City of Oakland - OLD PLUS

Drivers parking on the south side of 55th St between the mid-block bike cut-through and Vicente Way typically arrange their cars perpendicular to the curb, as opposed to standard, parallel parking. There are no signs or paint on the pavement indicating that perpendicular parking is allowed, so I assume that it is just something the neighbors do to fit more cars into this short block.

However, this means that the cars take up much more of the roadway, and since this is a signed and striped bike route there is much less room for a cyclist to maneuver if trying to avoid an obstacle. Additionally, the drivers will typically back out of their parking spots instead of backing in, and I have witnessed several cyclists almost run over do to the driver's low visibility during this maneuver.

Most of the houses on this street have driveways or garages where the cars could be parked instead, so the perpendicular parking seems to be more out of convenience than necessity. The neighbors should be given a warning that the parking arrangement will start to be enforced ahead of time, but if the perpendicular parking continues after that then tickets should be issued.