San Francisco pedestrian safety advocates memorializing victims of traffic collisions

SAN FRANCISCO - On Friday, pedestrian safety advocates in San Francisco hung signs reminding people of those who've died on the streets of the city.

There are few parts of this city that haven't been touched by a deadly crash. Now, pedestrian advocates say they want to mark those locations and make sure the city pays attention to what they call a public health crisis. 

For 10 years, San Francisco has had a vision for zero traffic fatalities, and in that time Walk San Francisco says 317 people have died on the city's streets. Now the pedestrian advocacy group is hanging signs around the city. "It's a sign to remind everyone that someone died there," said Jodie Medeiros from Walk SF.

Organizers say there is not a corner of the city that has been untouched. "When I was looking at the map I was startled to see how many there were in District 2, in the Marina or on the West Side," said Medeiros. "You know, Richmond, Sunset, the Bayview."

Dr. Christian Rose is an emergency room physician. He used to work at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, and has seen the damage that car crashes can have. "It's hard to think about seeing enough of injuries and accidents and fatalities. I would not say that I've become numb to it or that anyone becomes numb to it, but that it just becomes part of your lived experience," said Dr. Rose. "The expectation that that can happen to you."

While biking in the city seven years ago Dr. Rose says it did happen to him. He says he was cycling on Arguello Boulevard and a car made a left turn right into him. He remembers the headlights bearing down on him. "But, yeah, I wound up in San Francisco General emergency department with a hip fracture," said Dr. Rose. "Wound up bleeding into my thigh, needed a blood transfusion and emergency orthopedic surgery in order to get a rod inserted into my femur and screws into my hip joint to walk again."

Dr. Rose is back on his feet now, and advocating for stronger safety measures. 

Organizers and survivors said the city is not embracing Vision Zero at the scale needed to succeed. "This is a public health epidemic, and the city needs to do something about it to keep people safe," said Medeiros.

Organizers are also painting 317 pairs of shoes white to memorialize those who've died. The shoes will be on display at the World Day of Remembrance for traffic victims on Sunday, November 17 at City Hall.