Better Late than Never to Reduce San Francisco Pedestrian Accidents

Safety advocates throughout San Francisco have been pleased over the past few weeks with the city’s apparent goal to boost programs that would reduce pedestrian accidents in the coming years. Unfortunately, the renewed attention comes as San Francisco has one of the country’s worst records when it comes to pedestrian accidents and infrastructure initiatives designed to make improvements. Although more than 47% of city traffic accidents involve pedestrians (four times the national average), the city only spends $23 per year on pedestrian safety guidelines.

March 25, 2011 Andy Gillin

Task Force Plan Intends to Tackle San Francisco Pedestrian Accidents

As pedestrians in San Francisco and throughout the country become more active, some increase in pedestrian accidents is inevitable. Especially when it comes to senior citizens, children, and people in poor neighborhoods, pedestrian accidents remain a major problem. And based on preliminary data from the Governors Highway Safety Association, California reported the highest number of pedestrian fatalities in 2010. With this in mind, the SFMTA has charged a Pedestrian Safety Task Force with developing a plan to tackle San Francisco’s pedestrian safety problems head on.

March 15, 2011 Andy Gillin

California DePuy Hip Implant Lawsuits May Come to San Francisco

Since DePuy Orthopedics announced a recall of one of its popular hip implant models last August, lawsuits have piled up against the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. Most recently, it looks like a large number of these DePuy hip implant lawsuits are coming to San Francisco, as Superior Court Complex Litigation Judge Richard Kramer said San Francisco would be the best setting for state lawsuits against DePuy, reports the San Francisco Daily Journal. On favoring San Francisco over the larger Los Angeles court system, Kramer said “I wouldn’t assign something to San Francisco if I thought I couldn’t do it.”

March 4, 2011 Andy Gillin

San Francisco & Los Angeles Launch Plans to Reduce California Bicycle Accidents

As bicycle use continues to grow more popular, commuters remain vulnerable to bicycle accidents due primarily to the fact that city infrastructure for safe bicycle use lags far behind. The problem is particularly striking here in California, where our major cities are notorious for heavy vehicle traffic during commuting hours, which explains why the percent of bicyclists among the total number of California traffic accident deaths is nearly double the national average. Fortunately, San Francisco and Los Angeles lawmakers are facing the issue head-on by introducing major plans to reduce bicycle accidents.

March 4, 2011 Andy Gillin

What’s Happening at the PG&E San Bruno Pipeline Explosion Hearing?

The pipeline explosion sent waves of concern throughout the San Francisco Bay Area when it unexpectedly destroyed a San Bruno neighborhood, killing 8 people and injuring more than 50 others. Since, state and federal regulators have launched investigations into the energy provider that have so far revealed faulty record keeping systems that “maybe have been inadequate to make safety decisions.” This week, the National Transportation Safety Board intends to discover whether PG&E broke any laws and should be subject to penalties stronger than a slap on the wrist in a 3-day hearing. Below are some of the major issues that the NTSB will investigate further.

March 1, 2011 Andy Gillin

Are California Traffic Tickets Too Easy on Dangerous Drivers?

Most penalties for dangerous driving tickets are designed to prevent the perilous behavior from reoccurring. If you’re fined for driving 80 miles per hour in a 60 mph zone, for example, you are more likely to think twice before driving too fast the next time around. But when drivers don’t seem to mind the penalties, are state enforcement agencies responsible for adopting stronger measures to get habitually dangerous drivers off the road?

March 1, 2011 Andy Gillin

Motorcyclists and Pedestrians are Most Vulnerable on California Streets

Whether you’re driving a passenger car, a motorcycle, or simply walking on the sidewalk, individuals don’t have much control over whether they will be involved in a deadly car accident. Drivers who are distracted, drunk, or disobeying street laws, too frequently lose control of their vehicles and end the lives of other innocent drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. Though it’s always difficult to avoid dangerous drivers, we created pie graphs based on data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System that show the roads to be most dangerous for motorcyclists and pedestrians both here in California and nationwide.

February 16, 2011 Andy Gillin

Safety Record of Older Drivers Scrutinized After Freeway Accident

Have you ever turned the wrong way on a one-way street? How about entered the freeway going the wrong direction? That’s what happened to 83 year-old Clarence Kinney yesterday, right before his pickup truck caused a multi-car accident near San Diego. Fortunately, no passengers including Kinney were hurt in the accident. But the episode raises questions about how old is too old to drive, and suggests that states should begin cracking down on privileges for older drivers.

February 10, 2011 Andy Gillin

San Francisco Bicycle Accidents Rising Faster than Ridership

When the New York Times announced that it would devote a print section and webpage entirely to the Bay Area, residents were ready to step into the national limelight. Few predicted that the Bay Citizen would have a large impact on the area’s perception of public safety, but new report and interactive map titled “Pedalers in Peril: San Francisco’s Most Dangerous Streets for Cyclists” includes overwhelming data and analysis of bicycle accidents in San Francisco over the past two years, showing the Bay Citizen can be both a source of reputable news, and an important safety resource.

February 9, 2011 Andy Gillin

Cyclists Included in Proposed California Distracted Driving Law

Since Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood made reducing distracted driving one of his top priorities, the dangerous practice has been the subject of heated debate among safety advocates, policy makers, and the insurance industry. The debate gets even hotter when distractions are targeted for non-vehicular modes of transportation, like walking and cycling. Currently, for example, New York City is considering imposing penalties for distracted walking, and here in California, the legislature has included cyclists in a once-popular law increasing fines for distracted driving, reports StreetsblogSF.

February 2, 2011 Andy Gillin

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