This is a sign Seattle is overcomplicating … parking

This is a sign that Seattle officials are overcomplicating parking. Literally, it’s a sign.

Parking should not be a difficult concept to grasp. In theory, you have clearly designated areas to place your automobile, then you’re on your way to do whatever it is you’re doing.

But you can leave it to the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to make an easy task such a difficult one.

In case you didn’t know, this is how you park on Seattle’s Dexter Ave. (Photo: Jason Rantz)

Walking around Seattle this week, I noticed the following sign that was needed to illustrate how to properly park on Dexter Avenue. The reason they need these signs is that SDOT decided to wedge a bike lane between driver’s lanes and the sidewalks. It’s a rather unnatural way to devise the bike lanes, which is why it’s caused so many problems.

Related: Doesn’t this prove Seattle bike lanes are dangerous?

Rather than parking by the curb, you’re parking in a spot separated by a bike lane (in other words, the bike lane is where you used to park, but now you park next to the lane, closer to the street).

There are a number of reasons why they did this, though the biggest has to do with the safety of the bicyclists (not the driver or passenger).

Part of the thinking is, you now have a parked car protecting bicyclists who are riding by. Of course, they’re still in danger if you open the passenger car door and you hit one of them flying by; they can also get hit by a car trying to maneuver into the space. I suspect this is a rare occurrence, though I’ve seen a few near misses.

More troubling, as a driver, it’s very difficult to see the bicyclists behind the parked car when you’re trying to make a right turn, which would cut off the bicyclists traveling south into Downtown Seattle.

Now, this wouldn’t be an issue if SDOT didn’t try to shoehorn in a dangerous route for bicyclists. But Seattle city leaders are so in love with their hobby, they’ll do anything to push bike lanes (even if it’s dangerous).