A 60 year-old woman was struck by and trapped under a Muni bus at Market and Kearny Streets, across from Third Street, on Monday, December 19, 2016, around 7 p.m. Suffering from severe leg injuries, first responders pulled the woman out from beneath the bus and took her to the trauma center at San Francisco General Hospital. The bus that struck the woman ran on Muni’s No. 9 San Bruno line, which services stops from downtown to Visitacion Valley.
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.”
The Public Utilities Commission reported last month that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has repeatedly violated state, federal, and various safety codes, endangering Muni passengers and resulting in unsafe operations. Inspectors conducted over twenty inspections between July 2009 and January 2011, and found track deterioration, malfunctions with automatic train control, poor maintenance, and failure to implement safety procedures. The CPUC also expressed concern over the failure of Muni officials to respond promptly to these concerns.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “Muni officials said they felt blindsided by the report but believe that once all the facts are out the agency will be exonerated.” Things don’t look so great for Muni, though, with other reports coming out about drivers that seriously neglect their duties by speeding or even sleeping on the job. With so many violations of safety code, Muni is going to have a lot of work to bring their service up to standard.
A bicyclist was killed yesterday evening, October 7th, in a collision with a Muni bus. The accident occurred at around 5PM at the corner of 6th and Clement in the Richmond district. The Muni bus involved was the 44 O’Shaughnessy. The bicyclist, declared dead at the scene, was described as a white male, age 25 to 30. The SFPD say he has not yet been identified.