Driving around the colorful city of San Francisco can be a bit challenging, especially when you are behind the wheels and new in town. For both residents and visitors, traffic can be a bit fast-paced as it’s not uncommon for drivers to switch lanes fast and furious style.
What’s more, other road users and those enormous hills can make driving around San Francisco daunting. That said, here are some tips to help you get by just fine. Perhaps, if you encounter any issues with other vehicle drivers and road users, you’ll do well to contact San Francisco injury lawyers to assist you.
Map out a route for your destination & identify alternatives
While San Francisco is only 47.3 square miles in size, you’d be surprised what those streets have in store when you choose to move from one point to another. Because the most direct route isn’t necessarily the best route, it’s best to map out a convenient one to any destination.
As you map out the best route, you also want to scout for alternatives. This way, you have an available option in case things get a bit messy with the route you initially chose. You don’t have to start looking for a new route behind the wheels.
Look out for those in transit on their bicycles
Residents of San Francisco love their bicycles. It’s one of the things you’ll notice in the city. From students to bankers, and even delivery persons, bicycles riders are always speeding around the city like bullets.
Yes, there are bike lanes around San Francisco, but you can’t be too careful. So, whether you are pulling away from the curb or moving out of the driveway, check your mirrors for any cyclist coming from your rear.
Pedestrians are “the king of the road”
Pedestrians are other road users. You don’t need us to tell you they are usually more than vehicle drivers. Whether you are trying to cross an intersection or maneuver into a street on the right or left, pedestrians are everywhere. You’ll do well to know these few tips so you can drive safely.
- All intersections of streets in San Francisco bigger than 25 feet are legal crosswalks unless there’s a specific sign saying “no crossing”.
- A street crossing can be marked or unmarked with crosswalk paint. It’s a legal crosswalk either way.
- Keep this one in mind at all times that pedestrians have the right of way. Whether you are driving a vehicle or riding a bike, you are required to yield to pedestrians.
- You can’t park on sidewalks. It’s illegal in San Francisco and many places in the US.
- Once you approach public and private Kindergarten to 12th-grade schools, citywide, the speed limit for streets in the school area is 15 MPH.
- Jaywalking is like a culture in San Francisco. Yes, jaywalking is technically an offense as there are jaywalking tickets, but you don’t want to assume a jaywalker will yield to you, so you are better off yielding to them.
San Francisco Hills
If you’ve not driven in a town like San Francisco, you may not be used to scaling those daunting hills. If you are new to driving, those inclines can be challenging. Altogether, a car with an automatic transmission will make things easier. You should bear this one in mind if you are renting for a few days.
However, if you roll with a stick shift car, you also want to remember you might need to attain and maintain enough momentum so that you don’t slide down the hill. Many may find balancing the whole hill-climbing and maintaining speed limits challenging.
That’s not all. Parking can be a challenge on a steep hill too. The rule is to turn your wheels away from the curb if your car is facing uphill. On the other hand, if you are facing downhill, turn your wheels towards the curb. This way, your wheels will help your car from careening down the hill if your hand brake doesn’t work.
Parking
It’s almost like free parking spots are non-existent in San Francisco. Meters can be as high as two dollars per hour, while parking in a garage can cost as much as $40 a day, depending on the part of town. Nevertheless, you can still use the streets.
Just make sure you look out for parking signs, permit-only zones, tow-away zones, and street sweeping times. Free parking might mean you have to park a couple of blocks away from your actual destination. Try not to feel bad, nearly all of us do so in San Francisco.
Let us assist you with your claim.
Let’s hope that navigating through San Francisco will be itch-free. Still, while you are busy being careful and following all the tips above, another road user may think it’s a great day to drive under the influence or text while driving.
If you are involved in any road accident, you need all the help you can get. Let our San Francisco injury lawyers assist you to get the best outcome for your case.