For once, dynamic San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown was not the center of attention. A miniature radio-controlled car that offered traffic safety tips to children had upstaged him. Drive Carefully campaign to promote child pedestrian safety, and the student's eager responses to Otto's safety questions brought a smile to his face. The event came against a somber backdrop, however. Three traffic fatalities involving pedestrians have occurred in the past week in San Francisco, which saw an average of less than one such fatality a week over the last decade, said Frank Markowitz, pedestrian program manager at the city's Department of Parking and Traffic.
Children also are disproportionately the victims of pedestrian-auto accidents.
According to city figures, children age 5 to 15 account for almost a third of those injured or killed in such accidents. That age group constitutes 15 percent of the city's population. When you're going to school with your buddy, kicking the can, it's lots of fun. But when you come to the corner, check the eye-line of the guy driving the car. Look him or her in the face.