After Pedestrian Deaths, S.F. Officials and Activists Call for Traffic Safety State of Emergency

San Francisco officials and activists called for a state of emergency for traffic safety in the city on Tuesday after two pedestrians were killed and another was injured in less than a week.

A man died on Sunday after a woman driving a Tesla allegedly struck him and his wife — who was injured — while they were walking in the crosswalk at Taylor and O’Farrell streets. The woman has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and for running a red light, ABC7 reported. Last Thursday, a man died after allegedly being struck by a tractor-trailer in the Tenderloin. The driver was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and failure to yield to a pedestrian, according to KPIX 5.

“We are in an emergency,” San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents the Tenderloin and SoMa neighborhoods where the pedestrians died, told activists gathered at City Hall for a traffic safety rally.

"Right now, we’re moving in a way that’s too reactive, it’s too slow, it’s too piecemeal and it’s not reflecting the crisis that’s on our streets,” he said. “Calling for a state of emergency would lead to much more proactive, immediate and sweeping changes on our streets.”

There have been 21 traffic-related fatalities in San Francisco so far this year, city transportation officials say.

Haney and activists are calling for the city to immediately put up red light cameras and explore increasing traffic enforcement, narrowing lanes and changing the timing of lights.

“Within four days, we have seen two pedestrians die in ways that are beyond the pale,” Jodie Medeiros, executive director of pedestrian safety group Walk San Francisco, said in a statement. “The city needs to declare a state of emergency for traffic safety.”

San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener and Tom Maguire, interim SFMTA director of transportation, joined the rally.