Pedestrian Killed in Hit-And-Run

Only five days into 2025, San Francisco has its first pedestrian death of the year. Last Saturday, a driver hit and mortally wounded a pedestrian in SF’s Portola neighborhood. SFPD received a call at about 5:37 PM that someone had been struck by a vehicle at Silver Avenue and Colby Street. Officers quickly rendered medical aid upon arriving. Sadly, despite their efforts, the victim did not survive. Adding insult to injury, the culprit sped away. 

Why is it so dangerous to walk around San Francisco?

I believe pedestrians keep dying in San Francisco because drivers and visitors aren’t willing to get out of their cars. In any European city, where cars were an afterthought, you’ll see how adjustments to infrastructure make everyone safer. Barriers, bollards and promenades redirect traffic to dedicated thoroughfares in Paris, sheltering pedestrians in shaded, narrow alleys. The boundaries between driver and walker are virtually impossible to ignore. Cities like these force you out of your car and onto your feet—imagine that, America!

The more cars we have on our streets, the less safe it is to walk alongside them. It’s the nature of every driver to get where they’re going efficiently, but they go wrong synonymizing efficiency with speed. High velocities are best restricted to the freeway. If you haven’t walked in or around the city lately, I encourage it. You ought to see firsthand what makes walking here so dangerous. 

RELATED: San Francisco Traffic Fatalities Top Homicides in 2024

A psychological shift occurs in drivers when they navigate San Francisco. Even those not prone to anxiety find themselves getting irrational and angry before long. Then you factor in the closed routes, one-way streets, road construction, steep hills, foggy weather, scarce/expensive parking, switchbacks, school zones, slow-going municipal vehicles, speeding firetrucks and ambulances, kids on scooters and those weird one-wheel thingies, Muni busses and light-rail vehicles, stopped Amazon delivery vans, confused driverless Waymo cars, real drivers having shitty days, and last but not least, pedestrians. I’ve seen the kindest, most patient people I know punch their dashboards in a screaming, neck-bulging rage from driving here.

Cars are bigger, taller, and deadlier than ever

San Francisco simply isn’t car-friendly and people should accept it. But there’s another problem at hand. Car manufacturers are introducing large, lifted models impervious to speed bumps and other half-assed traffic-calming measures. Bloated, oversized cars and trucks make it difficult if not impossible to see pedestrians in time, and with so much additional mass behind the impact, odds of survival are even slimmer. It’s as if cars are getting bigger to accommodate the ego of their drivers. 

Ironically, the SFFD reported that Saturday’s victim died from an impact with a Fiat, a compact electric car. It demonstrates that speed determines whether a pedestrian lives or dies, and why responsibility to others is a driver’s priority. Increasingly large vehicles, flimsy or completely absent protective infrastructure, a Class 5 rapids-like roadscape—and it’s today’s perambulants who pay the price.

Dear reader, please protect yourself. Stay vigilant. Never walk with headphones in, and always inform someone when you go for a walk. The identity of 2025’s first pedestrian fatality is not yet public, but more pressingly, neither is the culprit’s. The victim deserves every ounce of justice due to them, and if you have any information, please contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411.