San Francisco pedestrians face a steadily increasing risk of being injured or killed by motorists.
Senior citizens, in particular, have the greatest chance of being fatally injured when hit by cars. A recent San Francisco Health Department study of pedestrian deaths revealed that while adults 65 years of age and older account for 15 percent of the city’s total population, they make up nearly half of the pedestrians killed in traffic accidents.
Our attorneys at Minami Tamaki have handled numerous cases involving tragedies of accidents with the elderly.
Jane D (fictitious name), a 75-year-old mother of five children and grandmother of 10, was returning home from her morning walk when she was struck by a commercial vehicle in 2009 on a busy San Francisco intersection near Chinatown. She suffered serious injuries that crushed her pelvis and eventually required amputation of her left leg.
Kenji Suzuki was struck by a S.F. Municipal Bus in Japantown on January 11, 2007, and passed away five days later.
These any other cases motivated Minami Tamaki to explore the creation of a pedestrian safety awareness campaign to help prevent future deaths and injuries.
Our campaign, Walk Safe Bay Area, will seek to decrease pedestrian injuries and fatalities in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose by increasing awareness among senior citizens and other monolingual pedestrians. We hope to involve nonprofits, the media and other interested parties in the effort to educate seniors, their families and support circles on how to get around safely.
Since December, Senior Counsel B. Mark Fong has been giving presentations at senior centers and community service agencies in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. During the presentation, he describes to seniors the risk of pedestrian injury, provides tips on how to reduce risks and distributes brochures published by Minami Tamaki in Chinese and English to aid them in remembering the information.
We started this effort in 2008 with the launch of JapantownSafety.com, a website created with the generosity of Kenji Suzuki’s family, in cooperation with the Japantown Task Force and KIMOCHI, Inc.
Our campaign will include a website at WalkSafeBayArea.org and will include other public education efforts.