Posts Tagged ‘crosswalk’

Encountering Five Trader Joe’s Shoppers Jaywalking Masonic in Five Seconds – WHO WILL BE THE NEXT TO DIE?

Thursday, May 9th, 2013

These were the final two I saw after just passing three others ALL walking/jogging west to get to Trader Joe’s. This is my personal best, after all those years.

Oh yeah, I know all about the history of jaywalking and about Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Red Car and so forth. So what. How does that kind of stuff help us here? Answer: It doesn’t.

Moving on….

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Here’s what I said about Trader Joes #100, a half-decade ago, on the old blog:

“Of course, everybody needs to be on the lookout for all the Frogger-like jaywalkers carrying their groceries across six lanes of parked and moving cars. (Somebody is going to get hit one of these days.)”

Now that got a bit of attention from TJ’s Corporate. (I know because I saw the logs indicating such.)

So what the reaction? Nothing, basically.

Stuff like this is what the TJ’s people spent their time on instead, it would appear.

Now this is what occurred last year. Actually, it’s the one-year anniversary of  the death of 25-year-old Suzanne Monaco.*

Did the San Francisco Planning Department plan things well? No, obviously.

Is the SFMTA doing anything about this particular block? No. They have plans to put a whole lot of useless trees and a useless median south of Geary but they don’t seem to care about where TJ’s parkers park  and where they walk.

Yes these jaywalkers are illegally crossing the street and yes they are 100% responsible for their deaths when they get killed but what can be done to prevent future deaths right here in this one location?

I don’t know, a parking garage, an enforcement action, a ban on parking on the east side of Masonic on that particular block of Masonic, a traffic signal and crosswalk, opening up Emerson Alley to allow shopper parking on the roof, you know, just throwing things out there.

This situation is one giant FAIL for SFGov.

You should all be ashamed, SFGov.

Srsly.

Leaving you with one reaction, from Jessica Levin:

“I saw the flower memorial outside Trader Joe’s, and if that is the spot where she crossed, then she must have had a death wish. That’s a busy high speed corridor in both directions and she crossed near a blind crest. She didn’t deserve to die, but if anyone gets the blame, unfortunately it is the pedestrian. I parked across Masonic exactly once (and I did jaywalk to get back to my car) but I was careful to cross at the crest where I could see traffic coming from quite a distance, and even then I was extremely nervous. That was two years ago, and I have never done it again.”

*Was she really carrying “an armful of groceries” while heading “west” back to the store? Probably not.

The Most Ignored Person in the World Has Got To Be This “Pedestrian Monitor” for the Central Subway Boondoggle

Friday, March 29th, 2013

This is the scene down at 4th and Market, where the Big Dig West Coast Central Subway project is, well, digging big these days.

San Francisco’s horrible pedestrians want to get across the northern side of the intersection and it’s this person’s job to stop them from doing so.

It’s not working. Check it out sometime.

But don’t laugh at sad sack Charlie Brown here – the Theory of Prevailing Wages ensures that he makes more moolah than you:

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In closing, San Francisco pedestrians are the worst in the world just saying.

The Death of Pedestrian Jack Wing, 78, at Market and Beale – December 10th, 2012

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

Jack Wing Identified as Pedestrian Killed in SOMA

Looking south from Davis Street across Market:

Driver:

Shoe, cap, water bottle:

Getting hauled away:

Bad Toyota Prius Hybrid Driver Stops for Peds in the Middle of the Wrong Crosswalk – Violating the Law, Slowly

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

The problem with the Prius drivers is that they feel entitled to do what they want when they want PLUS they generally do their outrageous acts slowly.

As here, on Kearny. The actions of a pushy Ferrari confused this Prius driver, who entered the intersection about a second after his/her light went red. The driver then proceeded across the street s-l-o-w-l-y only to chirp the brakes in a panic stop in the middle of the crosswalk on the far side of the intersection:

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Later on, the driver just sat there with the brake lights off, which I don’t get either.

Prius drivers, you aren’t a part of the solution, you’re a part of the problem.

Take the HOV stickers off the corners of your ride and try to pay attention to the road.

Perhaps you could crack your windows to be more in touch with your environment?

Perhaps you could carpool, you know, with other people, if you want to drive in the carpool lane?

Perhaps you could save radio listening and phone talking for the freeway?

Just asking.

In closing, Prius drivers are terrible.

It’s Hard: Spot the Pedestrian in the Uncontrolled Crosswalks of UCSF’s Parnassus Heights on a Foggy Night

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

Probably every crosswalk up there should be controlled by a traffic signal:

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JMO

Nun Crossing on Gough Street

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012

Little dog crossing as well. Bonus:

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Digg This: Here’s Your Chance to Buy a Cherried-Out 1977 Puch Maxi Moped Recenty Owned by Kevin Rose

Monday, September 10th, 2012

$1700 on the craigslist. See?

“Kevin Rose’s moped is back up for sale. 2nd@1977mopeds build I’ve seen on SF craigslist this week. Very nice bike.”

Anyway, it runs, or at least it was running about town last week.

Here’s the history on YouTube - start at around 4:00.

Deets on Jalopnik

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Ever more deets:

Fully Loaded 1977 Puch Maxi Moped – $1700 (mission district)

I am selling the 1977 Puch Maxi moped featured in this blog post: http://jalopnik.com/5481416/dont-bury-kevin-roses-custom-moped

It has been fully restored. It hasn’t been driven much, but the pedals were swapped out for pegs. I still have them if you’re interested in them instead.

Asking $1700 OBO.

Thanks!

Chris”

 

Trader Joe’s “Bro” Vs. Moving Traffic on Masonic Avenue – San Francisco Planning at Its Finest

Friday, September 7th, 2012

You see, area NIMBY’s didn’t want the Masonic Trader Joes (Store #100) to have a proper parking lot, so this is the result:

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Bad pedestrian behavior on this block has led to the death of one TJ’s shopper this year so far.

The question is why do peds act this way at this particular location.

The other question is what can be done about this.

San Francisco: The City That DOESN’T Know How.

Tiny Customized Scooter is Street Legal, Bike Trail Legal, Golden Gate Park Legal, AND Crosswalk Legal – Amazing!

Friday, September 7th, 2012

Or not.

Not all all.

I’ve never seen this:

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I don’t know, if I were on a tiny motorcycle and I wanted to go from Panhandle North to Panhandle South or vice versa and I didn’t want use Stanyan or Masonic or Baker and it were late at night, I still wouldn’t drive though GGP as a shortcut because the concept simply wouldn’t occur to me. But the idea would probably work OK.

Anyway.

What the Heck is Going On Up On the Roof of the Masonic Trader Joe’s? Discarded News Racks – Dead Cars

Tuesday, August 7th, 2012

I’ll tell you, the TJ’s underneath this rooftop parking lot is a beehive of activity.

So much so, that there are attendants to direct people on how and where to park in the tiny parking lot down below. And there’s almost always a line of cars blocking Masonic Street. So much so, the City and County decided to take out the parking / rush hour lane on southbound Masonic. But even so, a ton of shoppers park on northbound Masonic to make a dangerous journey across five lanes.

So that’s down below. But up on top there’s nothing going on. There’s a gate for people with passes. I think that City Car Share or ZipCar or somebody stores cars up there. But there also junked wrecks.

Like this. Camera left shows an old blue pickup what’s not in operating condition and in front of it is a Fred Sanford truck without its engine and in the background is a Miata* that someone’s been working on

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Oh, and then randomly, there’s an SFBG news rack up there blocking the lanes, not that it matters because nobody seems to be using this lot all that much.

I think if TJ’s shoppers knew they could park up here, they’d do so. This rooftop would experience a, in the words of our time, Dramatic Transformation and become a Vibrant Crossroads and maybe TJ’s shoppers would kill themselves less.

But no, it’s just a ghost town up there now, arrested decay and whatnot.

Does San Francisco have too much democracy? What explains this situation?

And after you think about that, think about What Can Be Done Now to fix the results of poor planning from San Francisco’s (Poor) Planning Department.

*Is it missing some lights, like the parking / driving / turn signal lights?  I’ll tell you, if you drove that rig on Geary Boulevard a few times, the SFPD of the Richmond District would catch you for sure.