports, "Police told KTVU a family member was moving a car and the child somehow got out of the house and was run over." The incident happened at 1100 block of 78th Avenue. The victim was a one year old. [KTVU] more ›

Are you prepared? There have been a lot of little earthquakes happening lately, serving as gentle reminders to be prepared for the Big One. At 10:21 a.m. on Thursday morning (10/21), the state of California will be holding The Great California ShakeOut, an annual earthquake drill that happens every third Thursday in October. This year's drill will be the largest preparedness event in U.S. history. Register here! more ›

Oakland police are warning women around Lake Merritt about two recent assaults. On Sunday evening, two women were robbed and sexually assaulted "in relatively secluded areas." Both attacks happened within hours of each other. more ›

Coming on the heels of numerous recent pedestrian and cyclist deaths, SFPD will be conducting "pedestrian enforcement operations" throughout September. The operations will take place during peak traffic hours at various locations throughout the city, including the Geary Street corridor, San Bruno Avenue corridor, Bayshore Boulevard, Sixth Street corridor, and Cole Valley. more ›

Men's Health magazine, a fitness/softcore gay porn publication, has announced its official list of the best and worst cities in which to raise your little blessings. Basing their results on specific statistics -- i.e., accidental deaths, car-seat inspection locations, sex offenders, and abused-children protection -- San Francisco came in third place. more ›

Everyone can all rest easy now. The alleged potential child predator who was spotted suspiciously lurking/doing pull-ups at Mountain Lake Park has been identified and deemed harmless by SFPD. more ›

UPDATE: SFPD has questioned and cleared the suspect of any wrong-doing. more ›

UPDATE: SFPD has questioned and cleared the suspect of any wrong-doing. more ›

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: more ›

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." more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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

Here's why. more ›

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

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. more ›

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. more ›

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: more ›

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!) more ›