So the Chronicle reports today that a big scary No Left Turn sign is to be painted on the street at 9th and Lincoln, in order to ensure traffic safety. Which would be fine if SF’s drivers (some of the worst in the country) actually obeyed said traffic signs to begin with.
I’ve seen too many people get swiped by cars as the drivers, lost in their little fog of cluelessness, make illegal left turns despite the signs. It’s dangerous for the crowds leaving and entering the park, and it delays MUNI buses and other cars who are trying to cross Lincoln.
In an age of every department in the City crying “no money no money,” why aren’t we ticketing people who are committing illegal left turns? If they even caught say, 30% of them, I’m sure it’d be worth it. Not only would it make the intersection safer and better for people, cars, and buses, they might even teach some drivers to follow the rules once in a while. Sounds sensible.
Which is why it will never happen.
PS: The SF Weekly has a good rundown of the foolishness that is the Culture Bus, and why, in this time of budget crisis, we can’t pull the plug on a joke bus line invented by some brainiacs at City Hall that no one uses and wastes money. Go check it out.
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Great question, why don’t we enforce traffic violations? I await Ms. Fong’s response.
And regarding the Culture Bus, how dare they cancel or scale back service on a single bus line while those yellow (I’m that paint job wasn’t free) embarrassments keep rolling by.
SF’s drivers (some of the worst in the country)
Clearly you’ve never lived in Hawaii. Or, for that matter, the Pacific Northwest. Drivers in SF are aces compared to those two places.
maybe Berkeley provides a clue. Green Tom Bates orders PCO’s NOT to ticket delivery trucks blocking traffic on Telegraph Ave instead of using yellow zones.
I’d much rather see tickets given out for drivers who wiz right by when a train is stopped in the left lane and passengers are getting off. Doesn’t get much more dangerous than this.
All the officer would need to do is follow the train (preferably in front) and then pull over people who drive by while the doors are open.
I can’t recall if 9th & Irving is Park or Taraval station territory. But I do see people stopped all the time out here in the Sunset. Speeders and red light runners on Sunset, illegal left turns off Judah, etc. And there are ongoing pedestrian stings on Lincoln and other places. In my opinion traffic violations are enforced, but they are so rampant, all can’t be caught.
I saw four passengers on a Culture Bus yesterday afternoon. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Yeah the traffic violations in the Sunset drive me nuts. In addition to that street there are some other places where you cannot make left turns onto 19th that people disregard all the time and then there’s all the illegal left turns off Judah that are made.
My favorite are the dudes who drive on the raised trackway from 19th to 9th avenue (despite the signs saying otherwise) and/or who make the left turns from the raised trackway at intersections prohibiting such turns. Freaking annoying.
I do think the Sunset has particularly bad drivers. When I used to live out there, I’d routinely get nearly run over trying to cross the street. I also have witnessed a lot of people just running through/completely missing 4 way stops. It’s pretty bad.
Strangely, I feel safer as a pedestrian where I now live, Castro/Duboce Triangle. There are more cars but I think the pedestrian awareness is better or something.
@tony: I actually lived in Seattle for 7 years and used to drive all over there…Seattle drivers were rather polite, but any car with the christmas tree on it was one you stayed away from…. 🙂
I would venture that most of the scofflaws at 9th and Lincoln are out of town drivers on their way to the Academy of Sciences. I’ve seen many “My kid is an honor roll student at [suburban school]” bumper stickers belonging to cars making illegal left turns.
Drivers and pedestrians don’t appear to comprehend the traffic signals at 9th and Irving, either. The pedestrians hurredly pushing their strollers across the tracks trying to beat out an oncoming N just make me cringe.
When King Tut arrives in June, we’ll have have some crazy traffic jams at 9th/Lincoln and plenty of tourists unfamiliar with the hard to see no left turn sign. Hopefully the street will get painted before then.
On another note, wouldn’t it be funny if King Tut + new parking meters in Golden Gate Park resulted in increased demand for the Culture Bus, just as they eliminate it.