Double-parking means double danger, according to one West Vancouver resident who has petitioned the district's bylaw officers to change their ways.
When handing out parking tickets, bylaw officers typically doublepark.
However, this creates frequent, unsafe situations on Bellevue Avenue, according to 20-year resident Sarina McKenzie.
"There's lot of kids and there's lots of older people, and somebody's going to get creamed," she said.
After finding her complaints fell on deaf ears, McKenzie took photographs of bylaw officers double-parked while a nearby space was available.
"Why are they double parking when there's a parking spot?" she asked.
However, doubleparking is the safest way to handle what can be a dangerous situation, explained the district's director of bylaws Mark Chan.
Bylaw officers need to approach illegally parked cars from the driver's side door in order to document the infraction with photos or talk to the driver. However, standing there puts the officers in the path of oncoming traffic.
Parking slightly behind and parallel to the car in question gives the bylaw officers a safe pocket to work in, Chan explained.
"If they're standing by the driver's side door and they don't create this safe pocket, there's a risk that the officer can get hit by a car," he said.
However, McKenzie is still worried about cars veering around the bylaw officer's car and into oncoming traffic.
"I'm not one of your notorious people who's on a mission to save the world," she said, laughing.
"But I do have a fiveyear-old. .. and I'm not prepared to have the elderly or young people hurt."
Most drivers know when it's safe and legal to pass, according to Chan.
"In our experience, drivers are pretty accustomed to seeing this kind of situation," he said. "It may create some kind of temporary inconvenience for drivers, but. .. there's good reasons for why we do this."
Besides emergency lights, bylaw vehicles display a Notice of Frequent Stops sign.
Chan added that West Vancouver police and many other communities use the ticketing technique.
