Pedestrian Accident

A Cyclist Injurs a Pedestrian–Not the Usual Type of San Francisco Bicycle Accident

July 19, 2011 | Gregory J. Brod

Last week a cyclist ran a red light on the Embarcadero and hit a pedestrian, sending her to the hospital with a life threatening head injury. The cyclist was not injured and has not been cited or arrested for the infraction. The police may or may not file charges, as the investigation is pending. Here in California cyclists face the same potential legal repercussions a driver of a car involved in a car accident might face, if they were found to be responsible. Albie Esparza, the officer on the scene, pointed out cyclists need to remember to stop at every stop sign and every stop light, as they are considered a motor vehicle, with the human being acting as the motor. He also pointed out, in not so many words, that while officers do conduct traffic stops on cyclists, it just isn’t practical to go after a cyclist every time they commit infraction.

Often we hear about pedestrians who have been injured by cars, but few pedestrians are injured by cyclists. This kind of thing, however rare it may be, can happen to any cyclist and pedestrian at any moment. In their fight for their right to share on the road, some cyclists have forgotten the bigger picture: that everyone has the right expect others to follow the rules of the road and that drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians need to look out for each other. At the same time, however, the rules of safety on the road go both ways– both drivers and non drivers need to be aware of traffic. It is true that pedestrians need to learn how to walk defensively in this city, as sidewalks are occupied by not just pedestrians. They are home to rollerbladers, skateboarders, scooters, and even segways. And the intersections between sidewalks include not only cars-there are bicycles, skateboarders, and scooters there, too. Pedestrians need to look out for their own safety and not assume cars and bicyclist are paying attention. It would be wise for all pedestrians in San Francisco to adapt situational awareness everywhere they walk. It is important for pedestrians to stay out of a driver’s blind spot, make eye contact with drivers when crossing busy streets, and cross the street only when it is safe, not only when the signal tells your or when you have the right of way. Keeping things in perspective is key. It doesn’t matter if you have the right of way when an inattentive driver comes along and runs over you. Being right isn’t always point out there in the streets. Staying alive is.
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Sacramento-San Francisco Train Accident Attorney Comments on BART Incident

July 1, 2011 | Gregory J. Brod

Yesterday, a woman lying the tracks at Glen Park Station escaped with minor injuries after a train traveling at 30mph passed over her, according sfexaminer.com. Bart police shut down the station during the morning commute to determine how the woman managed to get on the tracks. The spokesman for Bart said that a train operator tried to slow down when he saw the woman standing up on the Glen Park tracks at around 8:15 a.m. The woman managed to lie flat on her back as the train traveled over her. Seven train cars passed over before she was able to climb up out of the tracks. When BART police found her she was covered in soot and distraught, but without major injuries. The woman was not a disabled or blind passenger. She went to the hospital for evaluation of her injuries. As a result of the incident, passengers traveling in all directions experienced major delays yesterday.

It is astonishing that the woman walked away without any major injuries. There has been several train accidents involving pedestrians in the Bay Area this year, and those victims were not as lucky. Common injuries from train accidents include brain injury, spinal cord injury, broken bones and fractures, internal organ damage, and death. Train accidents involving pedestrians usually occur because people, for whatever reason, either purposefully or by accident, wander onto train property and rights-of-way.

If you or someone you know sustained an injury related to a BART accident, or any other form of public transportation, please contact our firm for a free consultation. After sustaining a personal injury in accident involving BART or other public transportation, you want to make sure to hire an experienced personal injury attorney, as different municipal transportation case has different insurance procedures. Here at the Brod Law Firm we will be there to guide you through the process, make sure your rights are protected, and make it easy help you get the compensation you deserve.

San Francisco-Oakland Pedestrian Accident Attorney Comments on Recent Pedestrian Accidents in San Francisco

June 20, 2011 | Gregory J. Brod

According to different reports put out over the past week by sfexaminer.com , a few traffic collisions sent many to the emergency room. The most recent occurred over the weekend when a man was struck and killed by vehicle at the intersection of 18th and Mission streets on Saturday morning. Witnesses say a man driving a minivan fled after hitting the victim at around 10:3a.m. In a separate accident involving a pedestrian, an elderly woman was struck by a mail truck on Saturday morning at the intersection of 19th Avenue and Quintara Street in the Sunset district. She was taken to San Francisco General Hospital with life-threatening injuries. Last Monday a paratransit van was broadsided in Bernal Heights that morning, sending eight people to the hospital for precautionary reasons.

When you mix high volumes of traffic and large numbers of pedestrians in the same area, such as we have here in many districts in San Francisco, it is inevitable that someone gets hurt. According to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, there were more than 800 collisions involving pedestrians in 2008; pedestrians typically account for half the people killed in traffic collisions in San Francisco; more pedestrians are involved in collisions at intersections, on Fridays, during the month of December between the hours of 3:00p.m. and 6:00p.m; and the leading cause of non-fatal pedestrian injury collisions is motorist failure to yield. Consequently, the SFMTA has begun to implement a variety of measures to improve pedestrian safety, including installing new pedestrian signs, improved crosswalk markings, leading pedestrian signal intervals, pedestrian only signal phases, stop signs, audible pedestrian signals, red zones to improve sight distances, and traffic calming improvements.

If you or a loved one suffered an injury as a pedestrian, please contact our firm for a free consultation today. Our personal injury attorney understands how and why pedestrian accidents occur and is prepared to put the law on your side. After an accident, it is important that you contact our firm promptly so that we can act quickly to protect your rights.

San Francisco-Oakland Attorney Comments on Dangerous Intersections in San Francisco

June 17, 2011 | Gregory J. Brod

According The Bay Citizen, earlier this week seniors were protesting at a dangerous intersection in San Francisco, the intersction at Third Street and Yosmite Street. On Wednesday of this week, a group of seniors stood at the intersection and held protest signs, demanding more senior-friendly crossings in all of San Francisco, not just that one. In fact, that intersection they protested has been the site of just one accident in the last five years, but that does not change the fact that seniors feel many intersections in the city, like that one, do not allow enough time for seniors to cross. All along Third Street it is dangerous to cross. Most seniors who cross third street only make it to the median, which is just a cement sliver in between tow sets of Muni tacks where the T-Train travels.

The protest comes on the heels of a national report that found seniors and minorities were the most likely to be hit and killed while walking on the strets. The study found that ove the past decade there were nearly 7,000 pedestrian deaths in California, and nearly 700 in San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont. A spokesman for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency says that crosswalk times are set by federal guidelines based on the length of the crosswalk and the type of intersection. He said that the agency has no plans to change the signal time. The signal at the Third Street intersection gives 20 seconds for pedestrians to cross five lanes of traffic, not an easy task for some seniors. Needless to say, many seniors are aftraid of crossing the street, regardless of the statistics and federal guidelines. Simply put, it is dangerous for them to cross large, busy intersections, and they risk their lives when they do.

If you or a loved one suffered an injury due to crossing at an unsafe intersection, please contact our qualified pedestrian accident attorney for a free consultation. Our firm has over 10 years experience representing injured pedestrians of all ages and helping them receive the compensation they deserve.

San Francisco Attorney Discusses Safety Measures in District 6, at Main and Harrison

June 13, 2011 | Gregory J. Brod

According to streetsblog, on December 10, 2004, as Katie Liddell was walking to her Portside apartment at Harrison and Main in Ricon Hill, she noticed emergency vehicles surrounding the intersection near there. As she approached, she came upon a terrifying scene: her neighbor had been hit and killed, and lie in the middle of the street with a tarp covering her body. The force of the big rig truck had thrown 63-year-old Beverly Kees out of the cross walk so violently that the impact killed her. Kees was a SF State journalism professor who had recently retired and lived across the street from Liddell in the Bay Crest Towers. The dog she had been walking was also hit and injured. It turns out that Kee’s doctor told her that she needed to walk more, so she asked her neighbor if she could walk her dog. Her neighbor walks a lot too and feels, like most San Franciscans who enjoy walking in the city, that pedestrians are considered an inconvenience.

The intersection of Harrison and Main is the kind of place that is dangerous in the one of the city’s densest neighbor hoods. Harrison serves as a four-lane westbound thoroughfare that carries 12,600 drivers daily, most of whom are headed to the bay bridge. During peak-hour traffic, drivers are continually seen speeding and blocking the crosswalk. Three people have died there since 2003, and many others have been injured. Voters are expected to vote on a street bond measure in November. If they approve the bond measure, some of that money will be directed to pedestrian safety improvements in District 6. The SFMTA is also planning some engineering measures that they expect to improve Harrison and Main, which include:

• A head start for pedestrians crossing Harrison Street.

Caltrain Strikes and Kills a Man

April 8, 2011 | Gregory J. Brod

Yesterday, a southbound Caltrain struck and killed a man in San Mateo Thursday morning, according to the San Francisco Examiner. Train No. 198 left San Francisco station at 12:01 a.m. and hit the pedestrian on the tracks about 100 yards north of 25th Avenue at around 1am. Authorities are investigating how the man ended up on the tracks. There were 62 passengers on the train at the time of the incident, which continued southbound shortly after 2 a.m. and made all scheduled stops.

When a train accident occurs and you are injured or a family member is injured or killed, you may think that seeking monetary damages is an inadequate form of compensation, but monetary compensation can help pay for the medical bills and living needs of the train accident victim’s family. Victims injured by a train need to prove, with the aid of an attorney, that the defendants failed to act in a carful manner when they had a duty to do so and that the accident caused their injuries. Since each train crash is different, and each victim’s injuries and losses are unique, the types of damages available in each train crash will be different. An attorney can help you decide which kind of damages you should seek, such as medical bills and health care costs, future health care costs, property damage, impaired earning capacity, lost wages, pain and suffering, life care, and wrongful death. And because each train accident is unique, as they can have a single cause or multiple causes, a qualified and experienced attorney can decipher, with the help of accident reconstructionists, engineers and other experts, all the parties that can be held liable for a victim’s injuries.

Here at the Brod Law Firm, we have litigated and settled a large number of personal injury claims on our clients’ behalf, and we are able put our legal expertise to work on any personal injury case, including train accidnets. If you or a family member suffered an injury due to the negligence of another, please contact our firm. Our firm will work hard on your claim to get you the compensation you deserve for your injuries, and we will fight on your behalf in court when a settlement is not possible

San Francisco-Oakland Car Accident Attorney Comments on a Case of Road Rage in San Francisco

March 14, 2011 | Gregory J. Brod

According to SFWeekly, a speeding driver suffering from a bout of road rage beat a woman and her boyfriend walking through the Excelsior neighborhood earlier this week. Early that morning, the couple was walking across the street at Persia Avenue and Madrid Street when a driver speeding in a green car sped passed them. The woman looked at the driver and yelled out “whoa.” Then the driver made a U-turn, stopped the car, got out, and started beating the woman. The passenger of the car also jumped in on the attack and began punching the woman. The victim’s boyfriend tried to help her, but the men punched him and broke his nose. Both suspects got back into the car and sped off. But the best part of the story is what happened next, an incident of sweet justice that underlines the fact that many criminals are not so smart: one of the men left his driver’s license and DMV papers on the street where the beating occurred. Amazingly, at that moment, the couple still had their wits about them, and they were able to grab the papers and call the police, who were able to broadcast the name of one of the suspects. Both men were quickly found and arrested. The cops described the incident as “the best arrest of the day.”

The inability to handle anger, and/or deflect it, is usually the major factor behind road rage. More often than not, the typical road rager may be violent in other parts of his or her life, and exhibit one or all of the following personality traits—selfish, addicted to power, angry, and vindictive. But sometimes just the tension of a daily commute can turn a normally calm person into a road rager. Whatever the case may be, it is obvious that there is a need for anger management on the roads so that fewer drivers and pedestrians are victimized. Here at the Brod Law Firm, we heard many stories of car accidents that were either the direct or indirect result of road rage. If you or loved one suffered an injury due to a car accident, contact our firm for a free consultation today.

Oakland-San Francisco Accident Attorney Comments on Train Accidnets

February 1, 2011 | Gregory J. Brod

Last Saturday a train hit a truck in Watsonville at Kirby and Elkhorn road just after 1pm. The engineer did try to apply the emergency system to bring the train to a stop, but there was not enough time to do so. The train ended up hitting the truck at approximately 50 miles per hour. Both people in the pick-up died at the scene. Nobody on the train was hurt. The specific cause of the collision is still under investigation, but CHP said the driver wasn’t speeding and doesn’t believe she was under the influence.

According to the Federal Railroad Administration Office of Safety Analysis (FRAOSA), Highway-rail and trespassing incidents account for 95.46% of all fatalities, and highway-rail incidents represent 17.73% of all reported events. As defined by the FRAOSA, a highway-rail incident is any impact between a rail and a highway user at a crossing site, regardless of severity and includes motor vehicles and other highway/roadway/sidewalk users at both public and private crossings. In 2010, there were 1817 incidents, 245 fatalities and 751 nonfatal incidents at crossings, and 428 fatalities and 351 incidents at non-crossings.

Here at the Brod Law Firm, we are usually surprised by reports of train-crossing accidents, as it is hard to comprehend how a train could sneak up on someone. However train accidents, such as the one that happened over the weekend, and the above statistics prove that they happen more than one would think, which underlies the need for learning life-saving practices to help avoid a collision with a train. The following are a few safety tips to keep in mind the next time you approach a railroad crossing:

Okland-San Francisco Injury Attorney Comments on Pedestrian Accidents in San Francisco

January 6, 2011 | Gregory J. Brod

According to sfexaminer.com, on average, 22 pedestrians are killed each year in San Francisco and 800 are injured, which means over two walkers are hurt every day on city streets. Almost 50 percent of all traffic deaths in San Francisco are pedestrians, an amount more than four times the national average. Pedestrian accidents in San Francisco cost the city millions every year. To address this point, Mayor Gavin Newsom issued an executive directive that outlines goals to cut down serious traffic injuries and fatalities 25 percent by 2016, and 50 percent by 2021.

The directive states nine short-term goals, one of which includes a plan to reduce speed limits in school zones to 15 mph, the threshold for which pedestrians can struck by a car and survive, according to Walk SF. The directive also orders new approaches to secure funding for traffic-calming projects, stronger emphasis of pedestrian realms in all planning projects, and increased outreach with community organizations. Newsom is also creating a new Pedestrian Safety Task Force, which will be comprised of officials from SFMTA, the Department of Public Health, the San Francisco Police Department and other city agencies. He also wants a coordinated Citywide Pedestrian Action Plan to be established within 12 months.

Considering the fact that pedestrians account for about half the people killed in traffic collisions in San Francisco, it goes without saying that spending time and money to prevent such accidents is time and money well spent. At the same time this new directive will ultimately save the city money, money it usually spends to settle accident claims–it is estimated that collisions on San Francisco Streets cost the city $280 million a year, or about $350 per resident per year. Included in those costs are medical care, property damage, insurance expenses and loss of income. If you or a loved one suffered an injury due to a collision on the street, please contact our firm. We have over 10 experience winning injured pedestrians the compensation they deserve.

Oakland-San Francisco Attorney Comments on Dangerous Intersections

November 19, 2010 | Gregory J. Brod

According to streetsblog.com, surveillance video from a Tenderloin market shows a 65-year-old woman, who clearly had the right of way, in the crosswalk on Geary Boulevard and Leavenworth Street Wednesday afternoon when the driver of a UCSF shuttle bus loaded with passengers made a left turn onto Geary and struck and killed her. Suman Dhakal, who works at Star Market on the southeast corner, played the video for streetsblog before turning it over to SFPD investigators. It looks like it’s the driver’s fault from the shop video, because the light was a green and the woman was right in front of the bus. Dhakal said he thought that the driver was not paying attention, but, from looking at the video, it looks like he should have seen the lady.

What is particularly grim about this accident is the driver hit her once and then, perhaps out of fear, panic, and confusion, backed up and hit her again. Elizabeth Stampe, the executive director of Walk SF, said that the intersection of Geary and Leavenworth has been a troublesome spot for years. Dhakal said that he sees minor crashes and near misses on a daily basis. Most intersections like this one, intersections where a pedestrian walks alongside fast-moving, one-way traffic, are very dangerous indeed. Most drivers forget to slow down when they begin to turn, and slow down only when they see a pedestrian a few inches in front of them, which often leaves little time to safely stop. Like that shop owner at Geary and Leavenworth, you’re likely to see near misses at all these types of intersections. What is needed at intersections like this one is better street design, design that makes pedestrians a top priority and drivers aware.

Whether you have been injured or harmed in a pedestrian accident or whether you are the relative of someone injured as the result of a pedestrian accident caused by a negligent driver, you should seek legal assistance as soon as possible. At the Brod Law Firm we can help you get the compensation that you deserve. It is important to hire an attorney right away after an accident, so that your attorney may take statements from witnesses and have enough time to prepare a solid case. If you are unsure if you have grounds for a claim, please call us for a free consultation.