Muni Collision, Truck Driver at Fault

SF Appeal has published the Muni onboard video recording of the collision between a Muni #19 bus and a pickup truck on Jan 5th morning. The intersection is controlled by four way stop sign. Question has been brought about who's at fault. I have reviewed the video frame by frame. I come to a clear conclusion that the truck driver was at fault. While the bus driver technically did not made a complete stop, it has the right of way. The accident was caused by the truck running the stop sign at a high speed.

The four frames below captured the action during a span of 2.8 s until the moment they collided.

Frame 1 - 00:02:34.22
Frame 2 - 00:02:35.02
Frame 3 - 00:02:36.02
Frame 4 - 00:02:37.02

At frame 1, using the trash can as a reference point, it shows the bus was right at the intersection. The truck was about half a block away. It should be immediately obvious that the bus has the right of way.

At frame 2, the bus rolled forward. The truck was still some distance away.

At frame 3, the bus proceeded across the intersection slowly. The truck still have not arrive at the intersection. It should stop and yield to the bus.

At frame 4, truck ran the stop sign at high speed and caused the collision.

Base on the video frames, I plotted the estimated position and the movement of the vehicles during this 2.8 s on a map. I estimated the bus has rolled through the stop at 8 mph. In contrast, the truck has flown through the intersection from half a block away at 32 mph.

The verdict is clear, the truck driver was driving recklessly and caused the accident.

San Francisco Chronicle has published an article with the release video titled "Crash video shows bus, pickup ran stop signs". It implies they are equally at fault. I think this is wholly a mischaracterization by failing to unambiguously call out it was the truck's fault. The bus had the right of way. Actually had the bus made a complete stop the same accident could still happen.

2010.01.07 [San Francisco] - comments (3)

Thanks for the analysis, but I reject your assertion that the bus driver is not also to blame. You say the driver "technically did not make a complete stop". That means he did not stop. Failure to stop is a violation of the vehicle code and subject to citation. While most drivers may roll through stop signs, it's not a gray area. Stop means STOP. Perhaps if the driver had stopped, he would have been able to judge that the oncoming vehicle did not intend to stop and yield to the offending driver. I have avoided similar situations simply by stopping at stop signs and checking traffic before proceeding.

If you roll through stop signs as a standard procedure, this will happen to you.

Posted by Not a Spammer at Thu Jan 7 23:07:51 2010

Two ways of looking at it: legal/technical and practical.

Legal/technical: both guilty of running stop sign, pickup also guilty of failing to yield.

Practical: It's in the early AM. If you're approaching a 4-way stop sign with no one there when there's hardly any traffic, you come to a Full and Complete Stop? You really want your ride to come to a Full and Complete Stop at every intersection in the dead of night with no one around? Bus had super bad luck, but it wasn't being reckless. Pickup was.

Posted by straw at Fri Jan 8 04:26:42 2010

Rolling stop is against the law. If you propose the city to crack down on this common behavior and give 50% of drivers ticket, I'm all with you.

This accident is a high speed collision that caused serious injury. We want to understand the cause. From my analysis the fault is clearly on the truck driver. The bus clearly has the right of way. I don't see any way to argue the truck driver is not the one to blame.

There are a lot of anger comment toward bus driver Pon. Calling him incompetent and to be fired. Looking at the fact, I find it necessary to speak up for him. He is just as competent as any driver in San Francisco. Looking at frame 1, any driver would rightly assume they have the right of way and proceed forward. He got hit because of bad timing. Had the bus make a complete stop, the same accident could still happen because of bad timing.

Posted by Wai Yip Tung at Fri Jan 8 07:21:34 2010

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