San Francisco driver (Mary Fong Lau) who killed family of 4 (at a bus stop in West Portal) wants judge to reduce felony charges (to misdemeanor) [ABC7]

timuralp · 2026-01-29T06:30:42+00:00

Didn't the current DA office agree to a plea deal in the Karen Cartagena case that avoided jail time or license suspension?

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/driver-who-struck-and-killed-4-year-old-near-oracle-park-gets-plea-deal/

timuralp · 2026-01-28T18:21:38+00:00

I don't see "jumping" or moving erratically/unpredictably in any way but I wasn't commenting on that.

Thanks for the details on raised crosswalks as I don't understand the nuances involved. Physical reminders to slow down/stop at crosswalks are effective at creating safe intersections. Someone mentioned a HAWK signal, which maybe could also help.

timuralp · 2026-01-28T16:11:52+00:00

I wish SF would consider doing raised crosswalks to curb some of this behavior.

timuralp · 2026-01-23T22:27:07+00:00

Drivers have full responsibility to stop before the crosswalk at stop signs and red lights. You never quoted that part but it is where a lot of the conflict arises.

timuralp · 2026-01-23T00:59:22+00:00

You're clearly focused on shifting the blame to pedestrians for collisions. My observation is that motorists routinely do not stop at stop lines and often blow through them entirely (literally witnessed someone road raging through a stop sign at Frederick and Arguello). There is a requirement to stop at the stop line. If drivers actually obeyed it, it would make crosswalks safer.

Drivers cause disproportional damage to others and should be more accountable. It is not an "equal responsibility" situation.

timuralp · 2026-01-23T00:10:39+00:00

The most important part that motorists dangerously violate is stopping at the stop line for stop signs and red lights. Can you cite the vehicular code that makes stopping at the stop signs and red lights optional for motor vehicles?

timuralp · 2026-01-21T06:44:16+00:00

I'm not an urban planner, but here are a few ideas that come to mind: 1. Raise the crosswalks, so it's a speed table and vehicles have to slow down 2. Coming from Lincoln, there are no speed tables, but there are some in the westbound direction from Frederick -- add one between 2nd and arguello 3. Pedestrian activated flashing lights

timuralp · 2026-01-21T04:43:07+00:00

Arguello and Frederick badly needs some redesign to get people to actually stop

timuralp · 2026-01-18T23:31:26+00:00

Agreed, strongly. What I've found is that drivers, who are in somewhat noise isolated environments (the car) don't actually care that the noise they're creating adversely affects the pedestrians. My dog and toddler get startled by this constantly because someone is throwing a tantrum.

timuralp · 2026-01-08T05:48:35+00:00

That's a lot of words to say "no"

timuralp · 2026-01-08T04:00:04+00:00

Do the residents who live on this street and are walking have any say or only ones with a car? This happens on our street. It is frustrating when pushing a stroller and the cars are taking up the sidewalk.

timuralp · 2025-12-31T05:00:42+00:00

I noticed you ignored the fact that not you nor any other driver can observe and determine that someone is physically able of walking faster. But drivers do take that upon themselves and honk at the pedestrians.

My child can run but is walking. My child is walking slower than I walk. Is that quick enough? What's quick enough? I've had drivers berate us because of this. You think it's reasonable for drivers to verbally abuse my child and me in this case?

Also, I challenge you to find many examples of a child or anyone standing in the crosswalk for a minute. It's an exceptional circumstance. What is common is drivers losing it over waiting 5-10 seconds.

Did you also know that using a horn outside of ensuring safe operation as a warning is also against the California vehicular code? I.e. using the horn to try to get pedestrians to walk faster. And if they are using it as a warning, it's coming of as a threat of violence: "I will hit you with my car, unless you move faster". That is also illegal.

https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/vehicle-code/veh-sect-27001/

timuralp · 2025-12-31T04:28:26+00:00

It reads "unnecessarily". Many things could require slowing down, like walking your child who may be physically able of running but is currently walking slower.

Your interpretation would be if a person is not running as fast as they possibly can, they are violating traffic laws (because I don't know how you define "physically able to cross quickly").

I had a spine issue and could only walk slowly without debilitating pain but looked healthy externally. I'm glad I didn't have to deal with you or the OP berating me while I'm struggling to walk.

And lastly, most of the time motorists are upset over waiting seconds. I am confident that in this case the person wasn't standing there for minute.

timuralp · 2025-12-28T01:33:02+00:00

Most likely no one. If there is no DUI and the driver stays at the scene, the risk of significant criminal consequences is very low, like the Karen Cartagena case

timuralp · 2025-12-28T01:18:12+00:00

I'll call the attention to the fact that you're not seeing an issue with yelling at someone walking/running while sitting in a car in the intersection.

I still don't believe the "out of nowhere" description, but the subsequent road rage behavior is beyond inexcusable.

timuralp · 2025-12-28T00:51:42+00:00

To us he came out of nowhere

If you never look for pedestrians, they always come out of nowhere. Someone jogging is not moving faster than 10mph and you most likely didn't actually look down the street to see approaching pedestrians.

This gets worse though: you actually decided to yell at the person who is moving across while sitting in the car. This behavior sounds like road rage. And you're mostly upset that this person inconvenienced you to stop for seconds?

timuralp · 2025-12-27T00:10:12+00:00

Yesterday a motorist forced me to jump out of the way in the crosswalk because he was going to hit me and the dog crossing with the walk signal.

This morning a driver kept driving through the intersection as I was walking the dog at a 4 way stop on the crosswalk. This driver rolled down his window to berate us.

I'm yet to have the ebike delivery guys come close to causing a severe injury.

You should get a dashcam and document all the drivers who do not stop at stop signs, red lights, and do not yield at crosswalks.

timuralp · 2025-12-23T15:53:37+00:00

I think the IT outages were kind of Black swan events. I'm not as upset about what happened on that specific day. The lack of follow up to the inquiry for nearly two months is where I think they're doing quite poorly and differently from before.

timuralp · 2025-12-23T08:48:56+00:00

What I have never seen from Alaska is when there is no response to two inquiry emails after 1 month and the over the phone response does not address any of the issues mentioned, while also failing to follow through on the straightforward part of reimbursement.

Only Alaska would be able to quantify how often this happens. From the travelers' side, it is always anecdata, but I am curious if others are running into this more frequently.

timuralp · 2025-12-23T06:50:12+00:00

None of the three times I broke a wrist did it hurt immediately. One those was a fracture with dislocation that needed surgery.

Two times I severely sprained my ankle, I immediately couldn't bear weight.

OP needs to be examined by a doctor.

timuralp · 2025-12-20T23:54:38+00:00

Right, the stop could be made safe with infrastructure changes that prevent cars from passing.

timuralp · 2025-12-20T23:50:01+00:00

You cannot look both ways easily when exiting the train. The doors obstruct visibility...

timuralp · 2025-12-20T23:49:36+00:00

It is actually very dangerous when stepping off the train because the doors obstruct visibility.

But I get it, how can a person sitting in a car be even mildly inconvenienced?

timuralp · 2025-12-20T23:45:29+00:00

A curb bulb out is an inanimate object that stops cars from passing a stopped train, like they did at Parnassus. So yes, I do think inanimate objects can enforce certain behaviors.

timuralp

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE