Jenny Yu: Keep Pedestrians Safe

Jenny Yu’s life changed after her mother was hit by a car. Now, she advocates for pedestrian safety and speed cameras.

I still wonder sometimes  where was my mother going on the afternoon when she was hit by a speeding driver.

My best guess is that my mom was shopping for something to celebrate my dad’s birthday, which was also their wedding anniversary. That possibility breaks my heart.

My mom had the ‘walk sign’ when she stepped into the crosswalk in San Francisco. She made it halfway across the intersection. But that’s when a speeding driver made a left turn and hit her with his SUV, sending her body flying clear across the intersection.

My 60-year-old mom suffered a ruptured spleen, collapsed lung, multiple fractures and a severe traumatic brain injury. She will never be able to tell us where she was going that afternoon.

My mom, Judy Szeto Yuen Man Yu, is now 74. For 14 years now, my siblings and I have cared for her 24 hours a day. Every day, my mom lives in a state of confusion. She has significant cognitive impairment, frequent headaches, angry outbursts and suicidal tendencies.

There’s something else I wonder. What if that driver hadn’t been going so fast?

When drivers speed, the stakes grow higher with every mile over the speed limit. By the time a driver is going 40 mph and hits a pedestrian, the pedestrian is 75% likely to die or be like my mom: left with devastating, life-changing injuries.

Many drivers don’t think twice about going 40 mph in a 25 mph zone. But with speed cameras coming to 33 locations in San Francisco this month, drivers will soon have to think about this.

We need people to change their behavior not just where there’s a speed camera, but everywhere. I know all too well how real the threat is from speeding.

We all deserve to get where we are going safely, wherever that may be. With a Perspective, I’m Jenny Yu.

Jenny Yu is a financial planner and has been living in San Francisco since the 1989 earthquake. She enjoys her walks and eating her way through different cuisines in the city.