Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill Sept. 7 which would have doubled fines for traffic violations along 19th Avenue.

Assembly Bill 452 - authored by Assemblyman Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) - passed by a vote of 24 - 13 in the Senate, and 55 - 21 in the Assembly. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had 12 days to sign or veto the legislation.

According to a California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) report, double-fine zones are ineffective to traffic safety. To have impact on motorists, the fines must be accompanied with beefed-up law enforcement, public education, and stricter safety regulations. And this bill neglects the prescribed measures, according to Schwarzenegger.

But in a statement released by the bill’s author, Assemblyman Yee said, “It is simply unacceptable that we continue to lose innocent lives including children because of high speed avenues in our residential areas.”

19th Avenue, from Junipero Serra Boulevard to the Golden Gate Bridge is part of California State Highway 1, which the legislature has jurisdiction over. According to the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), there have been 14 fatalities on 19th Avenue since 2001, five of them pedestrians. Srijaya Dalton, 22, was killed while crossing 19th Avenue on May 26, 2003. One day after graduating from SF State, a hit-and-run driver struck her. The driver was never caught.

Emily Drennan, a 2003 graduate of SF State's public administration master's program, is now the director of Walk San Francisco, a pedestrian advocacy group. The group cited the intersection of 19th Avenue and Holloway Avenue as the fourth most dangerous in the city.

“A cultural shift needs to happen in San Francisco,” Drennan said. “People block the box (leave cars overhanging in the intersection when caught by red lights), don’t always yield to pedestrians, speed and run red lights.”

Drennan said traffic calming measures would make for safer streets. She explained that planting street trees would act as a visual cushion for pedestrians and as a psychological cue for motorists to slow down since overhanging branches would act as a buffer of peripheral vision.

Drennan also proposed adding yellow ladder striped crosswalks to make them more visible to motorists. She also recommended additional pedestrian countdown signals that warn pedestrians of the time remaining before the light changes. And she would like to see “bulb-outs,” sidewalk corners that mushroom out into the street and cut down the distance between curbs.

“We’re trying to make San Francisco more enjoyable for walkers through community organizing,” Drennan said.

Had the bill passed, all traffic fines along 19th Avenue would have doubled. Reckless driving resulting in bodily injury would have gone from $500 to $1,000; Driving Under the Influence (DUI) would have increased to $780; speeding would have been increased to $50 for every mile per hour over the limit ($200 if more than 25 mph over); drinking alcohol while driving would have rose to $140 and reckless driving would have doubled to $290.

Major engineering solutions to 19th Avenue have been proposed before, according to Tom Radulovich, the president of Transportation for a Livable City (TLC). TLC is a non-profit organization dedicated to making the city more sustainable by decreasing auto dependence and improving alternative transit modes.

In December 2000, a countywide transportation plan was drafted by the San Francisco Transportation Authority, but never implemented, Radulovich explained.

The plan included building a tunnel under 19th Avenue for faster moving through traffic. The idea was to fund the project by “FasTrack” tolls with motorists billed by an electronic toll register mounted on their dash. However, a $2 billion price tag and a new San Francisco Board of Supervisors sworn in at the beginning of 2001, convinced city leaders to redraft a new transit plan that ignored the proposed tunnel, according to Radulovich.

Radulovich said a more viable idea would be Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). This would pave over a portion of the reserved medium strip of the M-streetcar line and have a limited bus line share the medium.

“The goal is by making buses run like rails, a lot more people would be attracted to transit,” Radulovich said. “The bus is intended to make fewer stops than standard lines but more than the Muni subway.”

The estimated cost for BRT is $200 million. Proposition K, which passed in 2003, extended Proposition B’s half-cent sales tax an additional 30 years, and could pay for BRT Radulovich said. Studies are underway to adopt BRT by the Transportation Authority, but a priority has been given to Van Ness Avenue and Geary Boulevard, Radulovich said.

Some students said doubling fines would make them think twice before taking risks. Ismael Celedon, 25-year-old kinesiology major, drives to school. Celedon said he has seen cars start to creep and rush pedestrians, or honk their horns while they are still on the crosswalk.

“I’ve seen some serious case of road rage,” Celedon said. “Drivers on 19th need to be more aware of residents. Make signs more visible … crosswalks with blinking lights, anything to make people aware somebody is walking across.”