New parking law benefits pedestrians

Some cities, like San Francisco, have plans to begin issuing those tickets in the new year. In San Mateo County, however, many city jurisdictions say they have no intention of citing offenders as of yet and are only in the beginning stages of education and enforcement. 

That’s a decision around which some have expressed concern, like Streets for All state policy director Marc Vukcevich. Streets for All was a co-sponsor on AB 413 and advocates for transportation equity. 

“I think that if someone gets killed or hurt at an intersection in a city not really implementing the law, that really should be on them,” Vukcevich said. “We put this one-year grace period in the bill from Jan. 1, 2024, to Jan. 1, 2025. That was supposed to be, ‘this is the new rule, only warnings can be issued.’” 

Some cities, like Burlingame, have plans to issue treatments to their city streets in the form of red-painted curbs around major intersections and will be issuing warning citations, Burlingame Police Lt. David Perna said. He warned that even areas around crosswalks that are not specifically marked are still illegal to park in. 

“The city may paint some of the areas red. The average residential street, even though it is not red, it is still illegal to park within 20 feet of a marked or unmarked crosswalk,” Perna said. 

Signs, curb-painting and adding in streetscape elements to block previous parking spots are all options cities can use to protect pedestrians at intersections, said Jared Sanchez, policy director at the California Bicycle Coalition — another co-sponsor on the bill. Jurisdictions that “really value safe streets and are concerned about the traffic violence crisis” will work to take those actions, even if they aren’t mandated by law, he said. 

“Enforcement is so locally and county regulation-based, it’s hard to mandate,”Sanchez said. “In this instance, we opened the door for local cities to take advantage.” 

In San Bruno, the police department and engineering department will be working in tandem to conduct an enforcement campaign, issuing educational mailers, social media posts and eventually warnings, police Sgt. Scott Smith said. 

But he also noted the challenges a reduction in parking might cause to some residents at first. 

“It’s going to be a long process. The law has to remove a lot of residential parking, or parking in the city,” Smith said. “It’s going to be some frustration at first, because it’s going to change a lot of people’s day-to-day, but understanding of promoting pedestrian safety is of great importance.” 

Many other cities, like Foster City, South San Francisco, and the jurisdictions covered by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office — like Millbrae, San Carlos and Half Moon Bay, among others — will be taking an education-first approach to regulation around crosswalk parking and not proceeding with immediate citations, representatives said. 

“As with any new law, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office first takes the approach of education prior to enforcement,” spokesperson Gretchen Spiker said in a statement. “In the coming weeks, the Sheriff’s Office plans to share information with the community about AB 413 on social media and throughout the office’s various programs.” 

Clearing drivers’ lines of visibility is a tried-and-true effective method of preventing deaths around intersections, Vukcevich said, emphasizing that cities should take enforcement of the practice seriously. 

“The area that people get hurt the most is the intersection. It’s the area of conflict, it is the area where parallel flowing cars intersect with each other. When intersections occur, it leads to the most dangerous outcomes,” he said. “We really hope to see this sort of treatment at intersections as a really important way to curb pedestrian deaths.” 

holly@smdailyjournal.com

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