San Fran Mayor Ed Lee recently announced plans to improve the safety of San Francisco streets after a spate of deadly crashes involving cars, pedestrians and cyclists.
Lyft car hits pedestrian in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood
A pedestrian in Nob Hill was hit by a Lyft car last week. The accident happened on Friday and is one of many recent accidents involving ride-share services such as Lyft and Uber.
A passenger was reportedly in the car when it ran into an elderly woman around 1:30 p.m. on Friday. Venture Beat reports that the woman’s leg was fractured and that she was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment.
Toyota: The Most Recalled Company
Toyota is one of the world’s leading car companies but it also has the distinction of being the leading car recaller in the U.S. Toyota has issued the most car recalls in four of the past five years.
Toyota has issued a major recall of 2012 and 2013 sedans and crossovers last fall. The carmaker says that many of its most popular vehicles are impacted by the recall including the Toyota Camry, Camry Hybrid, Avalon, Avalon Hybrid, and Venza.
Report: SoMa Bus That Killed Cyclist Lacked Critical Safety Feature
An elderly San Francisco cyclist was recently run over by a MUNI bus which lacked a critical safety feature designed to prevent such deaths.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the bus which hit and killed 78-year-old Cheng Jin Lai did not have an S-1 Gard, also called a “people catcher,” which is designed to push people who fall under a bus away from the bus’s wheels.
“The S-1 Gard is not a regulatory requirement, but it is something that we outfit our fleet with,” MUNI spokesman Paul Rose told reporters.
Aaron Bialick Asks SFPD to Stop Blaming Pedestrian Accident Victims
SF Streets Blog editor Aaron Bialick recently penned a blog post urging the San Francisco Police Department to stop blaming victims for pedestrian accidents.
“According to recent tweets and press statements from SF police, the reason San Franciscans are getting maimed and killed on the streets at an alarming rate has nothing to do with the people driving multi-ton motor vehicles into them,” Bialick wrote. “No, it’s because people aren’t walking in fear of drivers.”
Fatal San Francisco Pedestrian Crashes Result in Arrests
Two pedestrians were killed on San Francisco Streets on New Year’s Eve and the drivers involved in both of those crashes have been arrested.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that at least one of the drivers worked for Uber.
The Uber driver was 57-year-old Syed Muzaffar, of Union City. Authorities say that he ran over a mother and her two children as they crossed a street near the Civic Center. A police spokesman said that this incident left a 4-year-old girl dead and injured her brother and mother.
California Public Transportation Accidents on the Rise
Article provided by The Dolan Law Firm
Recently in the news there has been a rash of public transportation accidents that have resulted in severe injuries and even death to passengers. In July, the operator of a MUNI light rail train in San Francisco blacked out at the controls and crashed into another train, injuring 47 people. Earlier this year in February, a BART train in Oakland sideswiped another train. Seven people were harmed in this accident.
When a passenger is hurt while using public transportation, the public transportation provider may be held legally responsible for the passenger’s injuries. Under the law, public transportation providers like city and state-operated trains, buses and light rail systems, are referred to as “common carriers.”