Injury Traffic Accidents on the Rise in District

By Meg Dixit

"People should slow down when they see a yellow light, not speed up," said Capt. Marsha Ashe of the Richmond District Police Station, referring to a common driving problem in the neighborhood. A problem so common, it is one of the top reasons that injury-related traffic accidents remain high in the Richmond.

"Red light runners and speeders are the top two reasons our accident percentage has increased," Ashe said, citing the Richmond District's wide lanes and relatively low congestion as factors that tempt motorists to speed in the area.

Despite new traffic signs around the neighborhood, the problem seems to be getting worse. In 2000, there was one pedestrian fatality; that number jumped to three fatalities in 2001. Similarly, other injury-related accidents rose from one in 2000 to four in 2001.

"We are trying to combat this increase by way of a program involving three components: education, enforcement and engineering," Ashe said.

The first component involves education in schools and working with young adults; a traffic summit is planned for this summer. The enforcement component (the number of ticketed traffic violations) is not a secret because the Richmond District has the second highest enforcement rate in the City. The third component involves traffic engineering, which involves adding additional stop signs or stop lights at intersections around the neighborhood.

"More traffic signs are planned, such as one on 12th Avenue and California Street, but the lag time between the identification of a problematic area and the actual installation of the sign can take up to a year," Ashe said.

According to City Transportation Engineer Tom Folks, the SF Department of Parking and Traffic has a limited budget that only allows for about 10 new traffic signs per year, despite a list of 200 areas around San Francisco that eagerly await a new traffic sign or stop light.

The process of obtaining a new traffic sign is lengthy and entails an evaluation of the area in need. Criteria considered in the process include identifying the numbers of accidents, pedestrians, seniors and kids in a particular spot. Traffic-generating land use is also a factor, as is the traffic flow around the vicinity.

"We get most of our money for the issuance of new traffic devices from Measure B, the half cent sales tax initiative, but the money raised from that measure has decreased this year and will result in less traffic signs added around San Francisco," said Folks, adding that one traffic signal can cost between $100,000 to $150,000 per intersection.

Despite the competitive nature of obtaining traffic signs around the City's neighborhoods, Ashe said the DPT is "very responsive" to signage needs in the Richmond District because of the high percentage of accidents here - especially in the Geary Boulevard corridor, which always seems to be a hot spot.

Ashe recommends that while the neighborhood awaits new signage and lights, the best road to take is awareness while driving or walking.