Posts Tagged ‘zone’

The Great Unbeigeing – Market Street’s Traffic-Slowing Safety Paint is Peeling Off Already

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

You know that beige color (it’s not paint but I don’t know what it is, actually) that was just put down on Market Street? Well, it’s coming off fast.

From this…

…to this:

Sic transit gloria Market

San Francisco’s Market Street is Going Beige This Afternoon

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

This is the scene near Union Square, inbound, right down the street from the latest the latest MUNI bus vs. cyclist collision.

(Dude got scuffed up by an articulated 38 Geary (or whatever – it’s line number had been switched off) but he looked O.K. when they were putting him the ambulance.)

Anyway, here it is:

IMG_0147 copy

Click to expand.

Beige? Really? Wasn’t it supposed to be painted green?

(Beige. I think I’ll paint the ceiling beige, after seeing this glorious color up close.)

But, anything for safety’s sake. Hurray!

UPDATE: Turns out, per Bluoz, that this stuff is called “Ride Away/Greenway” or something. It’s from DaVinci Pavement and Design.

And here’s San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Program Director Andy Thornley chirping up to bring it all home:

“It’s actually “fawn” — I brake for Bambi — though others have characterized it as “cafe au lait” or “mochacino” — if it gets people to wake up and pay attention that’s all that matters. It’s another trial for Market Street, joining the forced right turns at 6th & 8th Streets (expect to see 10th Street turns soon) and Art in Storefronts and other good stuff. There’s more to the “Safety Zone” trial, 10 MPH pavement legends and signs, rumble strips, and advance stop lines that will blossom into full-blown bike boxes (with green pavement, you betcha) once the blinking Bike Plan injunction is lifted. These elements (color, rumble strips, 10 MPH marking) will be combined in various ways at the four parts of the 4th & 5th Street intersections (eastbound and westbound), SFMTA and SFCTA folks will be watching and evaluating to see which things are effective at slowing traffic and getting folks to watch out for each other, and then they’ll take the winning combination and implement it at all Market St boarding islands from Castro to the Embarcadero. Get yourself a fresh soy latte and roll on down for a test ride . . .”

So There You Have It.

Dog is My Co-Pilot on the Streets of San Francisco

Friday, July 24th, 2009

You know, when you’re coming through San Francisco keeping busy applying makeup holding a cell phone eating a Pocky chocolate-coated breadstick with one hand and holding the remaining Pockies with the other, it pays to have another set of eyes keeping a lookout on the road ahead.

As seen in the Middle Sunset District heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge on 19th Avenue, aka the Senator Leland Yee Double Fine Zone:

IMG_7184 copy

Click to expand.

Feel free to eat delicious Pocky treats whenever and wherever you wish – that whole sodium cyanide thing involving the Monster with 21 Faces sorted itself out more than a quarter century ago. (Wow, Wiki, you certainly are well-informed.)

Available at a Daiso or IchbanKan near you.

More Pedestrian Countdown Signals Come to Geary Boulevard in the Richmond – Hurray!

Monday, July 13th, 2009

Can you spot one of the the new pedestrian countdown timers being installed in the Middle Richmond District last week? It arrived all wrapped up.

Plus new road signs too, probably they’ll be more legible or something. But that’s a small thing compared with the installation of new signals.

Click to expand.

IMG_9862 copy

Maybe fewer people will die on the mean streets of the Richmond District after we get all this new equipment. (How many peds got mowed over by cars in the Richmond District last year? More than you might think.)

Anyway, the new lights can’t hoit.

Hurray!

More Pedestrian Signals Coming to 19th Avenue in the Sunset

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Nowadays, it seems that every intersection on the 19th Avenue double fine zone in the Sunset District has either:

1. a dedicated pedestrian signal (with a countdown timer thrown in as a bonus), like this one on Ortega : or

2. evidence of recent work indicating that a pedestrian signal is a coming soon, like this one on Santiago.

Hurray!

Your grandfather’s traffic signal. Click to expand:

IMG_7735 copy

“Never discourage anyone…who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.”

Friendly PG&E Gives You a Ring Before Having Your Car Towed Away

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

Lot’s of times we have signs on the streets of San Francisco warning of a construction zone - this is your notification of the days and times a parking space is unavailable. When a crew comes in the morning and see your car, they’ll have it towed away with extreme prejudice.

But look here at the policy of mega utility Pigs, Girafffes and Elephants: just leave your number and they’ll let you know when you need to move. Que bueno!

Click to expand:

That’s a friendly policy from PG&E, non?

How to be a Pedestrian on the Dangerous Sidewalks of San Francisco

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

It’s not entirely obvious, but San Francisco’s Van Ness Avenue (fka Marlette Street) is part of famous U.S. Route 101 - that means it gets lots of traffic from drivers who would prefer to be on a freeway. So much so, that we now have Pedestrian Safety Double Fine Zones for the bulk of its length.

The problem is that you have drivers who are impaired, or who don’t know what they’re doing, whizzing by you, just standing on the corner waiting for a green pedestrian signal. As this recent accident near City Hall illustrates, you can go from being a happy camper to a collision victim in less than a second:

Click to expand:

The solution? When waiting for a light on the sidewalk, just stand behind something big like a fire hydrant or a tree. That way, traffic will have a chance to slow down a bit before hitting you. Just think to your self, “They’re trying to kill me,” and you’ll be fine.

The More You Know…

Stay safe!

The Bay Area Plover Wars Continue into 2009 – R U a Plover Lover?

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

San Francisco has had its share of battles about beaches, dogs and Western Snowy Plover birds so it’s only logical that nearby Pacifica, CA gets into the act as well. Some dog owners down there are hopping mad, as you might expect in light of San Francisco’s recent experience.

But, as you can see from this shot from Ingrid Taylar’s About.com San Francisco, these little dickens have cuteness on their side. And that always helps.

Stay smooth, Pacifica.

Brace yourself, this photo of an adult plover on Ocean Beach gets extra big when you click on it:

Of course San Francisco is for Plovers, as the T-shirt says:

More deets after the jump.

Godspeed, little plovers!

(more…)

Pedestrian Safety Double Fine Zones Coming to San Francisco Next Week

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

Here’s the problem – lots of drivers are blowing through San Francisco County going either from San Mateo County to Marin County or vice versa. This rush to and from the Golden Gate Bridge means danger to pedestrians on busy roads such as Van Ness, Lombard, 19th Avenue (yes “avenue” and not “street”) and Park Presidio.

So guess what – as of January 1, 2009, all or most of these roads will be designated Double Fine Zones thanks to Senate Bill 1149, authored by Senator Leland Yee, Ph.D. This was the scene this morning when he and Assemblymember Tom Ammiano explained it all at Van Ness and McAllister: 

 

Click to expand

So, who else supported making this change? Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, the Board of Supervisors, WALK San Francisco, the Senior Action Network, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC), the MTA, the Chronicle, the Examiner, and on and on.

Hurray! At long last, hurray!

More deets after the jump.

(more…)

The Best Places to Get Drugs Always Seem to be in “Drug Free Zones”

Saturday, May 17th, 2008

Why’s that?

You’d think a “drug free” area would be bereft of scoring opportunities, but that doesn’t appear to be the case around Hippy Hill in the Haight Ashbury section of San Francisco.

go8f6874a.jpg

Just saying…