SFMTA kicks off final phase of painting daylighting curbs
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District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood paints a curb red Monday to mark the final rollout of daylighting across the city. Photo: Shawna Chen/Axios
San Francisco drivers won't have to guesstimate parking near intersections anymore — the SFMTA has officially entered its final phase of painting daylighting curbs across the city.
Why it matters: California's daylighting law makes it illegal for drivers to park within 20 feet of any marked or unmarked crosswalk. But many of these curbs remained unpainted when the law took effect in January, causing confusion and controversy over enforcement.
Driving the news: The SFMTA held a ceremony Monday with Supervisor Bilal Mahmood and traffic safety advocacy group Walk San Francisco to mark the final phase of painting daylighting curbs, which will start in District 5 and continue citywide.
- Increased sightlines between drivers and pedestrians will help make city streets safer and reduce traffic collisions, SFMTA streets division director Viktoriya Wise said at the gathering.
- When the law took effect, the transit agency prioritized daylighting curbs in the most dangerous intersections as well as school zones. Now, the rest of the city will get its due.
- The goal is to finish painting all intersections by the end of 2026.
Between the lines: Because legislators didn't include funding for cities to paint curbs red or remove parking meters, many intersections remained unpainted when the city began enforcing parking restrictions last November.
Zoom in: District 5 will be the first fully daylighted district in San Francisco, accelerated by Mahmood's push to release over $100,000 in funding from the San Francisco County Transportation Authority for this purpose.
- "District 5 has some of the highest traffic collision incident ratio rates in the entire city, and a lot of them are concentrated around children, communities of color, immigrants and refugees," Mahmood told Axios.
- Daylighting in the Tenderloin has "reduced traffic collisions by up to 14% in the last several years," he noted.
What's next: SFMTA is "working on allocating" funds to finish daylighting the rest of the city, Wise told Axios.
- The money will come from the agency's capital budget, which is separate from the operating budget currently facing a significant deficit.
- As previously announced, drivers who park in unmarked daylighting zones won't be fined, but once a curb is red, the $108 parking citation will apply.
By the numbers: 42 people were killed in traffic crashes in San Francisco last year — the most since 2007 — while more than 500 were severely injured, per SFMTA data.
- Meanwhile, 24 pedestrians died from vehicle collisions in 2024, and 12 have been killed so far this year, city records show.