It was a busy weekend at the intersection of Hayes & Octavia, the heart of Hayes Valley. First, an unclothed man was detained by police on Friday afternoon. Then, according to concerned citizen Christine Harris, who saw the report on neighborhood networking site NextDoor, a puppy was struck and killed by a driver at the intersection, which Harris says is unsafe for pedestrians (and pets) because it only has a stop sign, not a traffic signal.

"My empathy and advocacy took over, and has me passionate about changing the ignored stop sign," said Harris, who lives in SoMa but is often in Hayes Valley. "I am not doing this for public attention, but I am doing this to prevent further fatalities. If a child had died, the public would be up in arms, but since a dog died, most people ignore it and go on. I can't do that; I have to do something so it does not happen again."

Harris has started a petition to get a traffic signal for the intersection, which has 56 signatures as of this afternoon.



To provide video evidence for her claims, she headed to Hayes Valley on Saturday to "get a real eyewitness account of the traffic," and put together a video of what she saw at the intersection, including plenty of cars making rolling stops amid a steady flow of pedestrian foot traffic.

Video of the Hayes & Octavia intersection, shot between 3-3:30pm on Saturday, Aug. 6th.

"I am doing everything I can to get the traffic light signal installed, since I have video proof that drivers ignore the stop sign," Harris said.



But despite Harris' concerns, "there's a solid safety history at this location," says SFMTA representative Ben Jose, who notes that only one minor collision was reported at Hayes & Octavia between April 2011 and March 2016. The incident, a vehicle/pedestrian collision, took place in September 2014.

Though the Octavia Boulevard Enhancement Project continues apace, there are currently no plans to install a traffic signal at the Hayes & Octavia intersection. However, Jose says that "the SFMTA has observed some comfort issues at the Hayes/Octavia intersection, including intersection blocking and overall congestion."

As such, the SFMTA decided to gauge neighborhood interest in closing off one or both sides of Octavia on the south side of Hayes Street to vehicle traffic at a May 2016 open house.

A preliminary proposal floats the idea of closing Octavia Blvd. to traffic where it joins Hayes Street (on the right). | Image via SFMTA

The proposal remains preliminary. "This concept has not been vetted internally by the city yet, but there is some appetite from the public and neighbors to consider it," Jose said. "City staff will be reviewing the concept in the coming months."