Cable Cars

The MUNI Railway injury specialists at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger have prosecuted cable car injury cases against the City and County of San Francisco for many years. Numbers from the United States Department of Transportation tell the story: over the past four years, the collision-injury rate for cable cars has been more than double that of MUNI buses and five times the rate of injuries caused by light rail and electric trolley buses.

And while the cable cars are a favorite of tourists, the risk of injury they present is substantial. Cable cars travel at a constant speed of 9 miles per hour – fast enough to cause accidents and significant injuries.

In 1967, a loaded cable car ran away on Hyde Street and crashed into several automobiles. The wreckage then caught fire. Two people were killed and 43 were injured. In May of 1988, a different cable car careened down the same hill, throwing passengers to the pavement as it crashed into a truck. Twenty people were hurt. In October of 1993, seven people were hurt when a run away cable car plowed into three parked cable cars at Hyde and Beach Streets after the brakes failed. Ten people were hurt. In 1995, an empty runaway cable car slammed into a full car, trapping an Australian tourist between the two vehicles and mangling his leg so badly that his left leg was amputated. That victim, Meyrick Jones, was represented by the Municipal Railway injury lawyers at the Walkup law firm. On August 26, 1999, a cable car heading down from Nob Hill struck a protruding rod in the street, bringing the car to an immediate and abrupt stop. Fifty riders, many of them tourists, were aboard. Six riders were hospitalized while another twenty were treated at the scene. In August of 2005, five people received injuries when a cable car again stopped suddenly at California and Powell as the result of gripmen from the Polk and California street lines activating their cables at the same time. In January of 2007, a cable car struck and killed a 76-year-old pedestrian at a North Beach intersection.

These are not isolated horror stories. Cable cars are regularly involved in injury producing accidents. The Municipal Railway injury lawyers at the Walkup, Melodia law firm are familiar with the engineering dynamics of cable car operation, the braking systems, the rule books which govern their operation, and the reasons for collisions, sudden stops, boarding injuries and runaway cars.

If you or a family member has sustained head or brain injury, paralysis, fractures or other injury because of a cable car accident or malfunction, contact the Municipal Railway injury lawyers at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly, et al. Prompt investigation and witness interviews are critical in cable car cases. The Municipal Railway will begin interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence as soon as the cable car operator radios Central Control – if victims do not move swiftly in retaining experienced injury attorneys, MUNI investigators can often obtain written or tape recorded statements that skew the facts.

Cable car operators are trained to start and stop smoothly, and like any other form of public transportation, they are obligated to utilize the highest degree of care in transporting their passengers. California law requires that if you are riding on a cable car, or any other form of municipal transportation, the operators must use the utmost care and diligence for the safe transportation of their passengers. A failure to do so is negligence.

If you believe that you have a valid claim against the City and County of San Francisco or the Municipal Railway because of an injury sustained on a cable car, contact us for a free consultation.