At least 800 pedestrians are hit by a car in San Francisco every year. In 2014 alone, 17 pedestrians died in the city.

Senior citizens, in particular, face the greatest risk for being fatally injured when hit by cars. A San Francisco Health Department study of pedestrian deaths revealed that while seniors account for 15 percent of the city’s total population, they account for nearly 50 percent of pedestrians killed in traffic accidents.

For many years, Minami Tamaki LLP has engaged in efforts to raise awareness of pedestrian safety, especially among seniors in areas like San Francisco’s Chinatown and Japantown.

The latest effort was led by Partner Mark Fong. Through his roles as a board member of Chinatown Community Development Center and Chinatown TRIP (Transportation Research and Improvement Project), Mark worked with staff at CCDC to develop two public service announcements to educate both drivers and pedestrians on specific ways to avoid injuries to pedestrians.

The first video, directed at pedestrians, discourages walking in crosswalks when the warning symbol flashes, regardless that the traffic light may still be green.

The second video is geared towards drivers by illustrating the blind spot created by left turns in intersections and how easy it is to miss a pedestrian in a crosswalk because of this blind spot.

Mark and staff at CCDC crafted the storylines for the videos to make them more interesting and useful to watch and absorb. Mark also recruited a filmmaker to shoot the videos and provided the technical expertise about car accidents so that the filmmaker could better understand how to shoot the storylines.

Minami Tamaki LLP also helped fund this project. 

The two PSAs will run on Chinese language television stations in the Bay Area. If you might be able to help us share these videos, please contact Mark Fong at mfong@minamitamaki.com.