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Policeman Runs Down Two People, Media Focus on Cop’s Good Looks
Reading the headlines over my morning coffee yesterday, I was flummoxed by the way the media approached an incident that happened over the Thanksgiving weekend. According to the reports, an off-duty San Francisco cop named Christopher Kohrs, 38, was driving a Dodge Charger westbound on Broadway around 2 a.m. on Sunday when he slammed into two pedestrians at the intersection with Montgomery. Both victims were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Kohrs abandoned his truck and fled the scene.
December 2, 2015
Caltrans Admits Building Roads Induces More Driving, But Admitting a Problem Is Just the First Step
Eric Jaffe, in CityLab, recently reported that Caltrans “admitted” that expanding highways increases traffic by posting a policy brief on the subject of induced demand to its website. He called it a rare admission from a state department of transportation.
November 18, 2015
House Transpo Bill Spells Trouble for Transit Projects Across America
A provision in the House GOP's new transportation bill threatens to upend how transit agencies fund major capital projects, delaying or killing efforts to expand and maintain rail and bus networks.
October 23, 2015
Governor Signs Bill to Ease Parking Requirements for Affordable Housing
Governor Jerry Brown had a Sunday deadline to sign legislation or veto it. Late in the day on Friday he signed Assembly Bill 744, which allows affordable housing developers to build less parking than many local zoning regulations currently permit.
October 13, 2015
Feds Propose Major Rule Changes to Eliminate Barriers to Safer Streets
Applying highway design standards to city streets has been a disaster for urban neighborhoods. The same things that make highways safer for driving at 65 mph -- wide lanes, "clear zones" running alongside the road that have no trees or other "obstacles" -- make surface streets dangerous and dreadful for walking, killing street life.
October 8, 2015
To Tackle Anti-Bike Bias, SFPD Must Start With Knowledge of Traffic Laws
At a heated community meeting last month, a bike commuter asked SFPD Park Station Captain John Sanford whether he could expect to continue safely treating stop signs as yield signs. Sanford had instituted a crackdown on that behavior, and some ticket recipients said they were told they had to put their foot down at stop signs. Sanford confirmed to the crowd that that requirement does not exist, and insisted that his officers didn't enforce it.
September 30, 2015
The “Bike Yield Law”: It’s How Captain Sanford Rolls, Too
Even John Sanford is not immune to practicing the safe, common-sense ethic that most people on bikes use to negotiate stop signs. SFPD's Park Station captain is the latest officer to be filmed within the Park District executing the completely normal practice of slowing and yielding, and not necessarily coming to a full stop, during a ride with bike advocates last month.
September 24, 2015
SFPD Chief Suhr Misses the Point of the “Bike Yield Law”
SF Police Department Chief Greg Suhr doesn't seem to grasp the point of the "Bike Yield Law" proposed by Supervisor John Avalos.
September 22, 2015
Majority of Supes Back the “Bike Yield Law” to Be Introduced Tomorrow
The "Bike Yield Law" proposed by Supervisor John Avalos is poised to be approved by the Board of Supervisors.
September 21, 2015
Northern Station Leads Rise in SFPD “Focus on the Five” Citations
SFPD traffic citations issued for "Focus on the Five" have hit an all-time high of 32 percent, as the SF Examiner reported earlier this week.
September 18, 2015