It may seem like there\u2019s nothing worse than being a pedestrian in Berkeley, but wait until you\u2019re the one behind the wheel. From slamming on the brakes for jaywalkers to swerving around merciless electric scooters, there\u2019s no shortage of hazards that will make any Berkeley driver fear for their life. From one anxious driver to another, here are some hacks to make your next ride a little easier.<\/p>\n
To avoid traffic<\/p>\n
Be vigilant of \u201cRoadwork Ahead\u201d signs. Avoid turning into areas with these notices if you can, and save yourself from a 10-minute traffic jam. Watch out for these signs in construction zones on both Northside and Southside.<\/p>\n
Be wary of hazardous cars. Don\u2019t drive quickly around Southside during weekend nights because chances are, you\u2019ll find the streets overrun by DoorDash and Grubhub drivers making deliveries. They will put on their hazards and clog streets where residence halls are located, such as Durant Avenue. Leave enough room to navigate around these hazards and be ready to switch lanes.<\/p>\n
Remember to always plan your driving time. Be mindful of campus events when planning your outings. During sports games, Friday and Saturday nights, the roads are more packed than usual, especially next to the BART station and along Piedmont Avenue.<\/p>\n
For sharing the road<\/p>\n
Try to accommodate the buses and shuttles. If you\u2019re driving beside them, make sure to lag behind as they need more space to turn, especially on Shattuck Avenue. The same goes for intersections \u2014 always stop a little behind so they have room to make a left without taking out your mirror. Most importantly, never pull over at any bus stop; they will take a photo of your plate and fine you more than $100 \u2014 something I learned the hard way.<\/p>\n
Electric scooters will never fail to zoom by at the worst moment, so make sure to watch out for them while turning. Students aren\u2019t the only ones who need braking for; tread carefully around the flock of turkeys that live by Foothill.<\/p>\n
To find parking<\/p>\n
Do you need to park on Telegraph Avenue? Try your luck on one of the side streets such as Parker, Blake, or Ellsworth streets. On Northside, check the areas surrounding Euclid Avenue, such as Hilgard Avenue, Cedar Street and Le Conte Avenue for spots.<\/p>\n
Unless you paid for a commuter permit, visitors can park in parking lots for an hourly fee. This includes Foothill Lot, Underhill Garage, Lower Hearst Garage, Recreation Sports Facility Garage, Lower Sproul Garage and Clark Kerr Campus Southwest Lot.<\/p>\n
Many street parking spots have a time limit or require you to pay with meters. The boxy, newer-looking \u201cpay-by-plate\u201d meters require you to input your plate number into the machine and receive a ticket, many of which can be found along Euclid Avenue, Hearst Street, Northside and Southside. In Downtown Berkeley and parts of Telegraph Avenue, you will find older meters that are pay-by-display. The city will increase the price of parking if the occupancy is higher, so keep this in mind if you\u2019re trying to find a spot closer to campus. If you go beyond the main streets, parking will be sparser, but you might snag a non-metered space.<\/p>\n
Although Berkeley may have a host of roadside challenges, remember to always practice defensive driving, because we\u2019re all just trying to get to class in one piece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It may seem like there\u2019s nothing worse than being a pedestrian in Berkeley, but wait until you\u2019re the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[110944,30623,283,110946,110953,30747,3159,21344,53801,5295,39969,110948,15164,25120,110945,110947,110950,110952,5292,143,145,144,2426,20805,110951,3160,35184,16344,4574,13774,110949],"class_list":{"0":"post-248640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-blake-street","9":"tag-bus","10":"tag-car","11":"tag-cedar-street","12":"tag-clark-kerr-campus-southwest-lot","13":"tag-doordash","14":"tag-driving","15":"tag-durant-avenue","16":"tag-ellsworth-street","17":"tag-euclid-avenue","18":"tag-foothill","19":"tag-foothill-lot","20":"tag-grubhub","21":"tag-hazards","22":"tag-hilgard-avenue","23":"tag-le-conte-avenue","24":"tag-lower-hearst-garage","25":"tag-lower-sproul-garage","26":"tag-northside","27":"tag-oakland","28":"tag-oakland-headlines","29":"tag-oakland-news","30":"tag-parking","31":"tag-piedmont-avenue","32":"tag-recreation-sports-facility-garage","33":"tag-roads","34":"tag-roadwork","35":"tag-shattuck-avenue","36":"tag-student","37":"tag-telegraph-avenue","38":"tag-underhill-garage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}