SFPD has found the SUV in the crash that killed 82-year-old Oi Yeung in a crosswalk at Bayshore Boulevard and Visitacion Avenue Thursday morning, after which the driver fled the scene. The SF Chronicle reported that police located the white Dodge Durango seen by witnesses and in video footage near the intersection where the crash occurred, but that no arrests have been made.
"We're working on making a case for the suspect," SFPD spokesperson Albie Esparza told the Chronicle:
Yeung was crossing Bayshore Boulevard in a crosswalk at Visitacion Avenue when a Durango, moving in the same direction on Visitacion, turned left into the northbound lanes of Bayshore without yielding to her, police said.
The driver continued for a block to Leland Avenue, did a U-turn, drove back slowly to observe the result of the collision, and then sped away south, police said.
The car was towed and was being processed Tuesday for evidence, said Officer Albie Esparza. Investigators were conducting interviews with the car's registered owners, and everyone else who lives at the address connected to the SUV.
"This is yet another reminder of how much further we need to go to put an end to traffic violence in San Francisco," said Walk SF Executive Director Nicole Schneider, who pointed out that streets like Bayshore are "dangerous by design."
"In fact, in 2011, the Senior Action Network led a demonstration on this street just one block down," she said. "They submitted their recommendations to the SFMTA, but no changes were ever made."
Although a section of Bayshore to the north received a traffic-calming road diet earlier this month, with two of the four traffic lanes north of Paul Avenue converted to buffered bike lanes, the Visitacion intersection was not included in the project.
Yeung is the sixth pedestrian killed by a driver in SF this year. As the SFMTA Board of Directors considers approval of the agency's two-year budget next month, Schneider said increasing funds for the pedestrian safety upgrades called for in the city's WalkFirst plan is crucial to work towards the city's official Vision Zero goal of ending traffic deaths.
"New figures from the city show that the economic and health related costs of pedestrian injuries total $564 million per year," said Schneider. "Compare that to the $3.4 million per year that is secured for pedestrian safety in MTA's budget. How many more people have to die before we start re-prioritizing?"
