Streetcar

  I read today that the San Francisco streetcars cost the city millions in insurance payoffs due to injuries, and hold the record as the form of travel with the  most accidents.  I rode those streetcars some years ago when we were guest visitors at Stanford University.  Travel by streetcar was interesting and enjoyable and seemed safe enough for those of us inside the car, but where the danger seemed to lie was with those who hung on to the outside of the cars, which some passengers chose to do.   There was a small fee to ride, but that didn't apply to the young boys who just jumped on the outside platform, rode a block or two and hopped off at the next corner.  I winced at the sight, though I didn't see any of them fall to their deaths.  An added attraction was the entertainment at the ends of the streetcar runs:  the musicians who never quite made it, eerily reminiscent of the music of Willie Nelson or, later, Crystal Bowersox.