Hey, remember that Muni accident (which one?) in which a 10 Townsend hit some parked cars? At that time, there were reports (unconfirmed by Muni) that the Muni driver was “distracted” and that that’s why he drove into a row of vehicles parked near near 25th and Dakota streets.
After repeated requests from Muni to view the video, we filed an Immediate Disclosure Request for the on-board and external (that’s the newer system known as DriveCam) camera footage.
Just one problem: though the DriveCam cameras were working (as you can see from the footage above), the onboard ones apparently weren’t.
Yup! Despite promises by MTA management that Muni’s cameras would be 100% operational by the end of November 2009, Holland tells us that “the way transit operates in San Francisco is hard (on) the equipment.” From their response to our request for the video:
Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who had been quite vocal regarding the need for Muni to have a fully operational video system, did not respond to our request for comment.
Holland adds “The SFMTA executive team is evaluating options to inspect and maintain all camera systems at 100 percent performance and is exploring the option of contracting with vendors that provide wireless capabilities for efficient camera health status monitoring.”
In terms of the 10 Townsend accident itself, well, this is why your Driver’s Ed teacher told you not to take your eyes off the road.
