San Francisco Citizen

This was the scene yesterday morning between Sixth and Seventh  – notice the lack of private vehicles?

There are two reasons, it appears, why people coming inbound on Market would obey the new-ish Right Turn Only signs at the intersections of Tenth and also Sixth streets now that the Parking Control Officers are gone.

The first has to do with the police cars parked on Market on Sixth. See the SFPD po-po car on the far right? And there’s another one parked just past Sixth, right in the field of view of drivers when they are deciding whether to risk getting a moving violation.   

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So that’s 6th, now here’s 10th, where recent changes have made the prospect of driving on Market straight past 10th, something drivers have done for more than a century, untenable. There are about two dozen arrows staring you in the face and a huge orange and green “RIGHT TURN ONLY” flashing away. Plus there’s a Safe Hit post in the middle of the lane – that won’t bother fire truck drivers a whit but, private vehicle drivers, well, they’re not going to clunk-clunk over that post on a regular basis. 

That post plays a big role in getting cars to turn at Tenth but you can’t have the same setup at Sixth, which is a two-way street. I guess that’s where the police cars come in.

Now, I’ll tell you, a few days back I watched most of the inbound cars  on Market (like 70-something percent during seven light cycles) go straight. However, there were no police cars parked in the area at that time. Maybe that’s the difference.

Let’s wait and see how drivers behave in a month or so…

First of all, there never was a car-free Market Street, even on the inbound lanes during the past six months when Sixth Street and a few other places were staffed with two(!) (and sometimes more!) Parking Control Officers who would encourage drivers to turn south into SoMA.

(I won’t miss them, personally, what with some of them parking their little Cushmans right where bikes are supposed to go and then oftentimes yakking to each other in the middle of the street, seemingly oblivious to traffic.)

And second of all, now that the PCO’s are gone, private vehicles on inbound Market just truck on by Sixth Street, ignoring the Right Turn Required signs.

As here. (That blue Camry looks like it’s turning right from Market but, in fact, just came from Golden Gate Ave.  across the intersection):

Particularly when you have a lead car illegally head on down Market, the cars behind tend to blindly follow. Car drivers are sheople. Oh well.

Sic Transit Gloria Chariot-free Venalicium Via