Ingleside Police officers asked why the chicken — and even dinosaurs — crossed the road at the station’s October community meeting.
The punchline: To get drivers to obey traffic laws.
SFGate first reported about the tactic of Lt. Jonathan Ozol who donned an inflatable chicken costume last month while crossing the street on Alemany Boulevard. The point was to grab the attention of drivers to yield to him while he was crossing the street or else face the consequences of receiving a ticket.
The idea, which has now drawn international media attention, was brought to you by Ingleside Station Capt. Amy Hurwitz.
Ozol spoke last month at the Ingleside Station with community members about his newly found fame and how putting the costume on has helped drivers be more vigilant on the roadway.
“You may have seen me at a crosswalk in the district. You may have seen me on TV and in the newspaper. It is a fantastic, novel approach to go out and do traffic enforcement,” Ozol said.
Despite the chicken suit, Ozol said there are drivers who still do not see him when he is in the crosswalk, which leads to officers writing tickets.
“Part of a lot of the violations we see just people are in a rush,” Ozol said. “They're blowing stop signs, going over the speed limit. They're not paying attention to chickens crossing the roads.”
Hurwitz said she was told by the SFPD’s Traffic Company that the station is number one in traffic enforcement. Hurwitz said the feedback she has been getting on the chicken costume had been mostly positive.
The most recent traffic citation data from SFPD showed that the Ingleside Station issued a total of 100 traffic citations last month, the most of any police station in September. The data showed that 67 citations were given to drivers for stop sign violations.
“All jokes aside, and even though it makes people smile, it is an important topic, and it is serious, Ozol said. On the other hand, we're trying to approach it in a way that gets people to understand it, maybe to comprehend a little bit more.”
Data from the city show a total of 23 traffic fatalities so far this year as of August, but last month saw several fatal crashes including two separate crashes within weeks of each other that occurred just blocks apart on Lombard Street.
Most recently, a 94-year-old pedestrian died of their injuries this month after being involved in a fatal crash in September at Sixth Avenue and Anza Street. On Oct. 2, a 94-year-old pedestrian was hit by a vehicle at Geary Boulevard and 25th Avenue and later died of their injuries two days later.
The crashes in September and October have yet to be added to the city’s total traffic fatality count for this year. This year marked the tenth anniversary since the city adopted Vision Zero, the goal of reaching zero traffic fatalities by 2024, which the city failed to meet.
In some good news for the city, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board recently approved a contract with a vendor to design and install automated speed enforcement cameras at 33 locations to ticket drivers who drive at least 11 mph or more over the posted speed limit. Transit officials touted the new tool to prevent drivers from speeding.
