Two thrown from open-air GoCar in crash on 24th Street and South Van Ness Ave. this afternoon: https://t.co/xQH5oA4xMK pic.twitter.com/7BFTYs3JU1
— Mission Local (@MLNow) January 15, 2017
A couple piloting a notorious type of tourist conveyance allegedly ran a red light in a Mission District intersection Sunday, causing a collision that injured them both.
A spokesperson with the San Francisco Police Department says that the crash happened at 1:41 p.m. Sunday, at the intersection of 24th Street and South Van Ness Avenue. According to the SFPD, two people were in "a three wheeled rental cart vehicle" headed south on Van Ness when they collided with a Toyota Corolla traveling east on 24th.
Both passengers, a man and a woman according to Mission Local, were thrown from the vehicle, which the Chron confirms was a GoCar, one of those infamous visitor vehicles typically rented near Fisherman's Wharf.
Police say that their injuries were not considered life-threatening, and they were transported to San Francisco General Hospital. The driver of the Toyota was not harmed in the crash, police say.
Witnesses told both the Chron and Mission Local that the driver of the GoCar had ran a red light, with one saying that the driver "entered the intersection 'at full traffic speed,' clipping the [Toyota] on the left and ejecting both occupants from the vehicle."
“The light had been red for a couple of seconds. The GoCar hit the left front corner of the grey car and both passengers were thrown from the vehicle, one to either side of the GoCar,” another said.
GoCar users are required to wear helmets when they use the vehicles, but witnesses say that neither victim appeared to be wearing theirs immediately following the crash. According to a GoCar representative who spoke with the Chron, the vehicle was totaled in the collision.
Police say that they do not consider drugs or alcohol to be a factor in the wreck, but that "the cause is still under investigation...this is an open and active investigation in the early stages."
Related: Ask A San Francisco Native: Is It OK To Hate Tourists?