One of you always fantastic readers sent in photos about a fatal accident involving what appears to be an adult female pedestrian and a UCSF shuttle at the corner of Geary & Leavenworth. Facts are sparse at the moment, but here is a bit more detail in this shot from ground level. While there are far, far too many pedestrian fatalities in San Francisco (apparently over a dozen a year, and they cost an average of $3.5 million each to the city), this stretch of Leavenworth seems to see a disproportionate share with recent accidents from O’Farrell up to Sutter in the last couple years.
> Update 14:30pm
Allegedly, the UCSF shuttle driver attempted to overtake a person turning left who was waiting for a pedestrian which is why he/she hit the pedestrian.
> Update 16:30pm
Based on surveillance video from Star Market Liquor and Deli at the opposite corner, it appears that a 65-year-old woman was in the crosswalk on Geary and Leavenworth and clearly had the right-of-way when the driver of a UCSF shuttle bus loaded with passengers struck and killed her. Also, the owner of Star Market told KTVU that the shuttle driver strangely backed up after the first impact, running over the woman a second time and so she died on the spot.
24 Comments until now
According to the shop owner across the street – she jaywalked diagonally off the curb & was hit. I saw the police try to resuscitate her before the ambulance got here.
That intersection is horrible.
There were 4 similar accidents in the last couple of years.
Drivers look left off Leavenworth – then back right until the heavy traffic subsides & they forget to recheck left for pedestrians before turning on red – off Leavenworth onto Geary.
In this neighborhood – it’s best to drive as though someone’s going to step out in front of you whether the light is green or not & whether you’re mid-block or at an intersection.
And it’s best for pedestrians to make eye contact with drivers that are turning on red onto one way streets before walking in front of their cars.
P.S. I don’t buy the story that the bus driver tried to overtake another car.
You can even see in the photo that the angle of the tires is too close to the curb for a car to have been there.
Also – this alleged car would have had to drive over the body to not be in the photograph -
and I was there before the ambulance came.
Undoubtedly, the shuttle driver moved once the woman was hit, whether to back up or what have you, so who knows what happened. I’m sure an official report will come out in due course.
But yeah, people do indeed jaywalk and people do indeed drive like crap in that area. When walking, I’m always on guard. On the rare occasion I borrow or rent a car, I tend to drive in the middle lane up Leavenworth as there’s a whoooole lot of peanut gallery happening on the sides of the street.
I ride up Leavenworth when I ride my MC to work and every other ride I dodge a jaywalker crossing somewhere on Leavenworth. It’s simply a street filled with stupid people. Or as humin politely puts it, quite the peanut gallery. I still maintain stupid people though. My favorite are the jaywalkers on the north side of Geary crossing at Leavenworth. They can’t see over the ridge, but they just walk out in the street anyway.
Not saying that this fatality was due to jaywalking or anything like that, but there is rampant retarded jaywalking in the TL (and SF at large).
Driver Weren’t Paying enough Attention To Their Surroundings.
I ride UCSF shuttles a few times a week, and the drivers usually seem very professional. Anybody seen who the driver was?
On a related note, the Muni Transit Effectiveness Project was supposed to convert Leavenworth back to two-way. That should have calmed the traffic a great deal. I wonder if it ever going to happen.
terrible tragedy. for the poor shuttle driver. people should NOT be jaywalking.
I don’t think some tweet is validation enough to post that “allegedly” addendum, btw.
she was just a regular lady doing regular stuff.
not a crack head. for sure. i saw her after the accident. and the guy who saw the whole thing said she was smiling at him when she was hit – but she was not on the crosswalk & not paying attention.
Can people please reserve their horrid judgements about this woman for another forum, like something non-public, for instance. Think about how insensitive and disrespectful you are being by posting some of these comments.
Agreed. I’m deleting any comments that are inflammatory about this woman who has just been killed as none of us know all the facts and simply cannot make these assumptions.
they just showed the video from the surveillance on channel 2
Im sad to hear she died at the scene. RIP
@x
It wasn’t just “some tweet” but somebody who had posted some pictures of the aftermath of the incident and who was in the scene when he tweeted that. Still, could have been totally unrealiable, but worth mentioning when nobody else had reported on the accident and there was no other information available.
@TL res
Completely agree with you. Somebody just died. This is sad.
People drive way too fast and recklessly through the Tenderloin. Jaywalkers or no jaywalkers.
anybody else got more photos of this tragedy please share.it would be great if you captured the whole [before the body is covered up] scenario in sequential shots and in good angle. i may be generously sharing $$$ for your great work.
It’s terrible. I noticed the eerie traffic-less silence, not to mention the cordoned off area, when I stepped out of my apartment at 13:30.
I was in a rush, so took a few shots and went towards the 27. Only after I hopped on the bus, I checked my shots, and noticed that yellow tarp had a cane, handbag and a stretcher next to it.
I was debating for a bit about uploading to the Tenderblog Flickr (as death can be both morbid and personal) but I did. Looking at the photos remind me to be careful a little more as accidents DO happen at any time and anywhere – even right next to home.
I don’t think it’s really about the fault of the jaywalker or the driver. I’m sure no one wants to kill, nor get killed on the street like that.
My condolences to everyone involved.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Pedestrian-killed–108786119.html
If this poor woman had the right of way as the update suggests, then this is a terrible example of what happens, or nearly happens, all the time around here. This is a direct result of street design that deliberately favors cars over pedestrians even in one of the most dense neighborhoods in the country. The one-way streets are the problem. They encourage drivers to drive too fast. (The point of one-ways is to move traffic quicker.)
The left hand turn from a one-way to a one-way is particularly dangerous. I live on Leavenworth, and as a pedestrian I’ve nearly been hit several times (always with the right of way) since I moved here. And I’ve witnessed lots of close calls and not just in the Tenderloin either. Lest you think I’m an anti-car advocate, I own a car and I have one of those hated garages that David Chiu would like to stop being built.
Some intersections are so dangerous for pedestrians I practically wave my arms in the air to get drivers’ attention when I cross. The left hand turn from Pine onto Hyde (right beside St. Francis hospital) is terribly dangerous. Pine is like a freeway sometimes, so if you are crossing Hyde and a car on Pine is turning left onto Hyde they are often doing it at high speed. Both the pedestrian and the driver get a green light, but the driver is basically exiting off a 4 lane highway and often simply not thinking about the possibility that someone could be stepping off the curb.
My deepest condolences to the family and friends of the woman who was killed in this accident. I know you are all in pain from the loss of life of this person you love.
hey bob, i got sequential shots of the entire ordeal, i live in the building above it and witnessed the whole awful process. i shoot 35mm and will be developing it in a few days if you are indeed interested in some revealing/disturbing photographs. you can reach me at westonmusic@hotmail.com.
kamala harris?? where are you??? please press first degree murder charges against that man who was behind the steering wheel. where is justice?? pedestrians always have the right of way, driver must yield at all time at crosswalk, no excuse for bogus assumption and no blame game for this type of assault on pedestrian. the facts are evident that bus shuttle driver committed act of wrong. see for yourself at this link http://www.ktvu.com/news/25846330/detail.html
Bob, it’s a very tragic story, but let’s leave the angry rhetoric to the commenters on sfgate. Unless you have evidence that the driver knew the victim beforehand, it has nothing to do with murder.
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When I was driving still, I remember cars behind me honking madly while I was waiting for a pedestrian to cross. Assholes.