December 13, 1994
Arnold Pablo and Dorothy Vriend contributed to this report.
An event to highlight the perils to pedestrians at 19th and Holloway Avenues by members of an SF State art class turned into a real life example when a car and a truck were involved in an injury accident at the intersection.
According to San Francisco Police Department, a gold Porsche 924 was speeding southbound on 19th Avenue when the driver lost control and hit a truck in the next lane.
"Based on the 120 feet impact skid, the driver must have been (driving) 65 to 75 miles per hour," said SFPD officer Kevin Gotchet.
The accident occurred at around 11 a.m. while students and teachers from "The Art of Place" class were urging pedestrians to carry a red flag as they crossed the street to promote greater awareness of the dangers.
San Francisco Police cited the driver, Kagami Futoshi, with speeding and driving without insurance. Officer Gotchet also recommended suspending Futoshi's drivers license.
"I was driving too fast. The truck tried changing lanes," Futoshi said. "I tried to slow down, but I was going too fast and I couldn't control my car."
According to eyewitnesses and SFPD the four people in the car were high school students at the New Learning Center in South San Francisco.
All three of the passengers needed medical attention and one was taken away on a stretcher, but none of the injuries were serious. The driver of the truck was not injured. The accident closed three lanes of traffic and caused a massive backup of cars.
"This points out exactly why we are down here," said Richard Kamler, one of the teachers who organized the event. "It's ironic that this happened while we were here. Now you can add another accident to the over 200 that have occurred here since 1990."
Three new university police department traffic officers have been added to patrol the intersection at peak hours. All three officers were on duty when the accident occurred.
"It was good that when the accident happened that all three officers were there at the scene," said university police spokesperson Stephen McLain.
According to an eyewitness, Perry Knowlton, the car seemed out of control before it hit the truck.
"I was sitting filling out the back of a flier to put into the suggestion box on how to make the street safer when I heard screeching brakes," Knowlton said.
"I looked up and saw the Porsche braking out of control for about 100 feet. The light was red and there was a car stopped in front of him," he said. "I think that in order not to rear end the car in front of him he swerved into the lane which the truck was in. It was obvious that they were going to hit something."
"If it happened 50 feet closer you could imagine how many students would have died," Kamler said.
"We planned this (event) four weeks ago as a way to generate awareness and greater care over this intersection and we also have a red suggestion box so students will generate solutions about this issue," Kalmer said. "This is an artistic statement of sorts."
One of the students involved with the event, Paul Spencer, talked about what improvements he wants for the intersection.
"I want a pedestrian ramp," Spencer said. "The cars are the bowling balls and we are the pins."
Angela DeSantis, an art student, said a left hand turn signal is needed.
"One of the major problems is cars cutting in front of students while they are crossing the street," DeSantis said.