Ever since San Francisco endured two traffic fatalities last week I have been thinking about ways to make our streets safer in the near-term. The ideas I am coming up with are not grand or outlandish. They do not require extensive planning and coordination or a massive budget. They are simple changes to some of the most dangerous and potentially deadly intersections that I see. In my estimation it would only take a half-day of work to execute these projects and at minimal cost and controversy. I am familiar with these intersections and pass through them during commute hours which is when intersections are at their worst. I have seen my fair share of uncomfortable situations play out here.

Lincoln meets Kezar meets 3rd Ave

This intersection is complicated beyond comprehension. Buses and cars take their eyes off the crosswalk to check fast-moving traffic from both directions on a curvy stretch of Kezar. Pedestrians and cyclists have cars from two different roads and sources of traffic to be concerned about. Eye contact has to be made between the foot traffic and the car traffic because it is not clear who has the right-of-way.

I can’t decide which type of commuter is at most risk — just about everyone is in danger here! Cars that are turning onto Lincoln are at constant risk of being t-boned. The pedestrians and cyclists are at high risk when passing through the crosswalk at Lincoln because cars are moving very quickly here. After seeing how things can go down at heavily-trafficked and mixed-use intersections, I am convinced it is just a matter of time until something bad happens at this confusing and poorly designed junction. The only thing remotely safe about this intersection is its proximity to the hospital at UCSF.

There are many families in the Sunset and it is not uncommon to see mothers and daughters walking to the park through this intersection. I spent 30 minutes here and asked passerby what they thought of it. Everyone had bad feelings about it and it stuck out as a scary place, especially compared to other parts of their walks and commutes. This intersection was described by one mother as crazy. Many people pass through here each day without incident but I am concerned at how much caution and focus is required to pass through here. Could distracted children be walking here? Are there commuters rushing to get work here?

In terms of safety improvements, I think this intersection could start with some better signage. It is definitely not clear who has the right-of-way. I think that the pedestrians and cyclists have the right of way but it does not feel that way when you’re using it. Who does have the right-of-way here?

What would it take to install yellow-blinking lights at the crosswalk to alert drivers? Or what about a yellow-blinking light to slow down the traffic that exits Lincoln before they cross the crosswalk?

I am not an expert but these are a few common sense safety improvements that would not require extensive coordination or compromise from the City. There are undoubtedly larger-scale design changes that could be made here. But realistically these types of projects take lots of resources to plan and execute and tend to get delayed. We don’t have the time to wait. We can start by making simple and sensible changes now. The most important thing is that safety improvements are made now and by any means possible.

7th Ave at Judah

Heading down Laguna Honda Boulevard towards 7th Ave in a car or on a bike is pretty nice. The roads are smooth and curve and there is plenty of space for all. There is even a nice view. Once the road straightens out and you are heading towards Golden Gate Park things become a bit more constricted. By the time you reach Judah the dedicated bike lane disappears in favor of a left-turn lane.

This stretch of 80 feet has a lane of traffic in either direction, a lane of parked cars in either direction, and a left turn lane with countless cars and bikes passing through here daily. It is a heavily-trafficked and mixed-use intersection. The cars and bikes that pass through here are forced to get close to each other. This is just poor and dangerous design.

On the way down 7th you get cars and bikes merging at high speeds. For some reason this doesn’t spook me as much as when I am coming up in the other direction. On the way up 7th after waiting at a red light, neither cars nor cyclists are happy. When pedaling up the street, cyclists can either safely take the lane and potentially bother the cars behind them, or endanger themselves by staying off to the right. It is just plain unsafe here and I feel the tension.

Is there a way to find common ground here to ensure that a crucial cycling corridor such as 7th can have a bike lane all the way to Judah? This is not just for the cyclists; I am sure that cars would love to have cyclists out of their way so they can accelerate up towards Kirkham. These handful of parking spaces must not be too important. Currently, a few of the parking spaces are off the table — reserved for a construction company renovating a private property. Eliminating these parking spots can also help the City cure itself of the car break-in epidemic. I know that parking is pretty tough to come by in the Inner Sunset, so if the parking spaces are too important, what about removing the left-turn onto Judah? Judah is not the preferred road for cars with all the trains and tracks and cemented platforms and so this left-turn lane could disappear and free up space for the bike lane while maintaining the street parking spaces.

Vision Zero SF Strategy

In addition to the large-scale projects that entail transforming a substantial stretch of road, I wholeheartedly believe that the Vision Zero SF action plan should include projects from the ground up: small-scale, incremental safety improvements to existing heavily-trafficked and mixed-use areas. I realize the two intersections described in this article are not identified in a high-injury corridor. I believe that resources should absolutely be focused on high-injury corridors. These are just two examples and I am sure there are countless more throughout the City. A small department or team at the SFTMA could be dedicated to identifying and fixing up problems like the ones above. Just imagine how our streets could transform if every single day there were a couple of dangerous intersections adopting safety improvements.