It is now a little harder for cars in the Bay Area to park.
A new California law that went into effect on Monday says that cities must make intersections more visible to protect walkers. This is called “daylighting.”
That means cars will not be able to park less than 20 feet from any intersection from now on.
“This is for both pedestrians and drivers.” “Daylighting makes it easy for drivers to see the person in the crosswalk,” said Jodie Medeiros.
Medeiros is in charge of running Walk San Francisco.
She says that daylight saving time has already been used to save lives in other towns and states across the country.
It is thought that the new rules will mean the loss of about 14,000 parking spots, or about 5% of all the parking spaces in San Francisco.
The law also does not give cities money to paint curbs red or take down possible parking meters that are already there. Drivers are still free to choose where to park.
Things that bother a lot of people.
“Where I live it is very dense, and we are going to have to search around more, circle around more for parking spaces,” said John.
He told us that he agrees with the rule being too broad, but he thinks that politicians should do more to keep people safe.
Goins thinks that the law will have a bigger effect on cities like San Francisco, where land is more valuable, than on communities in the suburbs or the country.
“I think they should have differentiated large SUVs that definitely obstruct vision and cause problems, as opposed to cars that are smaller,” he told me.
Not everyone is bothered by that extra trouble, though.
Some people say they do not mind taking longer to find parking if it keeps other people safe.
“The lives of people are more important than taking a little longer to find parking.” Neema Esfandiari said, “I do not think it will change too much.”
The SFMTA says that for the rest of the year, anyone parking within 20 feet of a crossroads will get a ticket.
For cars who park too close to crosswalks, $40 fines will start being given out in January.