issuing has gone up 34 percent so we're well aware of the issues regarding safety and vehicles parked on the sidewalk. bus zones, that's a very big one. we want to keep the bus zones clear, so the pedestrians can safely load and unload at the curb, so that we don't have the issues where they're loading and unloading in the street and you have a cover come around with an accident. those are crucial. cross walks are very crucial and intersection blocking. you might see us a lot on first and harrison near the bay bridge entrances we direct traffic to ensure pedestrians can cross the streets safely and vehicles can move safely. and with me i have assistant director james lee and if you have questions he'll be here. he's the manager of the field operations and image the administrative aspects of

enforcement. i have with me others that managing the field operations. thank you. >> next i'd like to ask officer mathews to speak regarding the slot program. >> thank you for having me here today. i'm keith mathews with the police department and as julian said i help coordinate the mta, d.p.t.s traffic engineering safe passage program. it's based on the enforcement and education of the regulations of san francisco traffic code 194 point 3. these are regulations basically that pertain to anyone working in the streets and sidewalks of san francisco. anything from plain general construction sites to perhaps moving companies or any type of change in the path of travel for

either pedestrians or vehicular traffic or bikes or any type of traffic with buses, cars, trucks that may effect the normal and every day stream engineers out there on the street scrapes. i have an enjoyable portion. what i take care of mostly is coordinating the education efforts of our program, we currently offer a free seminar. the - now it's the first tuesday of each month at mill ton works auditorium and we insight yi one related to the activities to the streets and sidewalks to come on in. we do a power point and try to educate on the regulations and how they were formed and let them know these are regulations based on the federal, mut cd and state and further refined for our specific kind of situations and different traffic streams here in san francisco.

along with me, overseeing my work is sergeant pat toben that carries a number of different titles and keeps us flowing smooth with the education and enforcement part of that. i'll open it up to him. >> i'm happy to be here. i'm pat toben a sergeant and inspector with the police department and assigned to company -k the motorcycle officers where we do pedestrian safety issues, speed issues enforcement, traffic collision investigations and work with the district attorney's office for prosecution on criminal cases and i work with keith mathews in the mta on compliance for traffic programs throughout the city. with all the agencies working together hand-in-hand we're trying to come up with a much safer environment for our

citizens. i'm hear to answer questions where from traffic enforcement or company -k, police department or from the mta spot program. >> thank you very much. now i'd like to ask paul henderson to speak about his work at the district attorney's office. >> my name is paul henderson a pleasure to be here with all of you today. head of administration for the san francisco district attorney's office. basically my office gets involved the prosecution of cases. whenever we have an incident

i'll call it that. more clear understanding of how my office gets involved. generally led into two categories. first is when there's an injury. when there's an injury involving a vehicle at my office it always involve involves whether or not it was an accident or if there was criminal behavior. typically this involved injury or felony behavior and difference being between felony miss de knee nors or misdemeanors could be sub jet to one year. the thing you need to keep in mind with injury analysis when your talking about a vehicle that always falls dangerous weapon. the second type of case we get involved in is property dam.

most of the time that's civil issue when it's just insurance. my office gets involved with criminal conduct and braver and the best example i can give you is an in stance where by you have someone involved a,dui so there's that and property damage and it involved a vehicle, my office is always involved and i just have to tell you about a third of all of our misdemeanor cases actually a little less. of all of our misdemeanor cases that go to trial are,dui types so. my office is very involved at both or all ends of the analysis we're talking about. bicycle safety, driver safety as well. that's why we're all here. be happy to answer any

questions. thank you. >> now since we've all been briefed let's open the floor to questions. i hope you have many regarding enforcement. first with susan king. >> this is for the gentleman from the district attorney's office. i want to know if you consider road rage criminal behavior? >> i'd haight to give you the lawyer answer, but it depends. i can't answer that automatically but in some circumstances we have actually had cases of road rage that have been charged. factors we consider is the actual behavior of the

defendant. if his or her behavior rises to criminal couple built then it's typically if it's resulting in a dispute or fight, often times or most of the cases i see, they come in looking like people having a disagreements over who's going to turn and then someone purposely uses this vehicle either to assault another vehicle or challenge a pedestrian to cut them off or run at them with with their cover and that's what those cases look like. i don't know if that answers it directly but we do have those cases. >> next question is for michael from the department of public health which we know has done focus groups on how people drive in san francisco. >> i have two different questions i'll try to sneak in one is for police officers.

can anyone talk about the targeted enforcement efforts that the police department has been doing recently, trying to respond to community requests for pedestrian safety enforcement but i wanted to ask a similar question of the gentleman from the district attorney's office which was, maybe even tougher than the road rage and thedui where there is what you might call criminal intent. the question is, what sort of procedures take place when the driver just isn't paying attention and frequently states that they weren't paying attention. that they were doing something else and that they drove through the intersection even though they couldn't see. seems there's a number of cases like that and i don't know what the law actually allows.

>> let me speak about the targeted enforcement a little bit. the person knowledgeable on this is bob gienen and he's working on the torch run at the moment. but the motorcycle officers what they're doing is they're trying change behavior on the motorists and on the pedestrians just to create a safer environment so with motorists you have aware necessary and sometimes traffic engineers and mta will come up with better advises so you'll know if a pedestrian is at risk of being struck and they do outreach to make pedestrians more aware before they step into the woed w roadway. speed is always important part of this incidents.

for years i was assigned to hit and run detail as a police inspector doing fatal traffic collisions. whether pedestrians, motorists or bicyclists. it's a complicated thing in san francisco and that's why we have these collaborative efforts with different agencies and groups. we have motorcycle officers looking for red light violators and engineering judgments and trying to change designs on the roadways. >> okay. so, your question had to do with intent, and you're not going to explain it - actually i speak better standing up. not to get all professor on you. typically, your question goes to the heart of the issue that we face as prosecutors analyzing a

case and looking at police reports or citizens reports about an incident that takes place. basically what you have is a situation specific to criminal law where you have to prove intent in most cases so there has to be specific intent or a departmen term where we see a defendant's state of mind where it's my job to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt this purse or purposely. that's most clear when you have like say a drunk driver where you don't get to say - it's not a defense so say i was too drunk to know i should have been following the law. the difference is when you have a really difficult situation and

i'll give you one to think about. the example you gave. where someone may have been driving a little too fast or could see but not clearly through all of the intersection and decided to go forward and there was an incident. in cases like that and one of the things that's really tough that the pros cue tear has to do is value wait if there's enough there to ride in terms of negligence. if there's enough to rise to the level of criminal negligence where that person knew or should have known that was enough to cause some sort of damage or injury to someone. i hate to give you along detailed answer but i'd rather people know how that burden works and is applied. not just in the analysis but this is the same standard that the prosecutors have to use in front of a jury and get that

jury to conclude that evaluation took place and the defendant's conduct rose to the level of criminal negligence in every case we bring forward. that was a really good question. it's an issue a lot of people don't understand and they feel this person was driving too fast and of course they're criminally negligent. i guess there's a second part of your question? >> should have known and the more - it seems to me the more frequently - things like this happen and there isn't any prosecution or the less it's possible to say someone should have known this sort of behavior would bring about the problem and i wonder what you think might be the way to reverse the trend, so the message got out

more strongly paying attention when your driving is crucial. >> i think that's really good point. i actually think that process does take place. i myself personally have prosecuted cases like that with negligent homicides where we have had people that were speeding or driving the speed limit but it was in the rain and they didn't slow down or take extra precautions and i think people are always shocked, it's been my experience people in the jury are shocked that these are cases that actually do get prosecuted and elements of proof are because i think a lot of people feel, that could have been me and do need to be care full. i do know that process comes on every time we have a jury with factors like that and that process is taking place and i

think a lot of that knowledge can be spread without having to have someone injured or die and i think that process can take place by having forums like this or having an audience like this that can go back to your neighborhood associations and communities and civic groups and in forming them of what's going on at city hall with the issues or at the district attorney's office. how people can be liable and the types of jail or prison time they can face for engaging in these types of behavior so i actually think it is taking place and maybe people are not aware how often it takes place or what the circumstances are. but it is happening. >> i guess for a point of information hold off on the next

question and ask sergeant toben to frame the context of the discussion by discussing how the speed limit is set and then how it's enforced. i think that will help us to sort of ask more questions about how things work. >> well, you know when it comes to engineering judgement of setting speed limits and how people should drive on the roadway we're looking for reasonable necessary. is this person driving too fast or too slow. ever seen a posting of 75 miles an hour and there's three lanes in each direction and everybody is going not 25 but possibly 32 miles an hour. there's a principal in here called the 85 percentile and they say the 85 percent of the population will drive at a reasonable safe speed and so when it comes to the district

attorney's office prosecuting someone for negligent or will full misconduct and they say this person is driving 34 miles an hour in a 25 mile an hour zone they go back to the - so to see what 85 percent of the people in this population drove on that roadway at certain time of the day. when it comes to traffic enforcement and prosecution we're basically looking for people who are being negligent and unreasonable for the totality of the situation. that's where the 85 percentile comes in. >> i guess the next question is from howard. >> i have a question for mary. we still have too many people parking they're cars blocking the sidewalks making it bad for

the disabled and regular walkers so why can't the, pco's in their regular duties. street cleaning or whatever ticket more of these cars without waiting for someone to call and say someone is blocking my sidewalk? thank you. >> i agree with you. we get a lot of people that think they're parking in their own driveway and they understand it's not they're driveway. they're parked on a sidewalk and they think they're entitled to this. most, pco's when we give them they're instructions on their assignments that's included. your responsible for siting. even though you're on detail your responsible for enforcing sidewalk parking. the only problem we have is the folks on street cleaning. as you know they're on a time constraint and they're following

in front of a broom and all of these are scheduled by time and if they fall behind the broom they cannot complete the enforcement and site behind the broom but ahead of the broom. the only unit we have a problem with that cannot sway from what they're doing in their detail. they have to stick with the time frame and broom. all of our other, pco's. whatever they're assignment is that's written in the direction of their assignment. that's they're responsibility. >> - the officer said you have to call it in. >> repeat that please? >> i think a lot of the

officers going around - they don't know they can fight cars on the sidewalk without someone calling it in. i don't think they know that because i asked one going by my house there's a used car salesman selling them and i see baby strollers going on the street to get around and i said can you in form them that's not allowed and he said you have to call it in. some of your own staff might not know they should be ticketing? >> i don't think it's a matter of them not knowing. those are incidents we'd like to hear about and that's what we keep reiterate together our people. they do a shift bit every six months and in each we give a details description and assignment and it tells them what the responsibilities and

expectations are. i've heard cases like that and i don't think it's a matter of not knowing and we do need to know they're giving out this information that's right and that's not right. >> we have additional- >> on the topic of blocking the sidewalks, what i see from years and years of doing fatal traffic investigations our roadways are designed by traffic engineers and they do a wonderful job and follow certain fundamental principals to make reasonable accommodations for everybody. roadways are a life blood to communitys so people can get going back and forth and roadways don't have abrupt changes and the sidewalks are not blocked where they put the baby courages out on the 19th avenue. because i think most of the

roadways are not obstructed we take it for granted and think the roads are relatively safe and easy to manager but they're really very dangerous if you take away certain safety devices. a sidewalk could be looked at as a safety device. it separates them from the traffic. when somebody inadvertently parks a vehicle on the sidewalk and forces the baby carriers out into the roadway they're taking that person in the wheelchair or whoever out in the roadway. it's not just getting tickets but an education as well. so, we can increase the aware necessary of the population as a whole to look at the sidewalks as something necessary for everybody to get by. you have the, ada act of 1960 and it says you have to give

reasonable accommodation to everybody. the hard of seeing and everybody. on that note, if we begin to try and educate in the schools and work zones and temporary work zones these sidewalks need to be properly managed so you leave a four foot path to travel, you cannot leave it on the sidewalk you have a handicap ramp and a railing off in the parking strip, and then you kind of basically tell rarely make that sidewalk the parking strip because it's not in alive parking lane and is relatively safe. it's enforcements and tickets and getting that used cars salesman and having him move the cars to get rid of the hazard but also educating the population as a whole that a lot of people use the roadways. >> question for fran tailor.

>> i hate to keep beating up on the, pco's. when i seem them walking or bicycling i give them a thumbs up and they actually seem shocked like they're going to run into a pole. we want pedestrians to be safe on the street when we don't even have our own walk ways safe. i'm glad to hear the tickets have gone up 30 percent from last month but still totally inadequate when the parking violations get violates five more times and i got the parking and the pco's have to come twice and they check it and what does it mean if someone's parked there without a sticker, maybe one can't park there. where as if they're blocking the sidewalk everybody in the

neighborhood is in danger. not just inconvenienced and we have no leadership on this. i understand why the, pco's don't want to do it because they'll get beat up. they're parked they're driveway and they'll come out and beat them up. the mayor i've never heard a word. the supervisors some of them are okay on it and some not so, and the press is totally sympathetic the driver, and we just have no leadership saying sidewalks are for walking and it's not the individual pco's fault, but cumulatively we have no enforcement for us and we feel we're little or fans in the city and no one cares basically. >> thank you. this is dave here. we're talking today about

pedestrian safety and in particular on this panel enforcement. on one aspect it's important relate together the safety of pedestrian is freedom from being attacked by other pedestrians. this city seems to attract a disproportion night share of thugs and criminals to the point there are many parts of the city at various parts of the day that are essentially no go zone for law abiding citizen. i'm wondering law enforcement folks or district attorney could talk about what can we do to make pedestrians safe from other pedestrians who happen to be criminals and assailants. >> hm. that's good question and i wish

i could give you you good answer like we wiggle our thumbs and the city is safe. i want to point something out to clarify for the audience as well. when you have private citizens engaged in violent incidents with the parking people those cases are charges and they do get charged for those. as a separate issue, i don't think there's one simple answer to how can our neighborhoods be more safe. because i really look at the criminal justice process as a partner ship. there's no way you can say we'll give $200,000 to the police department or we'll give five hundred thousand to the district attorney's office or we'll educate communities. it's all interlocked and everyone has to work together. the police write reports only as

good as the evidence the c citizens gives them. the district attorney's office prosecutes them and i can only speak generally about this issue. one of the biggest issues i think we have to deal within terms of public safety is educateg the community about what a partnership the criminal justice department is and really letting citizens and people know, we can't prosecute cases - law enforcement - without your help and when i say that and people say not me i haven't seen a crime, i say when was the last time you serve on a jury or did you show up and say you were too busy to hear this silly case where someone got socked on peer 39 or basically a car accident that turn intoed a t