Muni bus strikes pedestrian who later dies
We received word this morning via Twitter that a pedestrian had been struck by a bus near Alamo Square:
21 Hayes is going to be rerouted for a bit. Driver hit a ped betw Web. and Fill. Emergency crews on scene. Hope ped is ok. — @KaiKronfield
Now the Examiner has reported that the pedestrian has died from his injuries. We’ll update if we hear more news about this tragic incident.
Streetsblog San Francisco has already noted that the national media is paying more attention to the transit fatality than a pedestrian accident at Lombard and Van Ness. They wonder if its a car-centric bias on their part.
It’s just “man bites dog,” Dexter. People get hit by cars all the time; it’s rarely even local news unless they die or are a small child. Getting hit by a bus is more unusual, and therefore more newsworthy.
Because people getting hit by cars occurs so often it seems normal to people (maybe that’s the problem), while when a bus hits a person then people think back to the last time they were on a bus (good or bad) and make judgements on that.