By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-08-10 19:07:03 | Updated at 2026-08-10 19:39:46
1 hour ago
SAN FRANCISCO—A woman riding an electric scooter was fatally struck by a commercial truck on Market Street between 4th and 5th Streets on the morning of Aug. 6, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.
The woman was declared dead on the scene, the fire department said.
The incident raised safety concerns about the increasing number of e-scooters and similar devices being used in San Francisco.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) published a report on July 30 mentioning the rising number of injury-causing collisions involving stand-up powered devices, including electrically motorized boards, Go-Peds, electric scooters, and motorboards.
The number of these collisions rose from 36 in 2018, when the e-scooter sharing business Bird started in San Francisco, to 315 in 2025, according to the report.
“San Francisco continues to see encouraging reductions in many traffic injury categories compared to pre-pandemic levels, particularly among people walking and bicycling,” SFMTA spokesperson Erica Kato said in an email to The Epoch Times. “At the same time, serious injury collisions and fatal collisions remain a significant concern, and emerging transportation trends—especially the growth of stand-up powered devices and e-mobility—are creating new safety challenges.”
Unlike with bicycles and pedestrians, collisions involving stand-up powered devices are not specifically identified in the “Traffic Crashes Resulting in Injury” database from DataSF, the government’s open data portal.
In the fire department’s report, the e-scooter rider who was killed on Aug. 6 was described as a “pedestrian.”
The total number of collisions causing injuries (motor vehicles excluded) was 486 from January to May this year, according to DataSF.
During the same period, 90 traffic collisions caused severe injuries and 10 caused deaths, according to the portal.
San Francisco has two major e-scooter operators, Lime and Spin. Each is allowed to deploy up to 3,250 scooters in the city.
SFMTA has safety rules for rental scooter riders, including that they must wear a helmet, use streets or bike lanes rather than riding on sidewalks, and keep their speed under 15 miles per hour.
In June, SFMTA issued 796 citations for dangerous e-scooter riding, and 819 parking violations were recorded, according to DataSF.
These violations did not include riders of private scooters, which the SFMTA does not have jurisdiction over.
“E-bikes and scooters are part of daily life in San Francisco. They help families, commuters, and workers get around our city, especially our hills,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie wrote in a June 17 Facebook post. “As their use grows, so do concerns about safety. Through better infrastructure, public education, clear rules, and enforcement, we’re working to keep everyone safe, whether they’re walking, biking, driving, or taking transit.”
