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Yield to pedestrians or it could cost you; Police planning stings

Posted on by Sarah B.

SFAppeal reports that the SFPD will be kicking off targeted pedestrian stings in and around the area of Golden Gate Park, specifically the district patrolled by the Park Police.

The Park Police district includes the area bordered by Geary Boulevard, Steiner, Market, Upper Market, 7th Avenue and the east end of Golden Gate Park. So if you’re driving around there this week and next, mind your P’s and Q’s. Well, you should always do that but if you want to avoid a $220 ticket, pay extra attention.

That’s the cost for the most common infraction, which is not granting the right of way to a pedestrian in any marked or unmarked crosswalk. The SFAppeal gives us the lowdown on the exact law:

The law states that if a pedestrian is waiting to cross at a crosswalk, vehicles must yield. Drivers must yield even if the pedestrian is in an unmarked crosswalk intersection. If the pedestrian is in an unmarked crosswalk, they must look before stepping off the curb but if it is a marked crosswalk they are free to step into the intersection. Vehicles must yield in both situations.

And if you see any current or former Beatle crossing, for goodness sakes, please yield! Be safe out there,

Sarah B.

9 Comments

  2. And for me 😉 It was the first “crosswalk” photo that came to mind.

    Sarah B.

  4. Be especially careful, because the SFPD often ignores this part of the vehicle code:

    (b) This section does not relieve a pedestrian from the duty of using due care for his or her safety. No pedestrian may suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard.

    The sting (or scam) sometimes consists of an officer hopping off the curb (He’s in the crosswalk!), then back on the curb–when an approaching car is too close to stop (eg, 20 feet from the crosswalk, going 25 mph). The officer then waves a motorcycle officer on to stop the driver and issue the ticket.

    So scan the crosswalks for police officers on the curb–as well as for any pedestrians who might actually want to cross: take it easy, and be courteous. It only takes a moment to stop, let people cross, and then go on your way.

  5. The police could make a fortune for the city writing tickets for drivers who pay no attention to pedestrians at any of the intersections bordering Mountain Lake Park — Eighth Ave. to Funston St. Even the stop signs at Ninth and 12th Avenues don’t help that much.

  6. Beware that they are also doing stings on Bikes. I got a ticket for running a red light yesterday in the wiggle @ Scott turning onto Fell. Anyone who rides a bike knows how common this is for people to do @ this intersection, and as we hit Fell, a cop scooped us up like flies. I watched him ticket a ton of people and then went back around the corner and warned people (soon accompanied by a guy who had a sound system on his bike) until he left. A lot of people who we stopped from hitting the turn mentioned that in the past week the same cop had been on other parts of the wiggle. Beware.

  7. In the last 3 months, I have noticed a DRAMATIC difference when I cross Fulton Street. to wait for the bus going downtown in the morning. Previously, people wouldn’t stop for love or money. Now, many actually STOP of their own accord, and many at least slow down significantly. Don’t think this came “out of the blue” — think it’s the efforts of the SFPD paying off. And I might add that they are making those efforts because residents of the Richmond district have told them that pedestrian safety is a huge problem (which they knew, too) and that we wanted their help in addressing the situation. In other words, this is good “community policing” — it is NOT “police harrassment.”

  8. I know for a fact that bike stings are also being done at the request of Richmond district residents. Residents have complained about bicyclists that break laws so flagrantly that they put themselves at great risk of being hit, scare pedestrians trying to cross streets — and scare the heck out of drivers who are terrified they’ll not be able to avoid hitting them. This is not an anti-bicyclist move — hopefully we all support having people bicycle (I surely do). But our streets are busy and the goal here is to ensure that everyone — pedestrians, bicyclists and automobilists — can use them safely and without fear.

    I understand that pedestrians crossing when lights are RED are also going to be heavily targeted. We’ve all gotten into the habit of walking across the street when the lights are red (me, too) But it’s really making it unsafe to drive a car across Geary Blvd., etc.

    I’d really like the cops to go after people who make u-turns in the middle of Clement St., etc to get parking and block all the traffic. Totally ILLEGAL! If you need to turn around, you do a 3-point turn by turning left into a driveway, backing up, then coming back the other way.

  9. there should be timed traffic lights at every intersection on 6-lane Geary. that would increase ped safety a lot more than undercover cops jumping in out front of traffic

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