SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — It was a powerful symbol in San Francisco Sunday of the dangerous toll of our roads.
A vigil honored the hundreds of people killed on San Francisco streets as the city pushes to make them safer. This comes as San Francisco marks 10 years of “Vision Zero” efforts meant to stop traffic deaths.
Three hundred and seventeen pairs of white-painted “ghost shoes” lined up on the steps of San Francisco City Hall Sunday.
Each was with a name, every one of them representing someone killed on city streets–on bikes and scooters, in cars and on foot.
It was the total of victims since 2014, when the city committed to Vision Zero and efforts to reduce and eventually eliminate traffic deaths by making roads safer.
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“We never want to contribute more ghost shoes to this memorial. It’s the hardest part to see this number grow,” said Jodie Medeiros, executive director of Walk San Francisco. Medeiros noted noted that while the overall number of victims is down so far this year, the number of pedestrians killed remains the same.
“The same number of pedestrians since the policy was passed in 2014. And Walk San Francisco being the pedestrian advocacy organization trying to make San Francisco the most pedestrian-friendly city, this does hit us the hardest, and this is why we do push on our city to make sure that our streets are safe for people walk,” Medeiros said.
Among the safety measures they’ve pushed for are speed cameras.
“We worked really hard. Walks in Francisco and families receive streets and getting the speed camera pilot to come to San Francisco,” Medeiros said.
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Those efforts mean a lot to families like Jenny Yu’s. Her mom was hit by a speeding driver in 2011.
“A speeding driver turning left struck her with an SUV and threw her body to the other side of the road, where she needed to have surgery to remove her brain cap, because it was too much pressure, but they saved her,” Yu said, explaining her mom hasn’t been the same since. “She now needs 24/7 cae. She’s physically here, but she can’t be by herself.”
And, that’s why advocates are calling for another commitment from the city.
“San Francisco learned a lot in 10 years. So, how do we build on those learnings to make a really smart policy for the next decade?” Medeiros said.
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