Man seriously injured in SF's 3rd pedestrian collision in one day
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)— A man suffered life-threatening injuries when he was struck by a vehicle in San Francisco's Sunset District Wednesday, marking the third collision involving a pedestrian in the city in a single day.
The 67-year-old man was crossing the street on a green light near a Municipal Railway light-rail stop at 19th Avenue and Judah Street around 8 p.m. when he was struck, police said.
The victim was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The driver, a 65-year-old man, stayed at the scene.
The collision was the second involving a pedestrian and a car to occur in San Francisco Wednesday. Earlier, a 60-year-old woman was fatally struck by a vehicle in the Cow Hollow neighborhood around 12:15 p.m.
The victim in that collision was crossing in the crosswalk at Buchanan and Union streets when a 33-year-old man driving a truck towing a trailer struck her, according to police.
The driver of the truck remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. No arrest had been reported in either collision as of this morning.
A man, later identified as 57-year-old Joaquin Barnes, was also found dead in a Muni tunnel near the Castro Street station around 3 p.m., shortly after a train operator reported seeing a person in the tunnel.
Barnes' death is being investigated by police as a collision.
Nicole Ferrara, executive director for pedestrian advocacy group Walk SF, said the rash of collisions should serve as a call to action in San Francisco, where severe and fatal pedestrian crashes occur at least every 18 hours.
In particular, 19th Avenue continues to be one of the city's most dangerous streets, making Wednesday's collision sad but not surprising, Ferrara said.
"Until they make changes there we can expect to see crashes take place," Ferrara said.
Walk SF is advocating for engineering changes to make intersections safer, and is also actively campaigning for a change in state law that would allow the city to use automated speed enforcement cameras.
Police on Wednesday announced enforcement actions for January that will target locations where pedestrian and bicycle collisions have occurred in the past three years.
The enforcement program will focus attention on drivers speeding, making illegal turns, failing to stop at lights and stop signs and failing to yield to pedestrians, but will also cite pedestrians and bicyclists for violations, police said.
Ferrara today said that advocates would prefer that police focus their efforts on the top two causes of pedestrian deaths, speeding and failing to yield to pedestrians.
"We want to send a clear message to the public," Ferrara said.
"This is what is killing people, this is what we're citing people for. Don't do it."