Author: Rahman Law PC

Be Nice, Stop Collisions

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

On Tuesday, December 31, 2013, what were you doing?

Universally known as New Year’s Eve, you most likely used this day to review the good and the bad of 2013, remembering what you did right and noting things that could have been done differently. Perhaps you were trying to fit in some last minute fun before the New Year.

However, Sophia Liu, 6, and Zhen Guang Ng, 86, did not share this agenda. Sophia Liu was hit by a car in a crosswalk at Polk and Ellis. Zhen Guang Ng was run over by a car in a crosswalk at Rolph and Naples. Both were killed as a result of the accident the day before the New Year.

Collisions caused by motor vehicles that result in the deaths of pedestrians are common in San Francisco- an average of 900 pedestrians are hit by automobiles annually. These collisions have focused attention into making San Francisco a pedestrian-friendly city. These efforts include the previous Mayor Gavin Newsom’s executive directive that called for significantly reducing the number of fatal injuries in half by 2021 and the current Mayor Ed Lee’s $17 million contribution throughout the next five years to “various pedestrian safety improvements.”

Despite the city officials’ efforts to improve the safety of pedestrians and reduce the number of fatal collisions, it seems the efforts are slow in motion. Nicole Schneider, executive director of Walk San Francisco, states that all the planning to improve safety is great but the action behind the planning is lacking.   As a member of the Board of Directors of Walk San Francisco, Shaana Rahman is committed to reducing the number of pedestrian collisions.

While city officials work to turn San Francisco into a truly pedestrian friendly city, let us, drivers and pedestrians, contribute by taking part in Mayor Lee’s “Be Nice, Look Twice” public awareness campaign.

If you ever need a bicycle accident attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

(Source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/In-S-F-pedestrian-deaths-shine-light-on-street-5146884.php#photo-5729337)

Bay Area Bike Share Coming to Life

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

The Bay Area Bike Sharing Program set to launch in August is slowly, but surely coming to life. The company that is managing the program, Alta, and the SFMTA recently released a series of infographics containing a wealth of information about the system including information about the bikes, the pricing and the structure of the stations. The release of information coincided with the New York City bike-sharing launch. New York’s 6,000 bike Citi Bike program, managed by the same company handling the Bay Area’s system, has been an early success. The Bay Area’s 350 bike program will be starting at a much smaller scale, but advocates hope that it will expand quickly. For now, advocates of the system and potential patrons can prepare for the August launch by commenting on the initial launch sites and providing input for future expansions and additional stations at the SF Bike Share Sites website, by getting all of the detailed information about the project in this online PDF Guide, and by attending the June 14th SFMTA Public Hearing on the Station Approvals to voice their opinions.

If you ever need a bicycle accident attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

Source: http://sf.streetsblog.org/2013/05/31/meet-bay-area-bikeshare/

Section of Market Street to Receive Much Needed Repair this Weekend

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

This weekend starting today, Friday June 7, at 7:00pm the Department of Public Works will re-pave a section of Market Street between Van Ness Avenue and Sixth Street. The DPW estimates that the work will last 24 hours.

This much-needed repaving, the first in about 30 years, is the first in a series of re-pavings on Market Street. The next section scheduled to get a much-needed makeover is between Steuart and Third streets. Then the section of Market between Third and Sixth. The repairs are tentatively scheduled for June 21-22 and mid-July respectively.

“This will be a major improvement to the city’s most important bicycling street,” said SF Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Leah Shahum in a statement. “For the growing number of people biking on Market Street — whether traveling to work or connecting to regional transit or visiting neighborhoods connected by our city’s main artery — this repaving could not come soon enough.”

Logistics:

The repaving will only be to the outer lanes of Market Street (those used by cyclists). According to Sfstreetsblog, ‘During construction, bikes, automobiles and trucks will be detoured off of Market. Muni and other public transit vehicles will still run in Market’s center lanes, and all boardings will take place on the center islands.’

If you ever need a bicycle accident attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

Source:

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2013/06/05/dpw-to-re-pave-a-major-stretch-of-market-street-this-weekend/

Bike to Work and Improve Your Health and Well-Being

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

Biking to work has numerous health benefits. Most people are aware of this fact, but few people can visualize what this really means. America Bikes, the nationwide cycling advocacy group, has compiled a series of graphics to really put biking into perspective. Here are a few of the most powerful (for the full article and all of the infographics go to AmericaBikes.org):

Support Pedestrian Safety Projects at Today’s Land Use and Economic Development Committee Meeting

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

In April we blogged about Mayor Ed Lee’s new plan to support pedestrian safety in San Francisco in our New Pedestrian Safety Plan Outlined on Walk to Work Day post. It is the unfortunate truth however than many of the promised projects and improvements will  be tied up in bureaucratic red tape for years and that those that are lucky enough to make it through the maze even partially intact end up costing much more than expected.

To circumvent the bureaucratic quicksand, Supervisor Scott Wiener has introduced a four-part pedestrian safety legislation. The legislation will create a centralized Street Design Review Committee, a resolution calling for city agencies to modernize street code provisions, better coordinate their efforts around public projects, and formulate clear procedures, an ordinance making it easier for developers to build pedestrian safety projects and gift them to the city, and an ordinance amending the Fire Code to ensure that pedestrian safety projects are not unnecessarily impeded by the code’s definition of minimum street width.

Join Walk SF in supporting these ordinances by attending the Land Use and Economic Development Committee Meeting, Monday, June 3 at 1: 30 p.m. at City Hall in Room 263. 

If you ever need a pedestrian accident attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

Source:

http://walksf.org/

Muni’s Shortfalls Cost the City and Encourage Private Services

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

A new study of Muni’s shortcomings, conducted by the City Controller’s office, shows that Muni delays and disruptions caused by  breakdowns and maintenance repairs during peak commute hours cost the City (and its people) approximately 4.2 million dollars in April alone and an approximate 50 million dollars a year. This quantification of the frustration many Muni riders feel everytime they are stranded at a Muni stop waiting for the next bus, serves as ammunition for Ed Reiskin, the transportation director for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, to use in his campaign to get the City to invest more in the dilapidated agency.

In the meantime however, private services like the ride-sharing companies discussed in an ealier post, continue to expand to fill the widening gaps in Muni service. Leap Transit, with its fleet of bright blue private shuttles that can be seen in the Marina district, is only the latest company to provide its serivces to San Francisco’s commuters. The company takes the technological aspect of the ride-sharing companies (an iPhone app that acts as bus pass and payment method), the luxory of a private car serivce (spacious seats, air conditioning and wifi) and the convenience of a bus (designated stops – oftentimes Muni stops- and designated times- only during peak hours), all at a price of $6 per ride.

The company’s founder, Kyle Kirchhoff, insists that the price tag means that the private service is not competing with Muni, but rather complementing it. The price was chosen to reflect the services offered and to be more expensive than Muni, but cheaper than a taxi. To illustrate the relationship between Leap Transit and Muni as his company sees it, Kirchoff even made the amusing analogy of comparing Leap Transit to FedEx and Muni to the U.S. Postal Service, an anaology most likely less amusing to Muni officials given the Post Office’s ongoing struggles to stay relevant and in business.

Muni officials may be upset by the lack of regulation on this private service industry, but until the City give Muni the funding it needs and the funding Reiskin has been campaigning for, unregulated private companies like Leap Transit will continue to fill the gaps. “Mario Tanev, a spokesman for the passenger advocacy group San Francisco Transit Riders Union, said the emergence of Leap is a clear sign of Muni’s failure.” This connection is especially clear since Leap Transit’s routes are duplicates of Muni lines, yet the new company continues to increase its client base as more and more commuters become more and more frustrated with Muni service.

Source:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/transportation/2013/05/muni-delays-cost-economy-50m-year-study-says

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/transportation/2013/05/new-san-francisco-shuttle-service-offering-route-similar-muni

BART Approves Additional Test Period for Bikes

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

Thursday night the BART Board of Directors shied away from lifting the ban on bikes during rush-hour, voting 6-3 to instead implement a 5 month testing period starting July 1. The vote means that between July 1 and December 1 bikes will once again be allowed on all but the first 3 BART cars during rush hours. However, the move appeases the opposition more than supports the cyclists and leaves the Board with an easy way out.

The test period will include “careful monitoring and a review in October”. This review will determine whether or not the ban is lifted permanently. The six Board Members who voted to implement the test period instead of permanantly lifting the ban argued that the two 5-day test periods in 2012 and 2013 did not provide enough data to make an informed decision.

The legions of bicyclists who filled the boardroom and the overflow room disagreed. They spoke of the hardships posed by the ban and the benefits of lifting it. The two test periods, especially the most recent week-long test in May 2013, produced overwhelming positive results. A large marjority of BART riders supported the lift of the ban and a very small percentage reported problems with cyclists or disruptions in their daily commute as a result of the bikes.They argued that the blackouts during rush hours deter many cyclists from taking public transportation at all in the Bay Area since they often get stranded in San Francisco during the evening rush hour. A lift on the ban will likely increase the number of people commuting by public transportation as it will allow those who would prefer to ride their bikes, but can’t work around the blackout times, to again ride BART to and from the city.

The test period will be an important indicator of the negative impact of bikes on the trains during rush hours. The success of the program will largely depend on ridership numbers and whether the positive numbers observed during the week-long test periods (“about 25 percent of those surveyed said they would be more likely to ride BART if they could take their bikes along, while 11 percent said they were less likely to ride if they had to share the trains with bikes, six percent of those surveyed brought their bikes on BART during the experimental period, and 3 percent said they avoided BART because of the test”) are proved accurate.

Cyclists in the Bay Area can help make the lift of the ban permanent by taking advantage of the test period. Take your bikes on BART, participate in the experiment, but be courteous to your fellow BART passengers. Its true that right now the burden of proof is falling on the shoulders of the cyclists. For the next five months cyclists will have to make the extra effort to ensure that the ban is lifted permantly. In the meantime, brush up on your BART etiquette. Refresh your memory by participating in a cycling etiquette class or simply reading the BART Bike Rules. It might be a bit tedious, but in the end it will benefit all cyclists in the Bay Area.

Bart Bike Rules: http://www.bart.gov/guide/bikes/bikeRules.aspx

If you ever need a bicycle accident attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

Source:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BART-plans-another-test-for-bicycles-4544867.php

Safe Routes to School on the Chopping Block!

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

Last week Governor Brown released his budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year and one of the programs getting cut is California’s Safe Routes to School.

A Little Background on ‘Safe Routes to School’:

California’ Safe Routes to School program began in 1999 and has since become a model for the Federal Prgram and for State-Wide initiatives across the country. The program targets the crosswalks, sidewalks and bike lanes in school zones. Its goal is to make these areas safer for the children who frequent them, to increase the number of children who bike and walk to school.  In its more than 10 years of implementation the program has proven to be a success. “During a time of rising childhood obesity nationwide, obesity rates have started to reverse in California, and children in California are walking at ten percent higher rates than they did in 2001. Safe Routes to School is helping kids across California stay safe and get healthy on their way to school.”

How YOU Can Help:

Cutting the program will stop the progress that has been made. Schools will not receive the funding they desperately need to make their streets safer and traffic safety education in these schools will also decrease substantially. Protecting our children as they travel to and from school is one of the most important initiatives the state can fund. Do not let it fall between the cracks now.

1) Call the Governor’s Office: (916) 445-2841

  • Ask to speak to a representative
  • When someone answers, state your name and the city or town where you live, then tell the Governor’s aide that you urge Governor Brown to support dedicated funding for Safe Routes to School to ensure that kids can get safely to school on foot or by bicycle.

2) Email the Governor’s Office: http://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php

  • State your name and the city or town where you live, then tell the Governor’s aide that you urge Governor Brown to support dedicated funding for Safe Routes to School to ensure that kids can get safely to school on foot or by bicycle.

3) Send a Letter in Support of AB 1194 (Ammiano): http://saferoutescalifornia.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/action-alert-two-letters-of-support-for-active-transportation-and-safe-routes-to-school-today/, which will ensure funding for the Safe Routes program.

If you ever need a pedestrian accident attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

Source: Marin County Bicycle Coalition

Drivers Who Kill Pedestrians Rarely Face Consequences

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

Accidents happen. It is an unfortunate truth. But accidents that happen as a result of a person carelessly wielding a dangerous weapon are punishable by law. People who are charged and convicted in accidental shooting deaths face severe consequences and often serve jail time. Yet, in the Bay Area, drivers who are charged in accidental pedestrian deaths often walk away without any consequences. Cars can be as dangerous as guns, oftentimes more so. 3,000 pounds of metal traveling 25-60 miles an hour is a undoubtedly deadly weapon. The broken bodies of the people struck by vehicles can attest to that. Unfortunately, the Bay Area has one of the highest pedestrian casualty rates in the entire nation. In the last 10 years pedestrians have accounted for more than 25% of the traffic-related fatalities in the Bay Area. Only the notorious New York and Los Angeles areas outpace us in pedestrian fatalities. Of these 434 pedestrian fatalities, 1/3 were in crosswalks when they were killed. That’s nearly 144 people killed while crossing in a safe zone, nearly three times the national average.

Adding insult to injury (or death), 60% of the 238 motorists found to be at fault or suspected of a crime in the death of a pedestrian faced no criminal charges. When drivers did face criminal charges, punishment was often light. Even more confounding, licenses were rarely suspended. Of those few people who were charged with a crime, less than 60% had their driving privileges suspended or revoked for even one day. 40% of those convicted faced no more than a day in jail. “If there isn’t a penalty, the message is that it’s all right to run people over and kill them,” said Elizabeth Stampe, executive director and the sole paid employee of nonprofit advocacy group Walk San Francisco on whose Board of Directors Shaana Rahman sits. “There’s a joke from New York that maybe isn’t very funny: If you want to kill someone and get away with it, use a car – and that’s true here as well.”

The disturbing truth of the matter is that by law each and every one of the 238 motorists found to be at fault are guilty. They have indeed committed a crime and should be prosecuted as such. However, D.A.s often refuse to bring charges because they feel that they could never get a jury to convict. As such, reckless drivers are rarely brought to justice and pedestrians continue to die in avoidable accidents at unbelievably high rates. To drive is to take the lives of others into your hands. The safety of the pedestrians around you becomes your responsibility. When that responsibility is blatantly ignored and someone is killed or seriously injured as a result, the law requires justice and action, not a blind-eye and shrug of regret as nothing is done and that family is left to grieve with neither.

If you ever need a pedestrian accident attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

Source:

http://cironline.org/reports/bay-area-drivers-who-kill-pedestrians-rarely-face-punishment-analysis-finds-4420

More Taxis Added to SF’s Fleet, but Industry still Uncertain

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

 

The SFMTA has approved a plan to add 120 more taxi cabs to its fleet in 2013 and 200 more in 2014. The decision came in spite of protests from Taxi drivers and companies who argued that the addition of more taxi cabs should wait until the illegal ride-sharing company issue was settled. Ride-sharing companies started to appear in San Francisco in the last couple years to address the shortcomings of the taxi industry. The companies use smartphone apps to locate riders, build trust between drivers and passengers and even take payment. They are unlicensed and unregulated. The taxi companies, who are heavily regulated by the MTA, say that this competition is simply unfair. Drivers argue that they have been asking for technology and dispatch upgrades for years, but that the bureaucracy of the agency has held them back. They are worried that the influx of new cabs along with the continued increase in ride-sharing opportunities will only hurt their industry.

There is no doubt that the taxi industry in the city needs a boost. Whether from a better dispatching system (one that is integrated between companies perhaps) or better technological options (the ride-sharing companies have the right  idea with the smartphone apps), the industry must be able to compete. In addition, it should in some ways welcome the competition that the ride-sharing companies offer. San Franciscans and the many tourists and businesspeople who venture to the city on a short-term basis have very different transportation needs. A little diversity in public transportation in a city where few people drive can be an improvement.

In Chile, for example, there are four main types of transportation. Buses offer the most reliable transportation in between cities (much like BART or Trans-bay buses). Micros, mini-buses, offer transportation between set points in the city (much like Muni functions in the City). Taxis, offer the best service for groups of people (it is cheaper to share the fare), for trips to the outskirts of the city, for trips late at night or early in the morning, or when you are in a rush. Taxis can be flagged down on the street, but the best way is to call 10-15 minutes ahead of time and have them come pick you up. There is however, a fourth option, called a collectivo. Collectivos are a combination of taxi services and ride-sharing companies. They are extremely common (there are more collectivos on the streets then any other vehicle) and they are extremely cheap (Collectivos cost $1-2 per trip). They act like a taxi. Flag down a collectivo with 1, 2 or 3 people already inside and tell the driver where you are headed. If he is headed in that direction you can jump in, if not flag down the next one. It may take 10 minutes longer since the driver has to drop off the other passengers as well, but since you are all headed in the same direction the delay is not significant. The collectivos fill a gap left by the taxis. They are a way for commuters to get to work without worrying about bus schedules or having to walk blocks from the bus terminal. Instead of driving to the store for a gallon of milk and some bread, hop in a collectivo.

Obviously, Chile is not San Francisco, but they have a functioning multi-faceted transportation system that caters to the needs of its citizens and tourists by offering competition and diversity. There is no question that San Francisco’s cab fleet is extremely important to the city. However, it may not be the only solution to the city’s transportation woes.

Source:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/transportation/2013/04/more-taxicabs-approved-san-francisco

http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2012/11/08/110777/

Photo Source:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/files/blog_images/TAXI2.1020.jpg