the streetcar of the ired

The intersection at Ninth and Judah is dangerous in many ways. Oblivious pedestrians and jay walkers aside, the N-Judah drivers and just reckless. Or rather, wreck-full. I have rarely witnessed an N-Judah driver either (a) obey any traffic laws at this intersection or (b) give noticeable care to those in the crosswalk.

Several neighborhood groups and a coalition of N-Judah riders have been hounding the Mayor and the Muni-wonks to do something about this intersection for years. Incidents at this intersection due to negligent Muni drivers are common.

The N-Judah Chronicles has been on this almost since its inception. They have gotten the brush off from city leaders time and again. They made sure the Mayor and the City knew it was only a matter of time until someone gets killed or severely injured.

And they hate it when they're right.

The N-Judah ran over a 90 year old woman the other night. Commenters on the SFGate story are incredibly cruel. It's one thing to step in front of a train that you see coming-- pedestrian's own fault and all of that. But this woman had the light, was in the crosswalk, and was having trouble crossing the wet streets in the storm. Negligence here is clearly on the part of the bus driver, who by witness accounts didn't even get off the train during the incident.

This happened as I was leaving my office and crossing the N-tracks about seven blocks upstream. Two Muni service trucks RACED around a blind dog-leg curve, not stopping in an intersection and nearly striking several pedestrians in a busy crosswalk. I was astounded at this reckless behavior (who floors it towards a stop sign?) and watched people dodge out of the way, shortly before I had to dodge the second truck myself when it was my turn to cross the street.

It seems they were on their way to the scene of the accident, not caring if they caused another one.

And to all the apparently "entitled" pedestrians I see every day in this City: Seriously, stop when you get to a street, look both ways, and then cross the intersection. You might consider looking up from your cell phone or pausing your iPod too.

SFMetlogs has a blurb too.