For Immediate Release: 10/10/23
Contact:
Andrew White, Legislative Director, Assembly Member Alex Lee, (916) 319-2024, andrew.white@asm.ca.gov
Marc Vukcevich, Director of State Policy, Streets for All, (949) 259-3674, marc@streetsforall.org
Jared Sanchez, Policy Director, CalBike, (714) 262-0921, Jared@CalBike.org
Governor Newsom Signs Crosswalk Daylighting Bill
SACRAMENTO – Governor Newsom has signed the Daylighting Saves Lives Bill into law (AB 413, Lee). This law will prohibit stopping, standing, or parking a vehicle within 20 feet of any unmarked or marked crosswalk to increase visibility and reduce potentially lethal collisions. Intersections are the most common sites of collisions involving people walking and biking.
“Daylighting is a simple, inexpensive way to improve safety and save lives,” said Assemblymember Alex Lee, the author of the bill. “Communities can add amenities that don’t block sightlines in the newly available space, such as bike or scooter parking or bioswales, to reduce storm runoff.”
When drivers park cars and trucks right up to a crosswalk line, it reduces visibility for vehicles approaching the crosswalk. Drivers are more likely to hit people walking or biking when they have less time to see an approaching person and yield the right of way. Children are particularly vulnerable because they’re shorter and more likely to be invisible behind a parked car. And with the increase in size and height of many trucks and SUVs, even adults are vulnerable to collisions at low-visibility intersections.
“The rising rate of pedestrian fatalities is unacceptable,” said CalBike policy director Jared Sanchez. “Daylighting is an inexpensive and effective way for California to begin to reduce that trend. CalBike applauds Governor Newsom for signing AB 413.”
“Streets For All is proud that the Governor has made pedestrian safety a priority with his signature of AB 413. We thank him and Assemblymember Lee for taking steps to address the forty-year high of pedestrian deaths,” said Marc Vukcevich, Director of State Policy at Streets For All.
