Pedestrians walk past a bulb-out, or curb extension, at the intersection of 24th and Valencia streets in San Francisco on Dec. 18, 2024. A bulb-out extends the sidewalk into a parking lane to provide more space for pedestrians and visibility at an intersection. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
A new year is around the corner — and with it comes a raft of new laws in California.
One of the most talked-about new laws in the state is Assembly Bill 413, which enforces something called “daylighting.” In a nutshell, daylighting will now make it illegal to park a car within 20 feet of a pedestrian crosswalk.
AB 413 has already been in effect for the last year, and the big difference for 2025 is that cities around the Bay Area and California will now start enforcing these new parking orders — complete with hefty fines for drivers.
But it turns out there’s actually quite a bit of difference in how that will look, depending on what city you live — or work — in.
Keep reading for everything you need to know about daylighting, from how to make sure you avoid a pricey parking ticket to hopes for pedestrian safety around the region.
How does daylighting work, if I’m trying to park my car?
Daylighting is the practice of preventing cars from parking near crosswalks in order to make people using crosswalks more visible to drivers — thereby reducing the chance a person gets hit by a car.
California’s daylighting law makes it illegal to “stop, stand, or park” a vehicle within 20 feet of any unmarked or marked crosswalk or within 15 feet of any crosswalk where a curb extension is present.
These diagrams show how the clearance of 20 feet can make a big difference for street safety at painted and unpainted crosswalks. (SFMTA)
Crucially, the daylighting law only prohibits parking next to a crosswalk on the “approach side” of an intersection. Confused? Imagine you’re driving a car down a regular two-way street. Daylighting would prohibit you from parking in the spot immediately before the crosswalk, as you approach the intersection. But the law would not prevent you from parking in a spot directly after that crosswalk as you are exiting the intersection — because a car parked in such a spot doesn’t impair the ability of people crossing the street there to see a car coming towards them, and vice versa.
If you’re still having trouble picturing the kinds of parking spots that daylighting applies to, imagine yourself as a pedestrian trying to cross a super-busy street, taking your first nervous steps into a crosswalk that doesn’t have a traffic light. Is there a car parked directly on your left that you’re having to peek around, to see if any drivers are racing up the street in your direction?
If so, that’s the exact parking spot that daylighting now makes illegal.
So all of these now-illegal parking spots will be removed or clearly marked, right?
No — and this is one of the more contentious aspects of California’s daylighting law.
While some cities have begun to remove parking spots, pull out meters, paint curbs red or otherwise fill daylighting spots, they don’t actually have to do so under the law. Which means it’s up to California drivers to recognize an illegal daylighting spot and stay out of it — even if the spot looks perfectly available, with no red curb. And a driver can absolutely still get a warning or a citation for parking in a daylighting spot that has no such markings.
Daylighting “functions a lot like the parking restrictions around a fire hydrant. It doesn’t have to be red curbed, but everyone knows you’re not supposed to park within 15 feet of it,” said Liza Lutzker, a research data analyst at UC Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center.
A red curb designates a no-parking area at the intersection of Sutter and Leavenworth streets in San Francisco on Dec. 18, 2024.
So how can I avoid getting a ticket for daylighting?
Here are some of the things to remember, to lower your chances of being cited for parking in a daylighted spot:
Get to know what 20 feet looks like…
If you’re imagining meter maids patrolling the streets with ways to measure the curbs, it doesn’t sound like that’ll be the reality of daylighting enforcement — at least not in San Francisco. “Parking enforcement will not be out with measuring tape,” said Michael Roccaforte, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA).
But that means you’ll need a good handle on what 20 feet looks like — or 15 feet, in the case of daylighting spots next to a crosswalk with a curb extension. SFMTA characterizes 20 feet as “about one car length, or the length of about one metered space” — so when you’re picturing that car in your mind, make it a larger SUV rather than a Mini Cooper, to be on the safe side. (For scale, a Subaru Outback is almost 16 feet long.)
Daylighting applies on both sides of a one-way street
The space directly after a crosswalk isn’t a daylighted spot, but the space directly before it — as the driver approaches it — is. So on a one-way street, it will be illegal to park in a spot immediately before a crosswalk on both sides of the street.
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A warning isn’t a citation — but don’t assume you can get multiple warnings
SFTMA’s Roccaforte said the city has been giving out roughly 60 warnings per day to people who park in daylighted spots, and will continue giving out only warnings through Feb. 28, but the agency will begin handing out citations for parking in daylighted spots beginning on March 1. “In theory you could pick up multiple warnings,” said Roccaforte, and “we do not limit the number of warnings in this time period.”
But other jurisdictions may indeed be limiting the amount of warnings a vehicle can get for daylighting. South San Francisco is one of them, working on a two-strikes-and-you’re-out approach and warning drivers that “people who park in these areas will get one warning before a citation is issued.”
Daylighting applies to unmarked crosswalks too
Even if a crosswalk isn’t marked on the pavement, you still have to avoid parking in daylighted spots. So assume every intersection is a crosswalk, even if there are no road markings, said SFMTA’s Roccaforte.
Crosswalks aren’t just in intersections
Daylighting enforcement will also apply to the spot before a mid-street crosswalk, so be vigilant for them. “That said, most mid-block crosswalks are already red-curbed, so drivers won’t notice a change,” said Roccaforte.
People wait to cross 18th Street at Dolores Street in San Francisco on Dec. 17, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
Why did California introduce daylighting?
California Assemblymember Alex Lee, who authored the law, said it’s all about making streets safer and reducing collisions.
Lee, who represents a district in the South Bay, said he was motivated to work with advocates on the bill by what he saw as a rise in reckless driving after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was really to make sure that when someone is crossing the street or trying to make a turn that there is the maximum amount of visibility,” said Lee. “Because when there is that blind spot there it can cause a lot of harm.”
Lee cites some grim statistics, such as California’s pedestrian fatality rate being almost 25% higher than the national average, and the fact that no state has more pedestrian deaths on its roadways than California.
Citing research from the Federal Highway Administration, a state assembly analysis highlighted that of the 38,824 traffic fatalities in the United States in 2020, 10,626 of them occurred at an intersection — and that 1,674 of those fatalities were pedestrians, representing nearly 25% of all pedestrian fatalities. “Nearly half of all traffic injuries occur at intersections,” said the authors.
California is also a latecomer compared to other states when it comes to daylighting. More than 40 other states have some kind of daylighting law on the books in an attempt to reduce pedestrian fatalities.
Bulb-outs, or curb extensions, can be seen at the intersection of Cesar Chavez and Folsom Streets in San Francisco on Dec. 18, 2024. A bulb-out extends the sidewalk into a parking lane to provide more space for pedestrians and visibility at an intersection. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
What do we know about daylighting’s effect on road safety?
Restricting parking near intersections can reduce pedestrian crashes by 30%, according to the Federal Highway Administration (PDF). “This is a proven way to increase pedestrian safety,” said Liza Lutzker, a research data analyst at UC Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center. “It’s been really effective everywhere it has been implemented.”
Daylighting has already been implemented in parts of cities in the Bay Area. In 2015, SFMTA led a major daylighting effort in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhod by removing 180 parking spaces at 80 intersections. In 2018 the agency reported that there were 14% fewer reported collisions at those daylighted intersections, except for two intersections which experienced an increase in collisions.
Advocates for daylighting are cheering on this law, while pointing out ways that local governments could further increase its effectiveness. Luke Bornheimer, the executive director of Streets Forward, says the city of San Francisco should physically prevent people from parking in daylighted spaces by installing infrastructure like planters, bike corrals, large granite blocks or just plastic “soft-hit” posts.
“In addition to making it intuitive and physically impossible to stop/park a car there, most of these will also enhance intersections and streets for people in the neighborhood,” Bornheimer said.
Not everyone is in favor of daylighting, however. The California Contract Cities Association, wrote an argument in opposition of the law before it was passed, saying:
“Our organization remains concerned about the added burden placed upon cities to mark their parking distance requirements should they decide to diverge from the statewide standard in their jurisdictions. If cities decide to decrease the amount of daylighting, the legislation requires cities to erect new signage and paint curbs, which will come at a cost and pull resources away from other community priorities.” The Association also wrote an assembly floor analysis.
How do I know if my city is enforcing daylighting — and why wouldn’t they enforce it?
As a rule of thumb, you should expect the possibility of being issued a citation if you park in a daylighted zone — no matter where you are in California.
However, different municipalities are taking different approaches to how they are enforcing the law.
For instance, cities like Berkeley and San Francisco have already announced the amount they intend to fine drivers for parking in daylighted zones, indicating that they do in fact intend to enforce the law.
Other cities, like San José, say that this new legislation is going to be “challenging to implement.”
“The legislation did not provide any funding for analysis, markings, signage, education, or enforcement,” said Colin Heyne, public information manager for the city of San José. “Without any funding tied to the legislation, we cannot conduct a mass outreach and education campaign or enforce the daylighting rules citywide.”
Because of this, Heyne said San José will be implementing AB 413 in phases, with a focus on where daylighting will have the most benefit, like on the city’s high-injury network.
Heyne says San José has already removed 29 metered spaces in the greater downtown area due to AB 413, and has painted the curbs red in those places.
“In the locations where we have removed previously available parking spots, and added a red curb, we are enforcing for red curb violation,” Heyne said.
But, he says, the city has not yet set a fine amount for the specific AB 413 violation, so the city will not be issuing daylighting citations until that happens.
The bottom line: to be certain how your area is enforcing daylighting or handing out tickets, you’ll need to check your local government’s website. And because enforcement varies greatly even just within the Bay Area, it’s going to be simplest if you assume all daylighting spots everywhere are off-limits — and park accordingly.
A car is parked in a red zone at the intersection of Golden Gate Avenue and Jones Street in San Francisco on Dec. 18, 2024. The red curb designates a no-parking area to create more visibility at the intersection. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
How are some major Bay Area cities enforcing daylighting?
San Francisco
Warnings will be given to cars parked in daylighting spots through Feb. 28. Starting March 1, fines for parking in unpainted daylighting spots will be $40. A citation for parking in a painted daylighting spot will be $108. Fines apply to cars parked within 20 feet of a crosswalk, and 15 feet of a crosswalk with a curb extension.
Oakland’s new webpage about daylighting states that the city has already been painting curbs red “to support daylighting whenever possible” since the law’s passage in 2023 — and they’ll “continue to do so going forward.”
As for enforcement, the Oakland Department of Transportation says that starting January, they’ll be distributing windshield flyers, “followed by a period of warnings.” After this, OakDOT will propose an amount for future daylighting fines to the Oakland City Council in the spring.
Starting Jan. 1, Berkeley will be issuing citations of $64 for parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk or within 15 feet of a crosswalk with a curb extension — which goes up to $96 on game days. Fines unpaid after 28 days will be raised by $30, and again after 47 days by another $50.
San José will not be issuing citations — yet — to drivers parked in unmarked daylighting spots, said Colin Heyne from the San José Department of Transportation.
But in areas where the city has removed previously-available spots and painted the curbs red, “we are enforcing for red curb violation,” Heyne said — although because the city has “not yet set a fine amount for the specific AB 413 violation” they are “not able to issue citations or warnings for that specific infraction.”
“Our enforcement strategy will evolve as we make further decisions about when and where to add signs or red curbs, as well as how well we feel the public understands the new law,” said Heyne.
Other Bay Area cities that have released their plans for daylighting enforcement:
What are Bay Area cities doing with these new spaces?
Instead of leaving a daylighted spot empty, some cities are working to activate the spaces once used for car parking in a way that maintains lines of sight for people in crosswalks.
Robert Prinz, the Advocacy Director of Bike East Bay, says the city of Emeryville is in the process of purchasing 100 new bike racks, and that some of them will be placed on the street in newly daylighted areas.
“When placed at a street corner in place of a car parking spot they can also help to enforce existing red curbs or the AB 413 “daylighting” rule by adding a physical impediment to drivers parking in those spaces, even when no bikes are parked there,” Prinz told KQED by email.
Some Bay Area cities like Oakland have already installed bike infrastructure in daylighted zones, as this Google Maps view shows.
Prinz says Bike East Bay is working with other local governments to encourage activating daylighted zones.
“Going forward we hope many other cities will follow suit and start painting red curbs proactively despite not being required to under state law, in addition to adding bike racks, sidewalk extensions, rain gardens, or many other reuse opportunities for these spaces to both increase safety and utility,” Prinz said.
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