San Francisco, CA Personal Injury Blog

A pedestrian was recently killed in San Francisco after being hit by a 21-Hayes Muni bus. "Witnesses stated that the pedestrian victim stepped out from between vehicles and stepped in front of the bus," police spokesman Sgt. Daryl Fong told The San Francisco Examiner.

When police officers arrived at the scene - near Hayes and Fillmore Streets - they performed CPR on the victim and he was transported to San Francisco General Hospital. He was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

Police are currently investigating the bus accident and the Muni driver involved in the crash has been placed on non-driving status. However, while fault in this particular case has yet to be established, it definitely illustrates the dangers pedestrians must deal with on a daily basis while walking San Francisco streets.

A propellant mixture is at the root of an airbag recall and an investigation by U.S. safety regulators. The airbag components made by Autoliv Inc. may remain uninflated during a car accident, creating a safety hazard for vehicle occupants.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that nearly 3,000 vehicles are affected by the defective airbag propellant mixture. Several auto manufacturers have recalled vehicles because of the problem: Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Subaru, although Autoliv argues that the materials it provided to Nissan and Subaru were not defective.

Autoliv has supplied parts to numerous auto manufacturers, including General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Daimler and Kia. A list of the company's customers was requested by NHTSA.

Airbags: A Critical Safety Feature for San Mateo Drivers

San Francisco Bay-area drivers are keenly aware of the dangers on the road, and they rely on their vehicles' safety features to protect them in case of an accident.

Light rail is a key component of the public transportation system in the San Francisco metro area. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency - or "Muni" for short - operates six light-rail lines, but by far the most accident-prone is the N-Judah.

Probably not coincidentally, the N-Judah carries the most passengers - about 38,000 commuters every day, according to SFBay.

The N-Judah line runs from Ocean Beach to the Caltrain station at Fourth Street and King. The route traverses crowded neighborhoods with congested traffic.

According to Muni statistics, in the past three fiscal years, the N-Judah line has logged a whopping 84 accidents, compared to the next highest line, the M-Ocean View, at 58 such mishaps in the same time period. Significantly lower, the safest line with only 26 accidents was the K-Ingleside.

The San Francisco Examiner says on an average of every 13 days there is an "accident or derailment" on the N-Judah light-rail line.

The streets of San Francisco, much like other major cities across the country, are a combination of pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers, many of whom are in a rush to get somewhere. While everyone is supposed to share the road by following the law and taking care to be mindful of one another, inevitably there are times when someone gets careless or breaks the law and an accident occurs. Sometimes these accidents are fatal. Recently, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon joined the effort to help raise awareness of the increased danger facing bicyclists in San Francisco.

Some Alarming Numbers

According to Gascon, roughly one third of the accidents taking place in San Francisco involve drivers from other cities. Just as out-of-town drivers appear to be one of the causes for such a high number of accidents, there are other factors to examine as well. One of the leading factors is a larger number of bicyclists. According to Leah Shaum, the executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, the number of bicyclists in San Francisco has increased 58 percent over the last four years. An increase in the number of bicyclists on the already crowded streets can only lead to an increase in the number of accidents.

Recently, eight people were injured in a severe collision involving two drunk drivers.

The San Francisco car accident occurred just past midnight on a recent Monday morning, when a van carrying two occupants failed to stop for a red light at the intersection of 10th and Howard and crashed into a sedan carrying six people. All eight suffered injuries and at least two were in critical condition. The sedan's passengers had to be extricated from the vehicle using the Jaws of Life. Both drivers were arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

California Drunk Driver Accidents

California drunk driver accidents are far too common. Every year, over 30,000 Californians are killed or injured in alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents. Perhaps the most tragic thing about these accidents is the fact that nearly all of them could have been prevented if the drunk driver had been responsible enough not to get behind the wheel.

Inexperience and immaturity often prove to be a lethal combination for teens, especially when they get behind the wheel. Car accidents are the leading cause of death among teens, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. In California alone, 593 people died in 2008 in accidents involving teen drivers, according to California's Department of Motor Vehicles.

To ease the transition and save lives, many states have turned to some form of graduated driver licensing. This multi-step approach leads drivers from a closely supervised permit stage to full privileges - after successfully meeting all state-mandated restrictions regarding supervised hours behind the wheel, night driving, cell phone use and passengers on board.

One of the strictest driving programs is found in California, which adopted graduated licensing in 1998 and strengthened its requirements in 2006. To achieve an unrestricted license, California teens must pass written and driving tests and a one-year provisional stage that bans late-night driving and passengers under age 20 without adult supervision. Avoiding suspensions and probation during the provisional stage allows teens to get a full license.

Now, however, examination of teen crash data is raising new questions on the effectiveness of this graduated approach, according to LATimes.com. The question is, are graduated licensing programs merely postponing accidents to the late-teen years? An examination of more than 131,000 fatal crashes involving teen drivers indicates that the answer is yes.

Since video surveillance cameras were installed in the Muni system last year, bus accidents have been cut in half, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

The cameras are designed to activate when a bus slams on the brakes or accelerates quickly - indicators that the driver may be handling the vehicle improperly. Despite this, Muni accidents are unfortunately still far from uncommon around San Francisco, including accidents that cause serious injuries and sometimes even death.

Recent Muni Accidents

One such accident occurred in mid-September when a bike rider was hit by an 8X-Bayshore Express as she rode home from work. The cyclist was struck by the bus while trying to avoid a double-parked car as she went through the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Broadway. As she did this, she fell off of her bike and it was reported that the bus ran over her arm and drove away. The victim, whose arm was crushed in the accident, plans to sue the city for her injuries.

A recent accident at a construction site in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood, which seriously injured three workers, illustrates the potential dangers facing construction workers today.

According to Battalion Chief Charles Crane, at the time of the accident workers were pouring concrete on the roof of a building when their support structure failed, and caused the three workers to fall three stories down a stairwell. When firefighters arrived, they discovered the three workers covered in unhardened concrete.

There is currently an investigation as to the cause of the collapse, but a spokeswoman for the California Division of Occupational Health and Safety stated the Cal/Osha crews had twice visited the construction site in the last six months and didn't notice any problems.

Unfortunately, the one thing this accident shows is that serious injury can occur on construction sites even if they are monitored by safety agencies.