San Francisco activists make changes at intersection where 2-year-old was killed

SAN FRANCISCO - A group of traffic safety activists have modified a San Francisco intersection that was the site of a recent tragedy. It was just under three weeks ago that this intersection at 4th and Channel streets in the Mission Rock neighborhood was the scene of a fatal collision.

Activists intervene

Memorials still stand near where the two-year-old victim died, and now a new memorial stands there, one the builders hope prevents another tragedy. According to their social media post, the street safety advocacy group, Safe Street Rebel, recently installed these curb extenders to make the intersection safer. 

"After the city failed to make real changes, they installed lightweight plastic posts at the corner of the intersection, forcing drivers to turn more slowly and safely," the group said in their post.

SFMTA responds

The other side:

The posts are not sanctioned by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. The city's transportation agency released a statement acknowledging the recent tragedy, and highlighting recent work the city has done to make the intersection safer including changing the traffic signals, and improving the visibility of the crosswalk.

But about the unsanctioned posts, the agency said "Unregulated installations are not legal and may result in unintended consequences without the guidance of engineering best practices along with public notification to road users of any road changes."

A representative from Safe Streets Rebel spoke anonymously, saying the work is too important to wait for city bureaucracy. 

"I think there may be many reasons in conjunction to why these changes don't get made. What really should be happening is (that the) city should take a systemic approach, not just a reactionary one for when a tragedy happens at a specific location."

A known dangerous intersection

Neighbors in the area say they know the irregular intersection where five streets come together can be dangerous. "It can be, yeah," said Eugene Cura. "There's a lot of drivers coming through this area. There's a lot of Ubers speeding through here, stuff like that."

Neighbors say even though they're unsanctioned, they like the changes made by Safe Street Rebel. "I'm all for it," said Cura. "I want it to be safe walking around here. We walk here every day. So, it's on my mind."

No word at this point if or when SFMTA may remove the curb extensions at the intersection, and no guarantee from Safe Street Rebel that they won't simply put them back up again.

Prior incident and adjustments

The group cited another nearby tragedy where a child was struck and killed, near the intersection of 4th and King streets in 2023. The group repainted the right turn lanes, and the group said ultimately SFMTA took the same approach and formally changed the lanes there.

The group said they hope SFMTA makes permanent adjustments to this intersection as well.

What's next:

As for the investigation into the fatal collision at 4th and Channel, the last KTVU heard from the medical examiner was that they are still not releasing that 2-year old's name because the case is still under investigation. 

According to police, the driver did stop, and was cooperative with investigators, and that the driver did not appear to be intoxicated at the time of the collision. No word about an arrest or charges at this point.