Commentary: The West Portal Crash Wasn’t Incomprehensible. But the Lack of Punishment Is

Judge Bruce Chan is confused. He calls Mary Fong Lau’s crash into a West Portal bus stop—killing the Pinto de Oliveira family in 2024—an “incomprehensible” loss. That confusion is why he says Lau likely won’t serve prison time in the plea deal he is presiding over.

The only thing I agree with is that he doesn’t comprehend. Lau’s crime wasn’t the tragic outcome; it was hitting the accelerator, veering into the opposite lane to bypass traffic, and racing 70 mph through a residential neighborhood.

That’s why Safe Streets advocates were so taken aback:

Of course Lau didn’t intend to kill anyone. I’m sure she feels remorse, though whether it’s for the family or for how this has disrupted her own life is unclear. But she did intend to endanger the public to save a few seconds. On March 16, 2024, the result was fatal.

Should everyone who drives 70 mph in a residential neighborhood go to prison even if no one is hurt? Maybe that isn’t practical. And the goal isn’t to fill jails—it’s to keep people safe. But someone who does that should lose their license for life and have their car seized without compensation.

And if that gamble ends in death, prison must be the consequence. In Lau’s case, that remains within Chan’s power. Otherwise, what deters the next driver inclined to behave the same way? As Stanford criminal law professor Robert Weisberg told the Chronicle, Chan is sending a signal. It doesn’t even appear likely Lau will be barred from driving for life.

That’s why I’m adamant about concrete bells and bollards. They make it physically impossible to drive like a psychopath—and if someone tries, the consequences fall on the driver. Even a race car driver can’t defy physics. Streets can and should be designed to force safe behavior. Many cities already do this, as New York shows.

Even police can’t play fast and loose with physics. But American traffic engineers often design roads that tolerate recklessness and shift the danger to people outside the car.

It was inexcusable for Supervisor Myrna Melgar, with the SFMTA board, to water down the West Portal safety plan to near-uselessness. With so many pedestrians transferring between trains and buses, drivers shouldn’t cut through the station area at all. When someone like Lau shows up to play Russian Roulette with the public, the city has refused to even limit the number of bullets in the revolver. So did Governor Newsom and his allies who killed the speed-limiter bill that would prevent cars from reaching such deadly speeds.

My nieces grew up passing through the same space where the Pinto de Oliveira family was killed. Reckless drivers played Russian Roulette with my family too. I once had to grab my mother and pull her back onto the sidewalk when a speeding driver blew through a red light.

Is this all really so hard to comprehend, Judge Chan?

Lau’s remorse is almost immaterial; by press accounts, she hasn’t even apologized for the actual crime. That crime is playing Russian Roulette with the public—reckless driving. How someone can become a judge without grasping that is beyond me.