Thank you to the more than 600 people who have sent letters to Mayor Lee over the last few days, as well as attended our on-street action station yesterday morning and the Folsom Street Pilot Community Meeting yesterday evening. You are speaking up loud and clear for no more deaths in SoMa.
But despite your loud calls, the City has still not committed to specific projects and timelines beyond the much-needed Folsom Street pilot buffered bikeway and pedestrian improvements between 4th and 11th, which the City has pledged to install by the end of 2013. We are encouraged to see the City taking swift action to finally pilot a long-overdue safety improvement on Folsom Street.
Unfortunately this kind of rapid response has been the exception rather than the rule. So we continue to call on the SFMTA and other City agencies to expedite other long-recognized safety hazards in SoMa. Your safety can’t wait. Please speak up for your safety at the November 5th SFMTA Board meeting. Email chema@sfbike.org for more details.
We continue to closely monitor the news about specific safety devices on MUNI buses. The media is reporting that a wheel guard was missing on the bus that killed 78-year-old Cheng Jin Lai. We are concerned by this news and support the SFMTA’s full investigation in to bus maintenance practices and standards. However, wheel guards are a safety measure of last resort. Our goal as a city should be to take a comprehensive safety approach to our street by proactively and rapidly updating our streets to provide safe space for people biking and walking, reducing the opportunities for conflict among street users.
Help us honor the deaths of the five people killed biking and walking in SoMa over the past year by showing your support for no more deaths in SoMa. Email chema@sfbike.org if you can attend the SFMTA Board Meeting on November 5, and please sign our letter to the Mayor calling for safety improvements to prevent any more deaths on SoMa streets.