Is La Jolla a hot spot for ‘daylighting’ tickets? If so, it’s not because it’s targeted, police say

Though La Jolla is being cited in a new media report as the favorite spot for issuing tickets for violations of the “daylighting” parking law, representatives of the city of San Diego say they’re not so sure about that, and if it is true, it’s not because they’re targeting the neighborhood.

According to a report this week by CBS-TV/8, Vista del Mar Avenue in La Jolla is now the location of the most daylighting tickets in the city.

“Daylighting” is the term for a safety measure required in state law that prohibits street parking within 20 feet of an intersection or a marked or unmarked crosswalk. The intent is to improve visibility for drivers, pedestrians, skateboarders and cyclists and reduce the risk of accidents, state officials say.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the daylighting law, Assembly Bill 413, in October 2023 and it went into effect Jan. 1 this year. San Diego gave violators a warning during a 60-day grace period but started issuing tickets March 1.

When enforcement began, tickets carried a fine of $77.50. Soon after, the city increased the amount to $117.

According to CBS/8, San Diego’s North Park neighborhood initially had the most daylighting citations.

But the station reported that now, drivers in La Jolla’s Windansea Beach area have received more than 300 tickets in the six months that the law has been enforced, more than other neighborhoods — particularly on Vista del Mar Avenue, where motorists received 292 of those.

Vista del Mar is a residential street that traverses the area of Windansea and Marine Street beaches.

San Diego Police Department spokesman Travis Easter told the La Jolla Light that despite the uptick in tickets, the enforcement in that neighborhood is “not strategic.”

Soon after the law took effect, he said, officers noticed violations in the area during regular patrols and continued to enforce there, resulting in more tickets.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s field representative Fatima Maciel said she wasn’t aware that La Jolla is being seen as a ticket hot spot.

However, she said the city Transportation Department is working to paint more curbs red where daylighting is required or otherwise mark them so drivers know not to park there.

“I can’t speak on why we’re seeing more parking enforcement in the area … but I will say, in terms of finishing the red curbing, it is going through [capital improvement] projects so … we are working on that,” Maciel said.

However, San Diego officials have said that painting all appropriate curbs in the city could take years to complete.

The fact that the daylighting law is enforced whether or not a curb is painted red or “no parking” signs are posted has been a bone of contention for residents.

Erik Gantzel, chairman of the La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board, said previously that he had “mixed feelings” about AB 413.

“I think it’s probably a good thing overall,” he said. “I think the main challenge is going to be education and making people understand how it works. Because if the curbs are not painted uniformly red … it’s going to be tough for people to understand it.”

La Jollans see bright and dim spots in new ‘daylighting’ parking law

Scott Crampton, a Windansea resident, told CBS/8 that non-residents especially may end up being ticketed because “there would be absolutely no way” for them to know not to park at a spot “with no posted sign, no red curb, no nothing.”

Another person told the station that “I’ve noticed all the tickets and I’ve been telling people to move their cars. It just seems wrong because there are absolutely no signs and the curbs aren’t painted red. How are some people supposed to know?”

However, Harry Bubbins, a Bird Rock resident and board member of the La Jolla Community Planning Association, has called the law a step toward creating “safer, more vibrant public spaces.”

“We have all had the nail-biting experience of having to inch into an obscured intersection and hope no speeding car hits us,” Bubbins said previously. “AB 413 solves this common challenge by enhancing crosswalk areas to improve visibility and reduce collisions.”

He did, however, urge the city to expand education about the parking regulations and expedite curb painting to help motorists tell where they can and can’t park.

From March 1 through Aug. 12, San Diego parking officers had issued 11,889 daylighting tickets citywide, according to CBS/8, and had collected nearly $1.3 million in fines.

That’s much more than the $850,000 that city budget analysts had expected for the entire year.

San Diego issues thousands of tickets for parking too close to crosswalks — and brings in huge cash

City officials encourage motorists at unmarked intersections to measure the allowable distance in terms of vehicle size. The average length of a car in the United States is 14 feet, making 20 feet roughly equivalent to 1½ vehicles.

“At the end of the day, if it’s a violation, we have to give a ticket,” Laird Tucker, San Diego senior parking enforcement supervisor, said earlier this year. “But proactively, are we going to be going out and looking for every car that’s 18, 19 feet away? That’s hard even for an officer to see and identify.

“Obvious ones, yes, we will get out and cite. But those fringe and borderline ones will probably be a complaint basis only, because we don’t have the staffing to go out and measure every single intersection all day long to do that.”

— La Jolla Light staff writer Noah Lyons contributed to this report.