Pedestrians

Gregg Wilcox, the driver who killed 59-year-old William Cox in a crosswalk last September while driving with a cast on his leg, was found guilty today on one count of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter.

Planners presented early concepts for a new Market Street to the public yesterday, moving the discussion forward on revitalizing San Francisco's grand boulevard with features like car-free zones, raised bike lanes, faster transit, and more inviting public spaces.

A new buffered bike lane was striped on 8th Street last week, re-purposing a traffic lane for bicycles on one of SoMa's fast, one-way motorways. The new configuration, which removes bicyclists from the door zone and provides a much wider lane, is an improvement over the four speed-inducing traffic lanes and skinny bike lane that previously existed. Still, many say it's just a small step toward a truly safer street.

Rarely does the opportunity to create a new street present itself in a densely built-out city like San Francisco. But neighbors and planners at the developing Mission Bay campus of the University of California, SF decided to make the best of such a chance by designing an extension of Fourth Street as a car-free plaza.

SF District Attorney George Gascón told reporters today that the reason so few drivers are charged in pedestrian injuries and fatalities is that "in the majority of those cases, unfortunately, the pedestrian has been the one deemed to be at fault."

SF District Attorney George Gascón is set to bring felony vehicular manslaughter charges against Chris Bucchere later today for biking into 71-year-old Sutchi Hui in a crosswalk at Castro and Market Streets, killing him. Any traffic death on our streets deserves a thorough investigation with appropriate charges filed against the responsible party. But this high-profile case raises the question of why so few other perpetrators of traffic violence face similar repercussions.

Tracking, analyzing, and reporting pedestrian fatalities should be a basic function of the San Francisco Police Department. But the fact is that SF lacks public access to clear and accurate data about street safety. The information gap is deeply troubling, and city agencies must act quickly to rectify it.

The SF Planning Department this week unveiled its final design for pedestrian improvements on a stretch of Broadway in Chinatown.

Speed limits have been lowered from 30 MPH to 25 MPH on Howard, Folsom, Harrison, and Bryant Streets in the South of Market area, the SFMTA announced yesterday.