by Capt. Paul Yep

You may have noticed increased traffic enforcement in the Richmond District in the past few months. This is a deliberate and focused effort to achieve the goal of Vision Zero San Francisco, which has a goal of zero traffic deaths in San Francisco by 2024.

Richmond officers will be focusing on all elements of traffic enforcement, particularly the top five traffic violations that lead to deaths or injuries caused by traffic collisions.

These violations are:
• Speeding;
• Not yielding to pedestrians

in the crosswalk;
• Not yielding the right of

way to oncoming traffic while making a left turn;

• Red light violations;
• Stop sign violations. Approximately 100 people

are killed or seriously injured in traffic collisions annually in San Francisco. Pedestrian deaths and

injuries are concentrated in specific areas, with 60 percent of severe and fatal injuries occurring on only six percent of the city’s streets. Left turns disproportionately contribute to injuries. Left turns were the movement preceding collisions in 28 percent of the injury traffic collisions.

Speed kills. Increases in speed are exponentially fatal. Ninety percent of pedestrians survive a collision when hit by a person driving at 20 miles per hour. Only 50 percent of pedestrians survive a collision when hit by a person driving 40 miles per hour. Unsafe speed is the top collision factor in San Francisco, accounting for 25 percent of our fatal traffic collisions (21 percent in the Richmond District).

The high-injury corridors in the Richmond are: all of Geary Boulevard, Fulton Street (between Eighth and 35th avenues), Arguello and Presidio boulevards and John F. Kennedy and

Crossover drives in Golden Gate Park. Please be extra cautious when driving, biking or walking in these corridors.

The SF Police Department is committed to working with the entire city family on Vision Zero, using the “four E’s” (education, engineering, evaluation and enforcement). The city family partners include the mayor’s office, Board of Supervisors, Department of Public Health, Public Works, Planning Department, district attorney, SFMTA and Unified School District.

Please drive, bike or walk safely and be mindful of those who share the road with you. Officers at the Richmond Station will be doing their part to make Vision Zero’s goal a reality. We wrote 671 traffic citations in the month of August. Ouch!

My two messages to everyone in the neighborhood regarding traffic safety are:

• Slow down;

• Motorist, pedestrians and bicyclists: please show respect and common courtesy to each other by yielding the right of way when it is correct to do so.

Be safe everyone!

Capt. Paul Yep is the commanding officer at the Richmond Station.