San Francisco pedestrians are reporting a surge in crosswalk violations, with residents describing near-daily incidents of drivers running through marked crossings — including one account of a gig-economy driver intentionally steering into a cyclist in a bike lane.
The frustration has spilled onto social media, where residents are debating whether to publicly post offending license plate numbers. The consensus online has been skeptical: commenters noted that crowd-sourced shaming of plate numbers has no enforcement mechanism and does little to address the underlying danger. "What is posting their plate going to do?" one r/sanfrancisco commenter wrote, invoking the names of two people killed in traffic incidents.
Several residents specifically called out app-based delivery and rideshare drivers as disproportionately represented in dangerous driving incidents, citing pressure from gig-platform economics — though that pattern has not been independently verified by city data.
SFMTA has logged pedestrian safety as a Vision Zero priority since the city adopted the program in 2014. The department has repeatedly cited engineering changes — curb extensions, high-visibility crosswalk paint, leading pedestrian intervals — as its primary tools. Fatality numbers have not reached the program's stated goal of zero by 2024. The Mayor's office has not issued a statement on the recent wave of community complaints.
The Board of Supervisors Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has a standing agenda item for Vision Zero updates. No hearing on crosswalk enforcement is currently scheduled.
What to watch: SFMTA's next quarterly Vision Zero report to the Board of Supervisors, and whether the Police Department releases updated crosswalk citation data for 2024. Residents can submit traffic safety requests through SF311.
The Discussion
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