CRIME: THE CAPTAIN'S VIEW
Slow down for safety
Hello, fellow Marina District crime fighters. I have been seeing lots of crazy driving lately, and I am sure you have too. We live in a fast society – everyone, it seems, is in a hurry and consequently we drive too fast. My daughter just turned 15 and we have been “practicing” driving, which is interesting to say the least! I tell her that too much speed is the root cause of all driving violations and problems. If we all followed the basic speed laws, we could stop completely for stop signs and in time for red lights. A common excuse for those two violations is, “I was going too fast.” When I review the many collision reports (they are not called accidents because they are completely preventable), most times speed is the primary collision factor.
The top five intersections for collisions (based on the numbers)
within the Northern District are as follows:
1. Van Ness and Hayes Street
2. Van Ness and Grove Street
3. Franklin and Geary Street
4. Polk and O’Farrell Streets
5. Geary and Steiner Street
What’s the common dominator? Speed, as all of these intersections allow (for lack of a better word) for a faster pace to be attained before the intersections. So please slow down to allow more time to get where you are going. More important, encourage others to do the same.
There are three very basic goals that we attempt to achieve when enforcing traffic laws: to reduce traffic collisions, to facilitate the flow of traffic, and to ease parking congestion. Issuing a moving violation is an educational process. It is an immediate lesson on what not to do, with the objective of correcting behavior or at least improving performance.
There are 38 red-light cameras at various intersections around the City that issue, on average, 1,000 tickets a month. In the Northern District (the Marina included) the issuance of moving violations (tickets) is up over 50 percent from last year. Northern Station officers focus on citing violators at the top five intersections mentioned above, based on community complaints and, randomly, whatever happens in front them.
Remember that driving is a privilege that must be earned (learning to drive, getting your license for the first time) and maintained (it can be revoked for many reasons including drunk driving, failure to take care of a ticket, etc.), so drive defensively and follow all of the rules.
The top five intersections for collisions (based on the numbers)
within the Northern District are as follows:
1. Van Ness and Hayes Street
2. Van Ness and Grove Street
3. Franklin and Geary Street
4. Polk and O’Farrell Streets
5. Geary and Steiner Street
What’s the common dominator? Speed, as all of these intersections allow (for lack of a better word) for a faster pace to be attained before the intersections. So please slow down to allow more time to get where you are going. More important, encourage others to do the same.
There are three very basic goals that we attempt to achieve when enforcing traffic laws: to reduce traffic collisions, to facilitate the flow of traffic, and to ease parking congestion. Issuing a moving violation is an educational process. It is an immediate lesson on what not to do, with the objective of correcting behavior or at least improving performance.
There are 38 red-light cameras at various intersections around the City that issue, on average, 1,000 tickets a month. In the Northern District (the Marina included) the issuance of moving violations (tickets) is up over 50 percent from last year. Northern Station officers focus on citing violators at the top five intersections mentioned above, based on community complaints and, randomly, whatever happens in front them.
Remember that driving is a privilege that must be earned (learning to drive, getting your license for the first time) and maintained (it can be revoked for many reasons including drunk driving, failure to take care of a ticket, etc.), so drive defensively and follow all of the rules.
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