State ‘daylighting’ law will save lives in San Francisco. Full stop.

This past weekend, my phone was blowing up. 

It seemed that every reporter wanted to talk about the fact that the SFMTA is now issuing warnings to drivers parking within 20 feet of the intersection.

Last year, a much-needed state law called Assembly Bill 413 was passed. It’s now illegal for all drivers – everywhere in California – to park within 20 feet of any marked or unmarked crosswalk at the corners where traffic is approaching from. Basically, California is catching up with 40 states around the country that have had what’s known as ‘daylighting’ laws on the books for decades. The SFMTA is rightly starting to educate drivers about the daylighting law.

When vehicles (especially large vehicles) are parked all the way to the crosswalk, a driver can’t see someone stepping into the crosswalk – or oncoming vehicles. 

And pedestrians can’t see if a vehicle is coming without having to step into traffic. 

This is incredibly dangerous for everyone on our streets.

As the calls and texts kept coming, Walk SF shared the facts:

• Daylighting reduces crashes by up to 30% by increasing visibility for both drivers and people outside of vehicles. 
• Daylighting is one of the cheapest, easiest solutions available to make streets significantly safer for everyone: pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers. 
• As vehicles keep getting bigger, daylighting is even more crucial for safer intersections with clear sightlines. The average American passenger vehicle is now 8 inches taller and 1,000 pounds heavier than it was three decades ago. 
• Daylighting saves lives.

Most of the stories ultimately focused on the loss of parking. One story had zero mention of the safety benefits of daylighting and used none of the quotes we shared.

“It’s already hard to park in San Francisco” was the common refrain. 

But it’s hard to walk in San Francisco without risking your life. We have lost 21 pedestrians this year. An average of three people are hit every single day walking in San Francisco.

Daylighting is a clear opportunity to improve safety for everyone, including drivers. Hoboken, New Jersey hasn’t had a traffic death in seven years, and extensive daylighting is one of the top reasons credited for why. Hoboken does 20 feet of painted daylighting at every intersection – and installs protective infrastructure in the space like posts, bike racks, and planters to prevent drivers from illegally parking there. 

That’s why Walk SF is asking the SFMTA to commit to adding red ‘no parking’ paint as well as posts to make sure drivers know and respect this lifesaving law – and its application is consistent. If resources limit their ability to achieve this quickly, they must focus first on the most dangerous streets.  Other neighboring cities in the Bay Area including Oakland and Alameda do a great job at demonstrating how daylighting can be done with paint and posts. 

Having 20 feet of daylighting at every intersection – plus ‘protecting’ it with posts or other infrastructure – is one of the most powerful solutions that San Francisco has at its fingertips right now to make streets safer. Good visibility can make all the difference in whether or not a crash happens.

We’re grateful that this essential new state law is now out of its grace period and now it’s up to San Francisco to embrace it wholeheartedly. We don’t need another tragedy to show why every possible tool is needed now.

You can read the details of how AB 413 is being applied in San Francisco on the SFMTA’s website.

Many thanks to reporter Allie Rasmus with KTVU for this story and reporter Tim Johns with ABC 7  for this story for emphasizing the lifesaving benefits of daylighting.