Accident Risks when Pulling out of the Parking Areas in San Francisco

San Francisco is notorious for having many areas where the cars park perpendicular to the sidewalk and facing the sidewalk. This is especially common in the Marina, Pacific Heights and the Nob Hill districts, and creates unique dangers to pedestrians who walk behind the vehicles that pull out of such steep parking areas. This means that when the driver pulls out of such a parking area, he has to back up into usually a one-lane road, struggling to see through the cars parked next to him whether the road is free and clear from traffic. The accidents where the upcoming car runs into the vehicle that is pulling out from the perpendicular parking are quite common in San Francisco and often result in significant injuries to the driver of the parked vehicle, which is being impacted in the rear side, being pushed away.

To make things worse for the driver of the parked car, the law in most cases imposes the greatest duty of care on the vehicle that is getting out of the parking area, which means that the driver who is pulling out of the parking area is almost always found at fault, because the upcoming cars have the right of way. The driver who pulls out of the parking area has to do everything in his power to make sure that he merges into the traffic safely and doesn't create any danger to the upcoming traffic.

Thus, if you are completely unable to see the upcoming traffic through the cars that are parked next to yours, you are well advised to actually get out of the car and glance at the street and make sure that the road is clear or even ask the upcoming driver to stop for a moment and let you pull out from the parking area safely.

---