SAN DIEGOSAN DIEGO — State Assemblymember Chris Ward of San Diego has come up with an innovative way to discourage drivers from parking in bike lanes. Now he wants his hometown to use it.
Ward spearheaded a new state law that allows cities to ticket such violations more quickly using cameras mounted on city vehicles instead of requiring a police or traffic enforcement officer to be present.
The law allows cities to use technology to ensure the millions they’ve invested in bike lanes don’t go to waste because the lanes are frequently blocked, Ward said.
“How frustrating for cities when residents can’t use what’s been built because of blockage,” he said. Blocked bike lanes also discourage people from cycling and cause crashes by forcing cyclists to swerve, Ward said.
The new state law, AB 361, allows cities to equip city vehicles with cameras and write citations for bike lane violations based on the photos they take. It’s up to the individual cities to figure out how to review the photos.
Ward said he hopes use of the law spreads rapidly across the state, but only three cities have opted to take advantage of it since it took effect Jan. 1: San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Monica.
Ward said officials in Sacramento, Oakland and Berkeley have told him they are considering it. And Ward, who served as a San Diego City Council member from 2016 to 2020, said he’s encouraged San Diego officials to opt in.
A city spokesperson said Tuesday that clearing bike lanes of parked cars is obviously appealing but that San Diego officials are concerned about how using the law would fit with their new surveillance ordinance.
The city takes privacy concerns into when considering any new technology, and this use of cameras would need to follow the process spelled out in the city’s recently updated ordinance, said the spokesperson, Nicole Darling.
“There’s a lot of sensitivity around that,” she said.
Anay Salayev, executive director of cycling advocacy group BikeSD, said he hopes city officials embrace Ward’s new law.
“I think it could go a really long way toward encouraging more people to bike safely around San Diego,” said Salayev, explaining that clear bike lanes make people feel more confident they can bike without risking their life. “I think this would be huge.”
Salayev said drivers parking in bike lanes is a chronic problem, particularly in busy neighborhoods where the risk of crashes is highest. In addition to parking in lanes, vehicles sometimes block entry to protected bike paths.
“If you bike around San Diego, you’ll notice that even in places where there are protected bike lanes, again and again there is a car parked there or a pedicab parked there, just chilling and waiting for customers,” Salayev said.
Bike lanes already face backlash from some residents who contend their relatively modest usage makes them a waste of taxpayer money. Tougher enforcement of bike lane violations could intensify that backlash.
Ward said he gets the resistance to bike lanes and other changes to the urban environment as San Diego grows.
“I understand it’s hard to cope with changes to the landscape of the road, but people must adjust,” he said.
On the new law, Ward said it just makes financial sense.
“Cities are making costly and important investments with bike lanes, but all of that is undercut if people park there,” he said. “And when people see that, some of them choose not to bike.”
The law is based on a similar 2021 law that allows cameras on buses to photograph vehicles parked in bus-only lanes and bus stops and then issue tickets by mail to violators.
That law, which is also opt-in, is being used across much of the Bay Area and Santa Monica. And Los Angeles announced recently that it is preparing to opt in.
Under both laws, city officials have 15 days to review the footage of the alleged violation and issue a ticket. And participating cities must share with the state their data on citations and how compliance has been affected.
Darling, the San Diego spokesperson, said people who see vehicles illegally parked in bike lanes should report them to the Police Department’s non-emergency line, (619) 531-2000.
