spunkyj

I was doored yesterday. It was at low speed, and my shoulder brushed the side of the opening door as I went by. No harm done in the end.

How it happened ('cuz I never ride within dooring distance): It was a four lane (two lanes in my southward direction) and I was in the rightmost lane, riding about a meter from the curb. A car overtakes me on my left, and the proceeds to pull in front of me and stop. But instead of pulling over to the rightmost side of the lane, he stopped in the leftmost side of the lane. Because of the through-traffic in the left southbound lane, I couldn't go around him on the left. As I'm slowly rolling up this guy isn't moving, doesn't have any flashing lights on, etc, he's just dead stopped in the leftmost side of the righmost lane. I figure he's trying t be considerate to the cyclist he just overtook by leaving 3ft of clearance to his right. But as I slowly roll by on the right, BAM! Door opens in to me, I yell "be CARE-fullll!" to the driver, regain balance (door didn't open enough to knock me over), and continue on my way. Since the driver overtook me he knew that I was there, but this goes to show that you can never ever assume anything when it comes to your own safety. I'm very glad that I slowed down, proceeded cautiously, and was ultimately ready for it.

Anyway, the thank you in this post is to the driver behind the one who doored me. Perhaps he was also a cyclist. He caught me at the light and said, "Hey, I just want you to know that I had a word with the driver back there. I told him it's the law to look out for cyclists!" I was and still am very appreciative of his support at that moment.

MK313

Nice. Hopefully some part of your bike put a nice scratch on somme portion of Driver #1's door as a reminder to look for cyclists.

jyossarian

Glad to hear it wasn't worse. I seem to remember recently someone getting doored in Toronto that forced them into traffic where they were killed.

As for Toronto drivers, I noticed some like to hug the right side of the lane, forcing cyclists to stop behind them, or, if you're like me, ride around them on the left. In general, it seems they've gotten more aggro in the last 20 years, and not just towards cyclists, but towards each other.

doc0c

I'd be aggro too if I had to drive in Toronto

spunkyj

Yeah, not sure why this particular driver thought it would be a good idea to stop in the left side of the lane. I thought he was purposefully giving me room to pass on the right, especially since he had just overtaken me and obviously knew I was there. Perhaps there was a child in the back seat who wasn't listening to Daddy about keeping the door closed until it was OK...

jyossarian

I find many drivers just forget you're there once they pass you. I chalk it up to people being selfish.