The San Francisco version of "thoughts and prayers"

Yet another person was killed crossing the street this morning—once again by a professional driver behind the wheel of a large vehicle.

It happened at Parnassus Avenue and Stanyan Street, a transit corridor in one of San Francisco’s nicest and supposedly safest neighborhoods. It’s a neighborhood I know well, having lived around the corner from the intersection where this sad incident occurred. It is a small, calm neighborhood next to UCSF Parnassus and Golden Gate Park.

This city will go and recall elected officials over “out-of-control” crime. Hundreds of my neighbors have applied for concealed carry weapons permits to defend themselves. “Public safety” remains the top issue this election.

Meanwhile, actual, deadly traffic violence gets the San Francisco version of “thoughts and prayers”: some paint will be thrown down, a bit of plastic will be put up, and robotaxis will be deployed.

And, to be fair, it’s like that in most places. But it shouldn’t be like that; and certainly not in a city as small and dense as San Francisco. I hope San Franciscans realize one day that we don’t have to be indifferent to these tragedies.

I’ve been advocating for a safer San Francisco free from traffic violence for most of my adult life, and sometimes I do feel optimistic. But then something like this happens, and I feel a rush of outrage and disappointment. I hope more people feel the same, and I hope we can put an end to these senseless deaths together, regardless of how our lives might be inconvenienced.

So, I am not including a link to an advocacy organization, a petition to sign, or an elected official’s email you can write a strongly-worded email to. All those actions can be important. But so is anger that people keep dying on our streets and nurturing that feeling can be action enough, sometimes.

Details on the photo above are available the SF Historical Photograph Collection here.