On the night of February 28, a toddler, walking with her mother, was attempting to cross 4th Street in Mission Bay with her mother. The two-year-old was struck and pinned under a car that had run a red light — she later died at a hospital.
A fellow San Franciscan, Harrison Anderson, 43, couldn’t let it go. So he decided to do something.
Anderson, himself the father of a four-year-old, drew what he calls “The Hourglass,” a 50-mile loop around the city that touches all four corners of SF’s 49 square miles.
On Saturday morning, Anderson began his attempt to tackle this route, which starts and ends at Russian Hill, and features approximately 6,300 feet of elevation gain.
The Standard caught up with Anderson, who works on internal events for a tech company, on Silver Avenue in the Portola neighborhood, to ask him about his philosophy on safe streets and life in general.
Just a few hours into his 15-hour long trek, Anderson was determined and sweaty, and was in high spirits. He donned a headband and long pink athletic tights. He’d already raised over $4,000 from 81 donations for Walk San Francisco (opens in new tab), a nonprofit dedicated to decreasing the city’s reliance on cars and improving walking infrastructure.
To date this year, five pedestrians have been killed in San Francisco, according to city data (opens in new tab). On March 5, two pedestrians were killed on the same day — one by a hit-and-run driver in the Outer Mission, another struck on the sidewalk in North Beach.
While 2025 saw one of the lowest traffic death totals in a decade, 2024 was the deadliest since 2014 — and troubling trends continue. Most pedestrian victims in 2025 were seniors and more than half of pedestrian deaths were hit-and-runs, according to Walk SF.
This conversation has been edited for clarity.
What brought you out here today?
One of our favorite things about living in San Francisco is that you really don’t need a car. We walk everywhere, we take public transit. I’m out with my son all the time. A couple weeks ago I read about that little two-year-old girl killed crossing the street in Mission Bay with her mom. I just couldn’t shake it. I kept thinking about all the times I’ve been out walking with my son — cars come flying around corners, things happen so fast. When you’re out walking, you don’t have any power over it.
And then I started getting really frustrated. Our city leadership talks about making streets safer for pedestrians, but they haven’t really implemented the changes they said they would. We know that slowing cars down makes a difference. We know more visible crosswalks make a difference. Mayor Lurie passed his Safe Streets initiative (opens in new tab) back in December — that was supposed to address some of this — but there’s just been no action yet. So I thought, maybe if I get out here and walk 50 miles, people will ask why some of our leaders can’t just put pen to paper and get this done.
4th Street and Channel Street is the intersection where a toddler was struck and killed by a driver on February 27, 2026. | Source: Photo by Ezra Wallach
Why do you think San Francisco remains so car-dependent, even with decent transit and walkable neighborhoods?
Cars and pedestrians are always going to coexist here. But we can do things like slow cars down, or not let them turn right while a crosswalk is active. That all adds up. Long-term, there’s just so much money in politics — car lobbies, driver lobbies — and there’s no money in people just walking around with their families. So time passes and nothing really changes. And it’s a dense city — second densest in the country after New York — so there are a lot of people out there, and a lot of potential for accidents.
When people say pedestrians share some of the blame — jaywalking, not paying attention — what do you think?
You have to take that argument all the way. Are blind people not supposed to be able to cross the street? They can’t see the traffic coming — the traffic has to be aware of them. If you’re in a car, you have more responsibility. Full stop.
Tell me about your son.
He’s the absolute delight of my life. He loves San Francisco. He loves riding the bus or the train somewhere. We’ll just hop on the T and go get a burger at Gott’s — that’s his favorite thing. He’s my motivation for doing just about everything. Someday when he has kids of his own, I don’t want him walking around feeling the same worries I feel when I’m walking with him.
A burger from Gott’s Roadside at The Ferry Building in San Francisco, on Sep. 21, 2018. | Courtesy Briana Marie/Ferry Building | Source: Courtesy Briana Marie/Ferry Building
What does that worry actually look like day to day?
We’re super cautious — always paying attention, making eye contact with drivers before we step into a crosswalk. And I still don’t have enough fingers to count the number of times a car has come flying around a corner or run a red light and just barely missed us. Then you see people in the comments online saying, “Well, if the pedestrians had been more careful.” It’s not about that. Pedestrians are already afraid. It’s drivers who have the power.
What do you think about when you’re out walking on your own?
Sometimes music, I try to be present as much as possible. I love this city — there’s no place like it in the world. I find it a little ironic that the poorest neighborhoods tend to have the worst pedestrian infrastructure, and they’re also the places where I see the most people outside, in community, talking to their neighbors. Every part of San Francisco is worth knowing.
Do you have a favorite underrated spot to walk around in the city?
Candlestick Point — the rec area at the very tip of the city. It’s beautiful, and you can walk around the ruins of the old stadium. Nobody’s ever down there. Quiet, a little eerie, great for a picnic. And then all the way at the other end of the city, Lands End — everyone knows that one, but there are corners even there that most people walk right past.
Ok, now some fun ones. When you listen to music, what do you like?
Mostly indie pop and indie rock — bands like Men I Trust or The Marías. Some hip-hop too, like LaRussell.
What’s your favorite movie?
I love The Big Lebowski and the Coen brothers in general — Raising Arizona too. I’m also really into sci-fi horror movies like Annihilation or Alien.
What’s the best trip you’ve taken?
My wife and I went to Japan for our honeymoon for a couple weeks. It was amazing.
The transit was incredible, it felt very safe, and every meal we had was fantastic. It was one of the few places where the culture shock really hit me in a good way.
What’s your favorite place to eat in the city?
My wife and I love getting burritos from Papalote, but honestly there are so many good places to eat in the city.
What’s a formative childhood memory?
I grew up in Rock Island on the Iowa-Illinois border. When I was about five my parents took me to a Cubs game in Chicago.
My dad brought me down by the bullpen and Dwight Gooden was pitching for the Mets. I remember hearing the ball hit the catcher’s glove — it sounded so fast and loud. As a kid I couldn’t believe it.
What’s your general philosophy on life?
I believe in being as prepared and informed as possible — especially with a kid and a family. But the bigger thing that’s changed for me is just being present. If I’m with my son, I’m with my son. I’m not on my phone. If I’m at work, I’m at work. Since I stopped splitting my attention between everything at once and just gave things their proper time, a lot has unlocked.
What do you have to look forward to in the future?
Spending as much time with my kid as possible. Watching him grow into his own person. I always say — I’m raising a human, not a mirror. If he’s into what I’m into, great. If he’s got his own thing, that’s great too. I just want to encourage him to be his own man.