BILL ANALYSIS
AB 213
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 213 (Bonnie Lowenthal)
As Amended March 25, 2009
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 14-0
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|Ayes:|Eng, Jeffries, | | |
| |Blumenfield, Buchanan, | | |
| |Conway, Furutani, | | |
| |Galgiani, Garrick, Bonnie | | |
| |Lowenthal, Miller, | | |
| |Niello, John A. Perez, | | |
| |Solorio, Torlakson | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Allows parking on the left side of certain two-way
streets. Specifically, this bill :
1)Allows local authorities, by ordinance or resolution, to
permit vehicles to park on the left-hand side of the roadway
parallel to and within 18 inches of the left-hand curb on
two-way local residential streets that dead-end with no
cul-de-sac or other designated area in which to turn around.
2)Requires the local authority adopting such an ordinance or
resolution first to make a finding, supported by a
professional engineering study, that the ordinance or
resolution is justified by the need to facilitate the safe and
orderly movement of vehicles on the designated roadways.
3)Permits such an ordinance or resolution to designate certain
streets or portions of streets on which the permission
applies.
4)Prohibits such an ordinance or resolution from applying until
signs or markings giving adequate notice have been placed near
the designated roadways.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires, with specified exceptions, every vehicle that stops
AB 213
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or parks on a roadway where there are adjacent curbs to have
its right-hand wheels parallel with and within 18 inches of
the right-hand curb.
2)Requires right-hand parallel parking on two-way roadways with
no curbs or barriers, unless otherwise indicated.
3)Allows vehicles on one-way roadways to be stopped or parked
with the left-hand wheels parallel to and within 18 inches of
the left-hand curb.
4)Requires parallel parking on either side of a one-way roadway
with no curbs or barriers, unless otherwise indicated.
5)Allows a vehicle to be backed onto a highway only when such a
movement can be made with reasonable safety.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Current statutes require motorists to park their
vehicles in the same direction as the flow of traffic (i.e., on
the right side of two-way roadways and on either side of one-way
roadways). The premise for this requirement is that it helps to
avoid head-on collisions with oncoming traffic that would be
risked when entering or exiting parking spaces that face the
flow of traffic.
According to the author of this bill, "The 'peninsula' area of
Long Beach has a significant number of narrow, parking impacted
dead-end streets with little room for vehicle maneuverability.
These over-crowded streets with no cul-de-sacs create conditions
that expose drivers to inconvenient situations when attempting
to get into and out of these streets and increase the risk that
vehicles parked or maneuvering through the street will sustain
damage in an accident. A consequence of these conditions has
been the practice of residents and visitors to illegally park
their vehicles facing the wrong direction on the street.
Parking citations are given to vehicles in violation of this
code, which has led to frustrated residents who feel the
crowded, impacted conditions subject them to greater risk of
property damage and more difficulty while navigating their
streets."
The practice of all vehicles parking toward the dead-end of
streets where it is impractical to turn around essentially
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requires that they back out of the street when exiting. This,
in itself, poses potential safety problems. The author,
however, points out that, "Backing up onto a street is legal.
Peninsula residents have been performing this action for some
time without any significant negative safety impacts being
observed." Amendments taken in committee further assure that an
engineering analysis will have indicated left-side parking to be
the best traffic solution in any particular setting before it is
authorized.
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0000217