You'll recall how last year a report determined that the intersection of Octavia and Market, where the freeway sort of abruptly turns into a Boulevard, was the most dangerous in the city. Well, now Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has gotten sign-off on a new traffic camera that will catch cars making illegal right turns onto the on-ramp off of Market Street, hopefully deterring one of the primary causes of accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists.

Why they didn't just build a separate on-ramp right there to allow traffic from Market onto the ramp has always puzzled us, but we suppose it was meant to force all the rush-hour traffic onto Division Street or Octavia, instead of Market.

So, you have a lot of confused motorists, still, who while checking the map on their phone manage to miss the whole Duboce/Division turn off and then try to make a dash onto the on-ramp at Octavia so that they don't end up having to make a huge circle through SoMa. After having a proposal for such a camera rejected by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2010, Ammiano took it to Attorney General Kamala Harris, who issued a decision in favor of the camera on Thursday.

Today, Ammiano tells the Examiner, in true Ammiano form, "This has been a hot mess. I’m just glad it’s finally over, because this camera will really help reduce fatalities and injuries."

This of course does not address the problem of cars blowing through red lights at this intersection at freeway speeds, and killing people that way. But that's a battle for another day.

[Examiner]

Previously: Designer of Dangerous Octavia Intersection Says Accidents Not His Fault