San Francisco finds new tool for pedestrian safety

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- About one-quarter of San Francisco public school kids walk to school, that's higher than the national average which is 15 percent. That's a number given today by the San Francisco Unified School District and by San Francisco Police as they presented their newest tool to help kids stay safe while navigating their way through the city.

It's called Ed's Neighborhood, named after former mayor Ed Lee. It's a type of pop-up modeled after one in Los Angeles but with San Francisco artifacts.

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Supervisor Norman Yee proposed the simulated neighborhood.

"Because it's one thing to talk about it in the classroom and stand in front of the kids, yeah you should cross the street, but to go through it, it's a concrete way to learn," explained Yee.

Once the Board of Supervisors voted to fund the $250,000 project, it was up to the Department of Public Works to find the designer and contractor.

"It fits in a 30-foot truck so it folds up correctly and we can roll it up. It takes about two hours to set up and two hours to take down," said Mohammed Nuru, Director of the Department of Public Works.

The idea is to move Ed's neighborhood from one school to another.

"Left, right and we're going to look left and get ready, cross," that's what the children were being taught as they waited to cross the miniature street.

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"When you see the little man, you get to cross, but you still have to look both ways but when you see the red hand you have to stay," told us Kelly Ng, a student at Jean Parker Elementary.

Students also learned how to cross when there's a bicycle lane.

"You make eye contact with them and then let them go and you can go the next time." said Anthony Gonzalez also a student here.

All this training, just in time for Bike and Roll to-school-week which starts on Monday.

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