Blog Post
MUNI strikes 18th and 19th people in 2008
Posted by: Spencer Pahlke
April 04, 2008
Topic: MUNI Accidents
Sadly, these things seem to come in waves. Back on January 16, two people were struck by MUNI vehicles. One of them, Mark Callaghan, was drug by an N-Judah train for two blocks before the driver stopped the vehicle. Sadly, this horrific incident proved fatal. Lawyers at Walkup are now handling this case for Mr. Callaghan's heirs.
The most recent wave of collisions took place in the last week or so. On March 26 th , as reported in the Examiner, an F-Market train struck and injured a 55-year-old woman in front of the Ferry Building. In other recent MUNI accident cases from this location, our attorneys have discovered frightening timing problems with the pedestrian lights that created serious risks of injury.
The Examiner noted that, back in November of last year, MUNI invested in a new batch of brakes for part of its fleet. While brakes may not have played a role in this accident, our lawyers have discovered that the City oftentimes defends itself against the people it injures by claiming that the brakes actually caused the accident. As Rich Schoenberger, one of our attorneys, explains in the following video clip, the City's argument just doesn't makes sense.
The most recent MUNI accident took place just yesterday. As the Examiner reported, the collision took place at the intersection of Geary and Fillmore, where a 38-Geary bus struck an unidentified man. The scene was gruesome: "blood-soaked asphalt and tattered clothes marked the scene of a harrowing collision...." Undoubtedly, this poor man's injuries are life threatening.
The Examiner piece looked at the latest collision as part of the larger record of MUNI pedestrian collisions. According to its count, this unfortunate man was the 19 th person struck by a MUNI vehicle this year. Last year, the total number of collisions was 62, meaning that MUNI is on track to have something on the order of 80 pedestrian-related collisions in 2008. That figure is all the more troubling in light of the trend in recent years: pedestrian-related injuries have risen every years since 2005. In 2005, there were 34; in 2006, there were 50; in 2007, there were 62.
