As I ride my bike I notice some odd traffic features, and one day I thought that all the lane markers and signs communicate an action, “don’t cross this line”, “stop here”, &c. So I started thinking about what bike related markers were communicating to me. Since Bellevue is, relatively speaking, pretty hostile to bicyclists, what they communicate is often hostile or at least confusing. So in this and any subsequent “translation” posts, will share such things.

I happened upon this on a residential street as I was going to pick up my CSA share (this is on 128th Ave NE around 1st St.)

I guess this is a weird variant on traffic calming: make the cars slow down, but make the cyclists either do a dangerous swerve or stop dead until traffic clears. At least the ditch looks soft…