Comments on: Blame the victim

By: Daishin Sunseri

Daishin Sunseri — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:50:55 +0000

You’re all making the mistake that MUNI drivers and employees are human beings. I think they’re very much like the police. They’ve lost their humanity years ago. MUNI employees care little or nothing for their riders. To them the riders are the enemy, and should be ignored in every possible way.

By: James

James — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:40:26 +0000

This ad comes with a video ad that shows the guy wearing huge headphones, text messaging or looking at his iPhone, and running out into the street. The dog follows from behind and stops. The bus comes right at him, operator honks, but bus couldn’t stop in time. The jogger basically had no idea what happened but the dog did.

By: eugenia

eugenia — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:10:15 +0000

I wouldn’t have given this ad another thought if the ad was simply about “look both ways before you cross the street, period.”

But because we’ve seen a lot of recent reports about Muni accidents and how much that is costing the city, it doesn’t feel quite right when Muni comes out with an ad that basically suggests that Muni accidents are caused by pedestrians who are not paying attention.

And I agree with Hattie. Pedestrians have the right of way, bottom line.

By: Jarek

Jarek — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:27:30 +0000

“But maybe Muni can enlighten us about what it’s doing to educate the drivers, rather than run pedestrian-finger-pointing ads.”

Chances are pretty good it actually can’t under the terms of the agreement with local 250A.

By: Hattie

Hattie — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:16:25 +0000

I have little more to say than this thought: California law states that pedestrians have the right of way. Always. With out exception. If you are piloting a vehicle and you hit a pedestrian you are at fault. Provided they were in the road first. Headphones are not the issue here.

Second perhaps MUNI should put money into correcting driver behavior instead of a questionably worthwhile add campaign aimed at randomly at pedestrians and riders. Come on didn’t our mothers and kindergarten teachers always tell us to look both ways? Why does MUNI think their adds will be any better?

By: PTCruiser

PTCruiser — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 23:57:39 +0000

The drivers, for the most part, are very much aware of what’s going on around them. I see near misses at West Portal Station EVERY DAY. The reason it’s always a near miss is because the driver ALWAYS anticipates that people will ignorantly walk right in front of them as they are exiting/entering the subway. Pedestrians need to wake up. If a humorous ad makes them think about paying attention, even for just a day, it may save their lives. There’s nothing offensive about it at all.

By: Whole Wheat Toast

Whole Wheat Toast — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:13:00 +0000

Donald, sometimes Muni operators are incoherent. I remember walking in the Richmond and nearly got hit by a bus – and did I have headphones on? NO! I was paying attention to the road, and when the bus came, he did a half-stop and then continued on! So both pedestrians and bus operators have to pay attention to the rules of the road, but why would the bus drive off from the pedestrian that got hit? Doesn’t seem right to me.

By: Donald

Donald — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 07:24:53 +0000

Why can’t people simply watch where they are going? Why is it only the responsibility of the driver? Give me a break. It is just an ad campaign. People need to take their earphones out, get off of their cell phones or other electronic hand held devices, and watch where they are walking/running. Very simple. Be observant and look at what is 5-10 feet ahead of them.

By: jenny

jenny — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 05:58:02 +0000

I think we all agree that Muni and pedestrians have a shared responsibility for safety. But maybe Muni can enlighten us about what it’s doing to educate the drivers, rather than run pedestrian-finger-pointing ads. The use of headphones is poor symbolism to a bigger problem that needs to be addressed.

By: Jarek

Jarek — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:28:41 +0000

“I think part of the problem with this particular campaign is that it puts all the burden on pedestrians.”

Correction – it puts burden on pedestrians who pay so little attention they end up hurt, or almost hurt. The ads don’t say “we don’t care about human lives so get out of the damn way”, and as Lionel said, it wouldn’t make sense to try to combat bad Muni drivers (which are, of course, a valid concern) with ads on the sides of Muni buses.