Visibility will soon improve at California’s intersections once enforcement begins on the state’s new "daylighting" law.
The new law is expected to save lives by increasing visibility around both marked and unmarked crosswalks. Daylighting creates a buffer zone of 20 feet from crosswalks, meaning cars and trucks cannot park where they might block the views of both pedestrians and drivers.
Drivers will be issued warnings for parking too close to a sidewalk this year and will get citations in 2025.
“It’s perfect,” said Oceanside resident Lolys Leos. “We need that.”
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Leos told NBC 7 that she and her son were almost run over by a car as they crossed the street near their home in coastal Oceanside last week. Leos said she had to push her son out of harm’s way before screaming at the driver, who responded by saying she didn’t see the line denoting a crosswalk.
Leos said the driver couldn’t see the line because a car was parked too close to the intersection.
“We’ve had a rise in pedestrian collisions,” said Oceanside Police Sgt. Clint Bussey. “We get more pedestrians that are injured, and obviously in pedestrian vs. vehicle, the pedestrian is always gonna lose.”
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Bussey, who is an accident investigator, said he’s seen too many pedestrians get hurt or die.
“We see it very often, and especially as we’ve gotten very busy down here, we’ve gotten a lot more of our hotels and we’ve gotten more touristy in our city,” he said. “People walk all the time to our shops and boutiques, and the cars are also down here, and they’re just not seeing each other.”
Bussey said he believes the daylighting law will save lives once enforcement begins in January 2025.
In the meantime, communities like Oceanside will be educating drivers on the importance of keeping lines of sight open surrounding intersections, whether there are painted crosswalks or not.
Several other states have already enacted daylighting laws, which they claim are effective.
The California Office of Traffic Safety website has statistics that show pedestrian fatalities in California are 25% higher than in other states.
