Above: The video’s description reads “As I was waiting for the bus, I watched as drivers completely ignored the left turn signal on 2nd Avenue at Seneca Street. Everything in this video happened within a span of 7 minutes.”
Downtown’s dangerous 2nd Avenue got a facelift this week with the opening of a new protected bike lane. The lane tragically debuted just a week and a half after Sher Kung, a 31-year-old attorney and mother, was killed on 2nd Ave & University St when a truck turned left and struck her on her bike.
The new lane, which conceivably would’ve prevented Kung’s death, has already been confusing drivers—especially the car specific and bike specific traffic signals. One citizen on YouTube sat by the intersection of Seneca and 2nd on Sept. 7 and filmed for seven minutes. In that span, 12 cars make illegal left turns while the traffic light turn arrow is red. At one particularly dicey jam about 1:16 in, the person who uploaded the video added a “WTF” pop up comment.
Scott Kubly, Director the Seattle Department of Transportation, told Komo, “Any time you roll out a new facility like this, particularly in a busy area, there’s a little bit of confusion.”