Students bike to and are dropped off at the corner of Tarpon and Ribbon streets near Bowditch Middle School in Foster City. It is one of the intersections that could soon be affected by the city’s new daylighting policy to prohibit parking near intersections to increase pedestrian and cyclist visibility.
Foster City will soon start removing parking spots and enforcing the state’s new daylighting law, which will be primarily focused near public schools during the initial rollout.
The new rule technically went into effect last year, but starting this January cities are allowed to start issuing citations for violators. The practice of daylighting prohibits cars from parking near intersections to make pedestrians and bicyclists more visible — specifically 20 feet “in advance of the vehicle approach side of any unmarked or marked crosswalk, or 15 feet of any crosswalk when the location has a curb extension,” according to a staff report.
Senior Civil Engineer Justin Lai said during a council meeting Monday, March 3, that the city will likely start painting red curbs in about 60 intersection near the city’s five public schools.
“Obviously it's a big lift to red curb or sign all of the city’s crosswalks, so we've come up with a plan for reducing that lift,” Lai said. “Our priority area would be areas around schools, so a lot of Safe Routes to Schools [plans] designate a certain walking route they recommend, so trying to prioritize those would be the first things we’d do.”
About 86 parking stalls will be removed during the initial school area rollout, but roughly 450 to 500 parking spaces could ultimately be removed once the effort expands citywide. Red curbing the entire city could take another three years.
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“There is a significant number of parking stalls, and this isn't the entire city but this is a priority area that we are looking to target this summer,” Lai said.
There isn’t a specific date set on when citations — which will be $40 — will start being issued, but the city is actively focusing on raising awareness of the change among residents first, Lai said.
Most councilmembers voiced support for the implications, which many advocates have said is critical for pedestrian and bicycle safety.
“I’m in favor of doing this sooner rather than later. I’m a big proponent of public safety, especially around our schools,” Mayor Stacy Jimenez said. “I would honestly like us to see us roll out this in a little bit more aggressive fashion.”
Kudos to Foster City. Thank you Mayor Jimenez and others!!!
Meanwhile, in San Mateo they are spending millions of dollars to rip out bike lanes next to schools. They have done nothing in response to three pedestrian deaths in the previous five months.
While city councils around California claim 'daylighting' is all about pedestrians and cyclists ... that isn't really true. It's also about large emergency vehicles getting around corners much faster. Unfortunately that also means other trucks and cars can get around corners much faster. So just like "crosswalks" or "flashing beacons" or "Hawk Signals" this might be "pedestrian infrastructure" that is really just improving safety-while-speeding for cars. But of course council members will never mention that part.
We will know if this is all about safety if Foster City puts in the 15mph school zones and bike lanes around all their schools. That is a better litmus test for safety.
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Kudos to Foster City. Thank you Mayor Jimenez and others!!!
Meanwhile, in San Mateo they are spending millions of dollars to rip out bike lanes next to schools. They have done nothing in response to three pedestrian deaths in the previous five months.
While city councils around California claim 'daylighting' is all about pedestrians and cyclists ... that isn't really true. It's also about large emergency vehicles getting around corners much faster. Unfortunately that also means other trucks and cars can get around corners much faster. So just like "crosswalks" or "flashing beacons" or "Hawk Signals" this might be "pedestrian infrastructure" that is really just improving safety-while-speeding for cars. But of course council members will never mention that part.
We will know if this is all about safety if Foster City puts in the 15mph school zones and bike lanes around all their schools. That is a better litmus test for safety.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
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