This is not the month to honk at that pedestrian entering the crosswalk as you approach. Hell, no month is that month (they have the right of way, dummy), but this is ESPECIALLY not the month — according a release sent to media, SFPD will be conducting pedestrian stings during “peak traffic times…at various locations throughout The City including: the Geary Street corridor, San Bruno Avenue corridor, Bayshore Boulevard, Sixth Street corridor and Cole Valley.”
In these stings, it’s the driver who gets stung, not the pedestrian — ringers will be in marked and unmarked cross walks to see if you grant them their right of way, and cops will also be watching for red light, stop, and speed violations.
Bike NOPA also reports that “SFPD will step-up enforcement of the 25 mph speed limit on the Masonic corridor beginning today” during both the commute and off hours, and that Park Station Captain Teresa Barrett appears to be considering employing radar displays (those signs that tell you how fast traffic’s traveling as you pass) in the area.
Regarding the pedestrian stings, SFist notes that “these sorts of measure do little to fix our flawed traffic infrastructure, which is the real problem.” Bike NOPA, however, says that “Traffic engineers refer to the ‘three E’s’ for traffic calming: Enforcement, Education, and Engineering. With its increased monitoring of speeding and willingness to employ speed displays, Park Station is doing its part to cover two of the three.”
What do you think, are the threats of sting operations or those signs that always make me think of The Rookie enough to fix our traffic infrastructure (that is, if you believe it is indeed flawed?) What else should the city be doing?
