San Luis Obispo County will likely see a few more red curbs in coming months.
This is thanks to California’s Assembly Bill 413, or “daylighting” law that prohibits cars from being parked 20 feet or closer to a crosswalk in an effort to avoid obstructing moving vehicles’ view of pedestrians and vice versa.
SLO City Parking Program Manager Donna King said that the city is taking incremental steps toward enacting the new state mandate, which took effect in January 2025 but allowed each city or county to implement it how they saw fit.
“We wanted to make sure that we took a phased approach and really communicated well to promote pedestrian safety,” King said.
Warnings in SLO started on Sept. 1, King said, which are placed on vehicles found in violation of the 20-feet rule, featuring an infographic that explains the new law before actual tickets are issued in January 2026.
“Really our focus there will be writing warnings for high-traffic areas such as schools or highly traveled crosswalks,” she said. “So we’ll be trying to provide warnings to people that are parking in those areas that are no longer legal and trying to do some outreach. And then we’ll also be analyzing areas that perhaps a red curb would be the best way to be able to communicate that.”
September’s also the city’s Pedestrian Safety Month. According to a statement from the SLO Police Department, it’s estimated that 7,148 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes across the country in 2024. In California, pedestrian deaths make up 24 percent of all traffic-related fatalities.
And while overall collision numbers have dropped in SLO since 2004, the city found that in 2023 the total number of bicycle and pedestrian fatalities per capita were at a “noticeably higher rate than the state and national averages,” according to SLO city’s Vision Zero Action Plan that was reviewed by staff this June.
King told New Times that the daylighting law will improve the safety of student pickups and drop-offs, but parents should be aware of the new regulation.
“It may impact them just because the law, it says no parking, but parking does mean stopping in any way—like getting out of your vehicle—because we wouldn’t want parents to be stopping there while kids are trying to cross the street to go to school,” King said. “They will still need to be the 20 feet back for those pickup and drop-offs. I think the benefits outweigh the one parking space that they will lose there, and then it just promotes so much more visibility for crossing.”
Implementation of the law in downtown SLO will take a different approach.
Take Marsh and Higuera streets, for example, which are packed with marked designated parking spaces and crosswalks.
“In downtown specifically, we probably will have to move some parking spaces, and we’re working on identifying those now,” she said. “Anyone that parks in a marked parking space downtown right now would not be issued a warning or a citation, because that would just be confusing for the public if it’s a marked space.”
Luckily for SLO, its municipal code already specifies that parking spaces can’t be any closer to a crosswalk than 15 feet. To account for the additional 5 feet, King said current parking spaces and loading areas could just be condensed, resulting in minimal alterations.
“It’s not going to happen super quickly because we want to make sure that we’re really thinking through all of the ramifications, and you know, how it will affect our businesses and our visitors, before we just start making blanket changes.” King said.
The city of Atascadero is also working toward meeting this new parking requirement.
Public Works Director Nick DeBar told New Times via email that the city’s recently completed $12 million road construction project on El Camino Real was designed in compliance with the new law.
“These projects encompass the heaviest pedestrian areas of the city due to restaurants, retail, and four schools,” DeBar said. “Other crosswalks in the city are being evaluated or already meet the new daylighting law.” ∆
This article appears in Sept 18-28, 2025.