Pedestrian Safety

Click on the words in bold for a definition. San Francisco has many cars and pedestrians. There are many pedestrian/vehicle accidents in San Francisco. Sometimes it's the driver's fault and sometimesit's the pedestrian's fault. People studied the accidents in San Francisco and found out that in more than half of them, it was the driver's fault. Some drivers didn't pay attention to the pedestrianright of way. Some drivers drove too fast. Some drivers drove through a red light. About 41 percent of the accidents were the pedestrian's fault. The two most common reasons were crossing the streetin the middle of the block and walking against a signal. Here are some pictures showing where accidents can happen:

A pedestrian is darting out into the street.

A vehicle is turning into thepath of a pedestrian.

A bus is hiding a pedestrian.

A pedestrian is jaywalking.

The city wants to decrease the number of pedestrian/vehicle accidents. One way is to change the streets. Anotherway is to tell people how to avoid accidents. Here are some things the city can do to make things safer: Add pedestrian countdown signals. A traffic light turns green when it is time to go, and redwhen you should stop. Some traffic lights

have walk/don't walk signs, so pedestrians know when it is safe to cross the street. Pedestrian countdown signals show a white hand when the light is greenand the pedestrian can start to cross the street. When it changes to a flashing red hand, there is also a number showing how many seconds are left before the light will turn red. Add speed bumps. Speedbumps are a raised area of a road that makes the traffic goes slower. Add ladder-style striped crosswalks. Crosswalks are where a pedestrian crosses the street. They are usually marked with two whitelines. Adding ladder-style stripes means painting big diagonal lines between the white lines so the crosswalk will be easier to see. Use scrambles. Scramble crossings are where all the cars stop at...