California drivers are finding out the hard way that a “quick” spot near a corner or ramp can now cost as much as a nice weekend getaway. Police across the state are warning that a common curbside habit, parking too close to crosswalks and sidewalk ramps, is triggering $300 tickets as new rules move from grace periods to full enforcement. The crackdown is reshaping where people can leave their cars, even on blocks that never had a single sign.
The shift is tied to a broader safety push that treats visibility at intersections as non‑negotiable, and officers are no longer waving it off as a technicality. What used to be a quiet corner of the vehicle code is suddenly front and center, with drivers in Los Angeles County, the Bay Area, and beyond sharing stories of eye‑watering fines for what they thought was perfectly normal street parking.
The “daylighting” rule behind those $300 tickets
At the heart of the change is California’s New Daylighting Law, also known as Assembly Bill 413. The rule makes it illegal to park within 20 feet of a crosswalk or intersection, even if there is no red curb or posted sign, a shift that catches plenty of people who are used to squeezing into any legal-looking gap. The law is designed to keep sightlines clear so drivers can see people stepping off the curb, and it applies whether the crosswalk is painted or unmarked, and whether or not a curb extension is present.
Although the law took effect statewide earlier, many cities spent months issuing warnings instead of tickets, especially outside of collision hot spots. In Los Angeles County, local reporting notes that the rule went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, but full ticketing in some neighborhoods is only now ramping up, with enforcement finally catching up to the statute. That lag created a kind of trap: drivers got used to parking where they always had, then suddenly found a bright envelope on the windshield once the grace period quietly ended.
How cities are enforcing it, from LA to Pico Rivera and San Diego
On the ground, the new rules are being backed up with serious money. In parts of Los Angeles, a New ticket program is hitting drivers with $300 penalties for parking in restricted areas, including stretches from Downtown Inglewood to La Brea. That figure, $300, is not a typo, and it is high enough to make a single mistake feel like a financial emergency, especially when towing is also on the table for more serious violations like blocking driveways.
Suburbs are following suit. In Pico Rivera, the city blasted out an IMPORTANT NOTICE labeled as a PARKING ENFORCEMENT UPDATE, warning residents that the Daylighting Law would no longer be a free pass situation. For the past year, officers there focused on education, but the message now is clear: citations are coming under California Vehicle Code Section 22500(n), which covers blocking access ramps and similar hazards. In San Diego, a video from the San Diego Police shows officers literally measuring the distance from a car to the crosswalk, stressing that “every foot counts” and flagging a vehicle that sat just 12 feet from the corner as an example of what will no longer slide.
Sidewalk ramps, Reddit horror stories, and a small break for low‑income drivers
Drivers are venting online about how unforgiving the new landscape feels, especially around sidewalk ramps that do not look like classic “no parking” zones. One Bay Area motorist in a Comments Section described a $300‑plus ticket and wondered if the real issue was partially blocking a driveway, with another user bluntly replying, “You’re lucky you didn’t get towed.” In another case, a poster on a California ticket help forum said they were hit with $300 and $40 in fees after parking next to a narrow curb ramp that barely looked usable, arguing the city was “robbing its taxpaying citizens” for a spot they thought was harmless.
The pattern repeats in legal advice threads, where one driver wrote, “Got a 300 parking ticket for parking in front of a sidewalk ramp,” only to be told that blocking those cutouts is exactly what the law targets. Another user in a separate discussion, timestamped in Mar, learned that even a partial obstruction can count. The frustration is real, but so is the safety rationale: those ramps are lifelines for wheelchair users, parents with strollers, and anyone who cannot step off a standard curb.
What relief looks like, and how to avoid the hit
State lawmakers have at least acknowledged that triple‑digit tickets can crush people living paycheck to paycheck. Under a new rule highlighted by the DMV, a section labeled Parking Tickets explains that AB 1299, authored by Bryan, Authorizes local governments to waive or reduce parking penalties if a person is unable to pay and if the fines disproportionately impact low‑income individuals. That does not erase the violation, but it gives cities room to set up payment plans, hardship reviews, or partial forgiveness instead of treating every driver the same, regardless of income.
Still, the easiest way to keep $300 in the bank is to change how people read the curb. The new normal means backing off at least 20 feet from any crosswalk, watching for sidewalk ramps even when the curb is not painted, and being skeptical of “creative” spots near corners that used to feel like a win. In practice, that might mean circling the block a little longer in neighborhoods from Downtown Inglewood to La Brea, or skipping that tempting half‑space in front of a ramp in Oakland or San Diego. For anyone who has already been burned, the lesson is simple: in California’s daylighting era, the cost of squeezing in is no longer just a dirty look from the neighbor, it is a $300 reminder that every foot really does count.
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