California has a new law that affects the way you park. As of Jan. 1, drivers cannot “stop, park, or leave standing any vehicle whether attended or unattended” within 20 feet of the vehicle approach side of a marked or unmarked crosswalk regardless of if the curb is painted or if there is proper signage.
If there is a curb extension at the crosswalk, vehicles cannot park within 15 feet of the crosswalk on the vehicle approach side.
The law also mentions within 15 feet of the driveway of a fire station.
A spokesperson for the city said that the Santa Clara Police Department will use January as a grace period for drivers, where it will stress “education versus enforcement.” After that, drivers could be ticketed for parking too close to the crosswalks.
“The goal of this new ‘daylighting’ law (AB 413) is to enhance pedestrian safety by increasing visibility of pedestrians at crosswalks,” a Santa Clara spokesperson told The Weekly.
“This will make it much easier for people walking, biking and driving to see each other. And increased visibility reduces the risk of collisions for everyone,” said the City of Sunnyvale in a recent news release.
Sunnyvale used the last few months as a grace period and will begin ticketing drivers starting this week. According to the city’s municipal code (Municipal Code 10.16.020 (b)), drivers could see tickets of $53 for failing to follow the rules.
According to its news release, Sunnyvale will paint city curbs red. It will start with the areas with the highest pedestrian activity, including schools, senior communities and recreational facilities.
Santa Clara also plans to install some new red curb markings and no parking signs in “higher priority pedestrian areas.” Its focus will be on “marked crosswalks with high pedestrian activity” that do not have traffic control devices such as a stop sign, traffic signal or flashing beacon.
California Assembly Bill 413 was signed into law in Oct. 2023.
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The majority of US states for decades have had laws prohibiting car parking near crosswalks. I am shocked that California took this long to implement this simple safety requirement.
I doubt this will save a single life. Just more of make everyone feel better and pedestrians will.still aalj head down in to the street staring at their phone.