gajohnson

This article was in today's NY times. Take a look at the picture

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/ny...tml?oref=login

slvoid

That's mad dumb. These people need to get on a bike and ride through the city before designing this. If I can see the damn sign, that means I'm behind the cab, that means at 15 or so mph, I can jam on my brakes and stop in time. It's when you've just passed the rear of the cab is when it's most dangerous. I'd install a proximity sensor so it warns the passenger if anyone is detected in the area of the door zone up to about 6-10 feet behind it. If say it's just a pedestrian, all they have to do is press an acknowledgement button and open the door.
I'd figure out the average distance driven by each cab, give it 20% more, and make the damn things electric so they don't spew out so much crap into the air. Limit the acceleration so you don't get these morons burning rubber around the city.
And in the city, I'm talking in dense urban environments, I'd make it illegal for anyone other than the driver to open a door into the side of traffic. Everyone should exit on the side of the sidewalk and the driver should hold more responsibility in checking behind them before they open the door.

Ganesha

A better idea, like here in Tucson, is to simply ban street parking on most major streets.

Laika

thank you! and why haven't major metros stateside adopted the London model of congestion charging?

Karldar

I thought driving wherever you wanted was a god-given right in America. Almost typed that with a straight face, but I couldn't quite make it....

I can't understand why some people put themselves in situations where they have to expose themselves to downtown traffic, both bikers and drivers, if it's not totally necessary. I suppose things could change, but I wouldn't take a job in a congested urban area. I won't drive in downtown Nashville for recreation so I'm sure as hell not gonna drive there for work. I can't imagine how bad it is in NYC. Well, I suppose Korea might've been close.... I do check before opening my doors though, wherever I'm at.

bennyk

This is a great idea.

I'm sure the entire population of NYC will enjoy the $10 fare increase to pay for these pieces of crap.

Why not put some of this effort into fixing the fscking MTA budget disaster, instead of trying to fix something that's NOT BROKEN.

sheesh.
bk

Michel Gagnon

It always strikes me : why are these cabs so big ? After all, they don't run intercity service! The ideal car would be the size of a Smart or at the most of a VW Golf, with enough room to sit the driver and 1 or 2 passengers.

catatonic

because most taxis ask for people to sit in the back.

DieselDan

Little bit of regulation preventing a toll on a road that's been paid for. At least in my state.

operator

GG with logging in to view article, next.

Roughstuff

You know Laika, the oddest thing occurs to me when I visit big cities. I always ask....why would anyone want to drive under those circumstances? Streets are narrow, clogged, with parked cars all along the way which makes me nervous of about kids or commuters running out. Its a nightmare! I'd much rather walk, take a bus (Which most cities have) or a subway and leave the driving to someone else.

I like congestion charging, yes; but to me there are several other techniques which are even more effective. (1) You can't bring a car into the city unless you have already purchased a parking space. This is the rule in Singapore. (2) The tolls on bridges should vary depending on time of day: if you wanna be one of the million people who clog the roads from 7:30-9:30 Am every day (or whenever it is....) the fee should be much higher.

I like the idea of discouraging passengers from exiting from the driver side. Does anyone know how practical it would be to redesign car doors so that they slide open (much like a van, for example) instead of swing open into traffic? The front door could slide forward; the back door backward. I din't know if this would compromise auto safety in a side impact or not; but it would greatly reduce the problem of doors getting thrown into the path of cyclists and other vehicles.


roughstuff

slvoid

Doors that open upwards also allow you to park in tighter spaces and also reduce damage to your door and other people's cars from denting. The lamborghini's have doors that pivot up and the koenigsegg's have a door that pops out about 6 inches and then rotates up. The former's mechanism's slightly less complicated, the latter's is slightly better in sealing the door, it's just a joint and a bunch of pneumatics to lift the door up. I think someone paying $20,000 for the average sedan can easily fork over the 500-600 extra for doors that rotate up.

bennyk

I just don't think that this is even remotely on the auto industry's radar...if they are aware of the problem at all, they certainly wouldn't be interested in undertaking a huge redesign/remarketing project just to correct a problem that doesn't seem serious to them.

bk

Dahon.Steve

I've ridden my bicycle in Midtown Manhattan during rush hour plenty of times with a bicycle and you get used to it. In fact, I can see a whole stack of cars in front of me and if none are moving, it's actually safer than riding out in the burbs with no shoulder and cars going 65 mph!

You just have to go slowly that's all. In fact, I've been known to get off the street and walk the bike on the sidewalk for a short distance if the congestion is too thick. When cars are not moving, you filter slowly and look out for opening doors. I find that riding in the city can often be very calming once the cars are past you and no one is behind.

I agree with your option to take public transit instead of driving or even biking. I'm doing that at the moment but mostly because of the exhaust and having to breath that in is horrible. Should the circumstances come about where I have to find a job located in a certain part of the city where transit service is poor, I would go back to riding my bicycle once more.

nycm'er

The problem with the bridge tolls, as I understand it, is that Albany needs to approve it, which means the representatives of constituents in Long Island who the toll is properly aimed at, will have to pay it, no way thats going to happen. The city is not allowed to control who is allowed in. So you can come here, make a higher wage, screw up the local environs and then leave. That is one of the few major downfalls of NYC living in my opinion.

slvoid

Hell, the less of us around, the better for the auto industry. I'm surprised they don't design bike wreckers for cars.

Nicodemus

ditto.

drive-thru

I wouldn't say that doors which swing upwards ("gull-wing") are much better in terms of reducing space needed for the door, nor reducing the dooring risk. The risk of being doored occurs if the door is opened when you are already passing the rear of the vehicle. If a cyclist can see that a door is already open he/she has time to stop or avoid the door. Once the door is open it may pose less of a risk to a cyclist, it is likely that a passenger/driver will be stepping out, so the cyclist must still avoid the door zone in order to avoid hitting the person.

The Peugeot 1007 ( link ) has a door which slides towards the rear of the car, making the car roughly 8 inches (I'm guessing here) wider when opened, and would not stick out much (if any) further than the wing mirrors already do. The risk, however, with this type of door is that it would be much, much more difficult to see that it was opening, so although the "door zone" has been nullified, the "stepping-out zone" continues to exist, and for a much longer period of time (see above "Once the door is open...").
In terms of minimising injury to myself, I would rather hit someone steeping out of their car than the door itself, but it's still going to hurt (and now it's going to injure both parties). I suppose the feeling of stepping out into traffic without a door acting as a warning to traffic, and some protection from it, may lead to occupants taking more care to look for vehicles when stepping out. However we all know that when people look for traffic they are really just looking for cars and, with this mindset, if their eyes see a cyclist, their brains do not detect it.

These are just my thoughts; I don't know what the answer is. My solution is to ride outside of the door zone, but in heavy city traffic this is not always an option, with cars squeezing past not allowing you to move out far enough to go around parked cars. Some cyclists, until being doored, are unaware of the need to position themselves outside of the zone; others feel that they are inconveniencing drivers by doing so.