The mother of a 32-year-old woman who had recently begun building a new life in the United States is speaking of her devastation after her daughter died in a tragic accident on San Francisco’s well-known Market Street.
Yebin Kim was traveling east on Market Street on Friday, August 7, when the tire of her scooter became trapped in the streetcar tracks that stretch along the three-mile corridor, San Francisco Streetblogs reported.
Moments later, Kim was hit by a delivery truck traveling in the same direction. Internal police reports said she sustained a traumatic head injury despite wearing a helmet, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Kim had moved from South Korea to the United States about a year and a half earlier to advance her career.
She was originally from Sacheon, a small coastal city in South Korea, and was the eldest daughter in a working-class family of five, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
While her parents worked late hours, Kim took care of her younger siblings while ambitiously chasing her own goals.
Kim attended Seoul National University, a prestigious school with cutthroat admissions.
After graduating, Kim moved to California to work at QCells, a global renewable energy company – first at their Irvine office, and then at their San Francisco location.
Yubin Kim was a 32-year-old woman from Sacheon, South Korea who had moved to California a year and a half prior to pursue her career goals. She died in a vehicle collision on Market Street in San Francisco when her scooter tires got stuck in the streetcar tracks.
Kim’s mother, second from left, flew to San Francisco to collect her daughter’s belongings after the tragic accident. Kim was supposed to fly to South Korea to visit her family less than a month from the day she died
‘Yebin went to the States to chase her dreams and came home to Korea as a cold body. I cannot understand why Yebin had to die there,’ Kim’s mother, Yonga Cho, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
‘I miss everything about her. I want to give her a hug, but I can’t. Now that I’m home, I still hear her voice, like she’s going to come into the room saying “Mom.”‘
She was cremated and laid to rest at a cemetery about 50 minutes from her childhood home, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
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At a vigil held for Kim by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC), advocates demanded a safer Market Street, including physical barriers to protect scooter and bike drivers from trucks, buses and streetcars.
‘Yebin Kim’s death marks the 17th fatality due to traffic violence on our streets in 2026, and the first scooter rider death,’ a statement from the group read.
The fight to make Market Street safer has been a decades-long battle for thousands of San Francisco residents and dozens of organizations.
In 2020, private vehicles were banned from Market Street. The result was a 14% increase in transit service and a 40% reduction in injury collisions, according to WalkSF, a non-profit organization that has advocated for pedestrian safety in the area for almost 30 years.
Last August, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie allowed Uber, Lyft and Waymo vehicles back on the street. This decision was met with scrutiny, as it’s a back-pedal on the original promise of a car-free Market Street.
Witnesses reported that they saw Kim’s scooter get stuck in the streetcar tracks right before she got hit by a truck
In August 2025, Mayor Daniel Lurie allowed Uber, Lyft, and Waymo to drive on Market Street which was met with criticism from long-time advocates for a Car-Free Market Street
In 2020, Market Street took a stride towards reducing traffic accidents by banning all private vehicles
San Francisco’s District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey was the only lawmaker in attendance at the Market Street Vigil held for Yebin Kim, according to SF Streetblogs. ‘Some time we’ll get Market Street right,’ he said, ‘then we’ll ask why it took so long.’
The family’s attorney, Rich Schoenberger of Walkup, Melodia & Schoenberger, said that police provided little information on Kim’s death, despite their requests.
The attorneys are considering a wrongful death lawsuit, if additional information reveals that the city of San Francisco or the truck driver to be at fault, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
According to SF Streetblogs, it is unclear if there is a criminal investigation being pursued towards the truck driver.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Mayor Lurie and the SFPD for comment.