"Video ... is a vital tool that helps us improve Muni safety,"

Video taken on the 19-Polk line's DriveCam system and an onboard surveillance camera shows the moment of impact at 12:05 a.m. Tuesday at 18th and De Haro streets.

The screeching of brakes and the sound of the collision are audible on the DriveCam video as the bus rolls through a stop sign heading north on De Haro. On the onboard video camera's tape, the pickup can be seen traveling west on 18th Street and apparently running its stop sign.

The bus driver, Pete Pon, a 31-year Muni veteran, was among those injured. He was treated at a hospital and released. Muni put him on non-driving status after the accident and tested him for drugs and alcohol, steps that are routine after crashes.

In general, Muni operators involved in accidents can face disciplinary action, including termination, said agency spokesman Judson True. He would not comment specifically on Pon, citing the case as a confidential personnel matter.

Officer Samson Chan, a San Francisco police spokesman, said an initial investigation determined that neither drugs nor alcohol were factors in the crash. Neither driver has been cited or arrested, Chan said. The case, he said, is still under investigation.

The pickup driver sustained injuries considered serious but not life threatening, officials said. Five passengers on the bus were treated for moderate injuries at hospitals. None of the passengers has been identified.

"Video ... is a vital tool that helps us improve Muni safety," said Nathaniel Ford, head of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

Muni installed DriveCam in all its trolley, biodiesel and biodiesel-electric hybrid buses last fall. The $1.2 million system records a few seconds of footage before and after a vehicle brakes hard or swerves sharply.

The agency also has scrambled to repair its older onboard surveillance system. An audit released in October found that video equipment on more than half the Muni bus and train fleet was not fully operational. Since then, Muni has made repairs and more than 90 percent of the equipment is in good working order, True said.

Muni officials say they have been focusing more attention and resources on safety over the past year and rolled out new data this week showing that the efforts have been paying off. The number of injury collisions were down 28 percent in 2009 compared with the year prior, dropping from 174 to about 125. Not all of last month's incidents have been recorded in the database.

Over the past few years, the city's transit system spent more than $10 million annually in accident-related claims and jury awards.

"Our goal is zero accidents," Ford said.