At approximately 6:30 this evening, somebody ran a red light at the intersection of Franklin and Grove Streets, crashing into the Mercedes above which then plowed into the traffic signal light pole next to the Opera House.
Surprisingly, the Mercedes won and the traffic signal light went down.
It was fortunate that the San Francisco Ballet finished Program 7 the evening before, or there would have certainly been pedestrians injured or killed by the flying traffic signal.
Say what one will about planet-destroying, gas-guzzling Mercedes cars, they are extraordinary feats of engineering.
...either that, or the traffic signal light posts are an example of extremely flimsy engineering...
ReplyDeleteDear sfphoneguy: It could be an example of both. The only car accident I've ever been in was once in downtown San Rafael when a Toyota pickup truck slammed into the side of Tony's old Mercedes sedan, and the front of the Toyota crumpled into an accordion while the Mercedes had a slight dent in its side.
ReplyDeleteI think I read somewhere that those light poles are actually designed to fail in a collision with a car, since a light pole going down is better than it going through a car and/or a passenger.
ReplyDeleteDear TK: That makes sense, though it's rather a fuck you to pedestrians at a busy corner, don't you think?
ReplyDelete