1 killed, 1 hurt after being hit by car on SF crosswalk; supervisor pushes for more safety measures

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

1 killed, 1 hurt after being hit by car on crosswalk: SF supervisor

A driver struck and killed one woman and seriously injured another walking on the crosswalk in San Francisco's Sunset District Monday.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Another pedestrian has died in a traffic accident in San Francisco. In this most recent case, one senior has died, and another is in the hospital.

This happened Monday in the Sunset District of the city. The driver is cooperating with authorities but no charges have been filed.

San Francisco District 4 Supervisor Gordon Mar says they were struck by a car as they walked in a crosswalk in San Francisco's Sunset District.

"I was just about to start a meeting and heard a series of crashes, and knew immediately that there had been an accident at the corner here," says Marina Peterson who lives in the Sunset District of the city.

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"Two elderly Asian women were crossing 24th avenue at Santiago on the crosswalk when they were struck by a vehicle that was apparently traveling at a very unsafe speed and ran a stop sign," says Supervisor Mar.

San Francisco police have not yet officially confirmed the age or race of the victims but say one of the two seniors died, the other was taken to the hospital in serious condition.

"This is one of the most dangerous intersections here through all of the sunset because it's not just blind here, but also when you're coming up, you can't see because of this hill," says Sheridan Tatsuno who lives in the Sunset District.

Those who live nearby say 24th and Santiago is a busy intersection and that was obvious when we were there on Monday.

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San Francisco's goal is to eliminate pedestrian traffic deaths by the end of 2024 but the city doesn't appear to be even close to that goal.

"We're on pace right now with the fatality today to have the highest number of traffic fatalities since we enacted the Vision Zero policy in 2014," said Supervisor Mar.

Many living in this area want either speed bumps installed, a traffic light to go up, or measures taken so that the stop signs are seen by drivers. Supervisor Gordon Mar also believes police need to do more.

"I would say this is an example of what we have seen throughout the Sunset District in our city over the last few years - an increase in unsafe driving by drivers, and really a lack of enforcement by SFPD in issuing traffic citations in preventing this," said Mar.

Supervisor Mar also believes that street designs need to be improved here. He says a community meeting will be held within the next week to talk about what happened and what could be done to improve safety. A date for that has not yet been announced.