Streetsblog has long been a fan of Stanley Roberts and his "People Behaving Badly" segments that deal with driver behavior. But this one below was especially disturbing, even if it wasn't meant to be, because it highlights why so many pedestrians and cyclists are getting clobbered. Spoiler alert: it's not because they wear dark clothing, "come out of nowhere," or dart into traffic.
The segment follows a crosswalk police sting in San Bruno using a man dressed as a bright-orange dinosaur. Basically, the guy was impossible to not notice.
But in the segment, drivers said they didn't see him.
It would be bad enough if they said some version of "I thought it was someone doing a prank" or "I was in a hurry" or "I was scared it was a setup for a carjacking" or anything along those lines. But these drivers were so distracted by their phones, so failing to have any situational awareness, that they literally said they didn't see him.
And I believe them.
The only thing that differentiates these drivers from the one who ran over and killed a two-year-old child in Mission Bay late last month in a crosswalk is dumb luck. The same goes for the driver who killed Wilma Chan in Alameda in a crosswalk. Or the driver who was presumably texting and drifted into the bike lane, killing Greg Knapp. I could rattle off examples all day of distracted drivers who killed people.
What I can't do, unfortunately, is rattle off examples where there were serious (or any) consequences for the distracted drivers. In fact, often even when they are drunk, there are no real consequences.
This is what judges, such as Bruce Chan, don't understand. The crime is not running over and killing Ethan Boyes, Amelie Le Moullac, or the Pinto de Oliveira family. It's playing Russian Roulette with other people. And there must be consequences, no matter how much a driver may regret speeding or killing someone because they were in a hurry or wanted to check a text.
It's also why I bristle when traffic and planning professionals tell me you can't stop the most egregious drivers. Bullshit. Imagine if that crosswalk in San Bruno had concrete pedestrian refuges and bulb-outs with cast-iron bells. Drivers would have the choice to start paying attention or crash, which is how it should be if we want to save lives.
To be clear: I applaud the San Bruno police for this sting. Keep up the good work and keep writing those tickets. But an occasional sting and a few citations aren't enough. We need consistent traffic enforcement. And we need concrete protections such as those pictured above.
In a sane place, every one of the drivers who blew past that man in a dinosaur costume would have their cars impounded and their licenses suspended or revoked completely. Because they're all a deadly "accident" waiting to happen. And if and when they eventually do kill someone, they must go to jail and be banned from ever driving again. Yes, that will require better prosecutors and, to some extent, new laws. But it's not about vengeance or even punishment. It's about saving lives.
There will be a vigil Thursday evening/tonight for Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, Matilde Moncado Ramos Pinto, and their children Joaquin, and Cauê, to mark the two-year anniversary of their death at the hands of a reckless motorist in West Portal. That's Thursday, March 19, 2026, 5:30-7:30 p.m., outside the West Portal Library, 190 Lenox Way, San Francisco. Make a donation to support a shrine in their memory here.
