San Francisco Shrugs at its Largest Gated CommunityFran Taylorbyline‚ Jan. 26‚ 2007Serious injuries dealt to a young woman cycling to work earlier this week by a truck making an illegal turn onto the freeway ramp at Market and Octavia have galvanized transportation advocates and sparked new interest in the role of freeways in the urban setting. The woman remains in critical condition, and a press conference and rally were held this morning at the site where she was struck. Groups of neighbors living near freeway ramps, along with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Walk San Francisco, Livable City and other transit activists, have called for a response to the danger this ramp and others present to pedestrians and bicyclists. The City has historically failed to pursue charges against motorists who have struck and injured, or even killed, pedestrians and cyclists. The press -- perhaps with an eye to automobile advertising -- refers to even incidents of gross negligence as “accidents,” as if turning into a person walking on the green in a crosswalk just couldn’t be helped. |