A new law that bans people from parking a vehicle within 20 feet of a crosswalk took effect on Jan. 1. Assembly Bill 413, signed into law by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in October, aims to prevent intersection traffic accidents.

Assemblyman Alex Lee (D-San Jose), who introduced the bill, said in a September Assembly analysis it was based on a recommendation by the National Association of City Transportation Officials.

The association recommended improving visibility at intersections by removing parking from within 20 to 25 feet of an intersection—a strategy they call “daylighting.”

“California’s pedestrian fatality rate is almost 25 percent higher than the national average,” Mr. Lee said in the analysis. “This bill will implement ‘daylighting’ which would increase visibility by prohibiting parking within 20 feet of intersections and crosswalks, which will improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and motor vehicles.”

The Federal Highway Administration estimates that nearly half of all traffic injuries occur at intersections—and of the nearly 40,000 traffic fatalities in the United States in 2020, more than 10,600 of them occurred at an intersection.

Meanwhile, 1,674 of those fatalities were pedestrians—meaning such fatalities represented nearly 25 percent of all pedestrian deaths in 2020, according to the agency.

A research survey authorized by an Assembly committee also found that 43 states already prohibit parking within a certain distance of a crosswalk, with most states prohibiting parking within 20 feet of an intersection.

The survey also found that some cities that had implemented similar restrictions have had reduced intersection collisions.

For example, the survey indicated a 14 percent drop in collisions in the Tenderloin district in San Francisco, and a 30 percent decrease in collisions in Hoboken, New Jersey.