Friday, February 01, 2008

Common sense is "inconceivable" to Robin Levitt

Robin Levitt:


Could you provide some actual evidence that the Market/Octavia intersection is any more dangerous to cyclists and pedestrians than many others in the city? Perhaps some facts would help you with your conceptual/comprehension problem. The Examiner article you're responding to only mentions that there have been 13 injury accidents there since September, 2005, but we aren't told who got hurt---cyclists, pedestrians?---or why. It's difficult for me to conceive---in the absence of the aforementioned facts---why even you bike nuts don't want to allow freeway-bound traffic to get off the surface streets of the city as quickly and efficiently as possible. 

As of course you know, the hysteria about this intersection began long before the redesigned intersection itself was operational. That suggests that it's all bullshsit, doesn't it? Since you were active in the anti-freeway movement in that part of town---and think the new Octavia Blvd. expressway is so wonderful---I bet you even had something to do with branding this a dangerous intersection while it was still on the drawing board. Anything to fuck with city drivers, right Robin? You, the late Patricia Walkup, and Supervisor Mirkarimi have done more to screw up that part of town than anything since the earthquake and fire of 1906, and you're not done yet!

Regards,
Rob Anderson


Cameras now at Market/Octavia
Kudos to Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, Supervisor Bevin Dufty and others who are responsible for the legislation to allow cameras at the Market/Octavia intersection to catch motorists making that dangerous right turn there (“Illegal right turns focus of legislation,” The Examiner, Jan. 28).

It’s incomprehensible to me why a driver, in order to shave a few seconds from their Silicon Valley commute, would risk injuring or killing bicyclists and pedestrians at that intersection when they can simply access the freeway via Duboce, Gough and a half-dozen other locations along Market.

But what’s also inconceivable is that it’s expected to be 2009 before the process runs its course and the cameras are installed. In the meantime, how many more people will be injured or possibly killed there? There must be a way to get those cameras up sooner!

Robin F. Levitt
San Francisco


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