Personal Injury Law

Another San Francisco Muni Pedestrian Accident!

By Claude Wyle

I wish I was kidding, but I am sad to advise that the San Francisco MUNI has just been involved in its 18th pedestrian accident since this last July. Of these 18 reported MUNI pedestrian accidents, five have caused deaths. While this time, the MUNI bus did not kill anyone, the lady who was struck was taken to San Francisco General with personal injuries. Not surprisingly, although the accident is still under investigation, the MUNI and the SFPD are already casting the blame on the injured pedestrian.
As San Francisco pedestrian accident attorneys, we have our work cut out for us when we take on the City. Did you know that when a MUNI operator is involved in a collision or runs over a pedestrian or when a passenger is injured when they have fallen on a MUNI bus, the first person that the MUNI operator calls is their own dispatch? And then the MUNI sends its OWN investigator to the scene of the accident ,who then takes control of the evidence and gathers the witnesses and takes statements. Then the MUNI investigator decides whether or not to call the police. Isn't it an odd system where the party who is going to get sued sends its own investigator out before the police, and the witnesses are all reached first by that investigator? What happens to witnesses favoring the party who is injured? What happens to videos of accidents that are "lost" by the MUNI? Why is the bus moved before the police show up? Why are the police often not called? I should probably stop whining. This is Life in The Big City of San Francisco, and fighting City Hall is part of our job. Best wishes, Claude

Full post as published by San Francisco Personal Injury Lawyer on December 13, 2007 (boomark / email).