Why Are Street Parking Signs So Difficult To Understand?

Finding a place to park in a large busy city is one of the most annoying and difficult things to do as a driver. On my trip to New York City this Sunday, I had to do just that. After several minutes of driving around, I found a gap between 2 parked cars that didn't have a fire hydrant, just what I was looking for. I happily proceeded to parallel park between the two cars, but to my surprise, I saw the parking sign shown below. Take a minute to carefully read the sign and tell me in the comments whether I was allowed to park there or not. Keep in mind it was a Sunday around 1PM in the afternoon.

I got out of the car to better read the sign. I was literally staring at it for an entire minute, reading it over and over again. From what I understood, you could park Monday to Saturday but not Sunday. The reason why I thought that is because street parking signs tend to follow a conditional logic. These signs describe different conditions and the rules that apply to them. In this case, my car was not a commercial car so I could park there Monday to Friday from 8AM to Midnight and Saturdays from 8AM to 12AM but not Sundays because if none of the previously described conditions apply, the default is "No Parking Anytime" right? Wrong!

According to a cop that was standing not far from me, Sundays are the exceptions. I sort of question his knowledge as he had to read the sign and didn't look so sure of what he was saying. The point that I am trying to make is that the people in charge of wording and creating these parking signs should really make them easier for people to understand by simplifying the logic and prevent any contradictions. Check out these terribly contradicting street parking signs.

Parking Allowed: What if Light is Broken?

So if you read the sign, you cannot park at all, only on the first Monday of the month (very stupid..) and the light has to be green or not on at all. Ok that was easy to understand, but what if the light is broken and was actually on red? Well, turns out your car will be towed.

Word Soup, Good Luck With That

Perhaps The Worst Case of All

If you found the previous signs a word soup and outright confusing, check this one out... Might as well park somewhere else

The Solution:

Believe it or not, there is hope to solve this madness. Check out the image below, it's a sign showing a parking schedule that is easy to read and understand. More cities should implement this type of parking sign. Would save the cities tons of money in legal traffic violation appeals. Comment your thoughts below