At Vigil, Advocates Demand a Safer Market Street

Some 40 advocates, members of the press, and a handful of officials gathered Friday, August 14, to honor Yebin Kim, a 32-year-old woman who was riding her scooter on Market Street when, according to witnesses, her wheels fell into the streetcar tracks, she fell, and was subsequently run over and killed by a truck driver.

“I hate that we have to gather like this again,” said the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s Christopher White, who led the vigil. “It’s a reminder of how vulnerable we all are.”

Although it didn’t appear in the report, KTVU’s Christien Kafton asked White what needs to be done to make sure this kind of tragedy doesn’t happen again. “We don’t need more studies,” said White. That’s because studies were done and the “Better Market Street” plan was approved. But in 2020, SFMTA officials cancelled the sidewalk-level protected bike lanes that were supposed to be a central part of it. “If they existed, Yebin would still be here.”

Prior to the vigil, Streetsblog asked Mayor Lurie’s office twice if they would now support building protected bike lanes on Market. His office sent this:

My number one priority is the safety of our residents. The tragedy on Market Street is heartbreaking, and my condolences go out to Yebin’s family and friends. Under our Street Safety Initiative, we’re bringing city departments together to help everyone travel around our city safely—including cyclists, scooter riders, pedestrians, kids, and seniors. As the city investigates the incident on Market Street, we will continue to move the work forward to create safer streets for all San Franciscans.

Given the canned answer, Streetsblog takes that as a “no” on protected bike lanes. For context, this is the same mayor who let Uber and Waymo back on so-called car-free Market Street.

As SFBike pointed out in its statement about Yebin’s death, “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.” And of course Mark Heryer was killed in 2015, in nearly the same scenario.

As if to underscore just how dangerous things are on Market Street, there were several close calls that occurred during the short vigil. A west-bound Muni bus operator tailgated a cyclist, eventually squeezing him against the curb before coming to a stop. Cyclists were forced to squeeze between the narrow “safe” space between the tracks and stopped buses. Several private cars drove by illegally on “car-free” Market Street. And a group of five or six police cars roared down the transit lanes at what must have been close to 60 mph.

In Streetsblog’s view, this is all very simple: Market Street needs physical separation for cyclists and scooterists from heavy vehicles such as cars, buses, and trucks. When the previous mayoral administration cancelled the protected bike lanes, they sentenced a future cyclist or scooterist to death. The person’s name turned out to be Yebin Kim, but her death was set in motion in 2020 by callous politics.

And now Mayor Lurie is repeating this mistake, even though inexpensive and obvious solutions exist. Other cities are addressing such conditions, and there’s simply no excuse for San Francisco’s continued disregard for safety on its signature street. It’s no mystery why Vision Zero is failing.

“Some time we’ll get Market Street right,” said District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, the only lawmaker who attended the vigil. “Then we’ll ask why it took so long.”