SFBike’s Statement on the Killing of Yebin Kim on Market Street

As readers are no doubt aware, a scooter rider named Yebin Kim was killed by a driver on Friday, August 7 on Market Street. This publication will have more to say about it in the coming days and weeks. For now, here’s the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s full statement and the announcement of a vigil to remember another life lost to traffic violence.

On Friday, August 7 at 8:18 a.m. at Market and Powell Streets, Yebin Kim, 32, was killed while riding her standup e-scooter by a person driving a commercial vehicle. According to emergency responders and eyewitness accounts, Yebin was riding eastbound on Market when her tire got caught in the Muni rail tracks, and that the delivery truck driver who struck and killed her was located by SFPD a few blocks away. 

We are disturbed by reports that the delivery truck driver was apparently traveling in the transit-only lane, and reportedly did not stay at the scene; we don’t yet know whether a criminal investigation is being pursued by SFPD. 

We also know from media reports that Yebin was a San Francisco resident; she was one of our neighbors, and we mourn her death. Our hearts are heavy and our thoughts are with Yebin’s family, friends, and community as they navigate this sudden grief. 

People on bikes, scooters, and on foot are our most vulnerable road users and deserve safe roadways to ride and walk on. No one should lose their life trying to navigate our streets. 

As our mobility options diversify and expand, more people are choosing to get around in more sustainable, human-scaled ways. Street-legal e-scooters (CVC 407.5, CVC 2241) belong in our bike lanes and on our streets, and enable people to shift away from driving. SFBike is committed to advocating for the safety and belonging of people riding scooters with the same dedication we have always done for people riding bikes. We are heartbroken and enraged by Yebin’s death; regardless of whether she was riding a bicycle or a scooter, she should be alive today.

For more than 15 years, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has advocated for a car-free Market Street and continues to do so as leaders of the Keep Market Street Moving Alliance. We must not return to the time when Market Street was one of the deadliest corridors for people walking and biking in our City. This is the second reported instance this summer alone in which someone biking or rolling on Market Street fell after catching their tires in the Muni rail tracks and was hit by a vehicle. In early July, we learned of a serious crash involving a person riding a bike whose tires were caught; after they fell, they were subsequently struck by a DPW street sweeper at Market and Second Street and was severely injured. 

The Better Market Street plan was gutted during the pandemic from its initial design, which would have included sidewalk-level, separated bike lanes and dedicated transit boarding, creating efficient movement of all sustainable modes of travel and increasing safety for everyone. The near-term victory of the project, Car-Free Market Street, was approved in 2019 and has resulted in a 14% increase in transit service and a 40% reduction in injury collisions. 

Yet Market Street clearly is still unacceptably dangerous, and it remains on the city’s High Injury Network. It’s time for city leaders and the SFMTA to revisit the Better Market Street plan and identify improvements that can quickly be implemented, while also considering other cost-effective, near-term safety improvements. Immediate actions should include:

• Evaluating, designing, and rapidly implementing dedicated space for people on bikes and scooters on Market Street, to reduce conflicts between vehicles and vulnerable road users while maintaining Muni service.
• Studying effective solutions to make Muni train tracks safer, including compressible flange fillers – rubber gaskets that make in-ground tracks safer for bikes and scooters. 
• Returning to Market’s car-free status that was in place from 2020 to 2025. While the driver who struck Yebin was in a commercial vehicle, increased traffic congestion from luxury ridehail and private vehicles illegally on Market contributes to unsafe street conditions. 

Yebin Kim’s death marks the 17th fatality due to traffic violence on our streets in 2026, and the first scooter rider death. We call on elected leaders and city agencies to accelerate progress on the Street Safety Initiative and do more to address the preventable causes of traffic violence in San Francisco. SFBike will continue to demand they take measurable, effective action – and hold them accountable if they don’t.