San Francisco Notes

This is one of my pet peeves ... for the second time in three days at 16th and Castro, one of the most dangerous intersections in the city, some moron in an SUV made a no-stop right turn without looking and came within a few feet of me and the dog. I have a painfully loud voice when I need it ... my yell just about made him jump out of his seat, and he crammed on the brakes. These things happen so quickly ... I try not to put myself in harm's way, but eventually you have to get across the street. I think SUVs subtract about 50 points off a driving IQ ... people seem to be in more of a hurry, feel more invulnerable, more self-important. The guy looked sheepish, but no apology, and he semi-buzzed me after I was half way across the road. Another self-absorbed jackass in an SUV.

When did the cops decide that the California stop was legal? And we're not talking about a near stop any more ... we are talking about people routinely barely taking their feet off the gas while they blow through a stop sign in full traffic ... people actually accelerating before they have reached the intersection. The cops have a "Click it or Ticket" campaign these days ... I saw a cop hand out a ticket to some old guy on Polk Street on Saturday because he didn't have a seat belt on. A youngish homeless guy reclining in his tattered blankets told me the cop had handed out a bunch of tickets for seat belts. I don't care about seat belts ... let these morons kill themselves ... but when they run stop signs, they're gonna kill me, and for that I have no sympathy.

I think the city should declare that all stop signs require a full stop, and they should start agressively ticketing. Make San Francisco a full stop zone.