AlanK

Well, I've heard about it from other riders, but today it finally happened to me: I was riding along the shoulder (a designated bike lane) when suddenly a front passenger door of a car opened. I had no time to react, so I slammed into the open door with by front wheel.

Fortuantely, I wasn't going all that fast, so there was no major damage to my bike or person. My right thigh hit the handle bar, and my front wheel is a little wobbly, but no major damage. It scared the living fukk out of me Has anyone else had this experience?

ollo_ollo

How about "Trunked"? When I was 12 Y.O. a fat man in a new Cadillac convertible passed me then pulled over & stopped to make a right turn. Since I was looking back at my friend when he did this, I rode into the back of his car at a pretty good clip. Ended up on his trunk lid (almost in the back seat). Scared me to death & there was a lot of yelling to the effect of *&$!Stupid@$$* kid! I Got back on my bike & wobbled off as fast as I could. Don

AlanK

Yeah that sucks, but not to diminish what happened, that really was your fault. This a-hole, just wasn't paying any attention, suddenly opened the door, and "splat". I suppose it was bound to happen eventually.

NCNC

I was just discussing this post with my roomate. Say there was damage to your bike, and your bike whether its comlete shyte or say somethign lieka snazed up cannodale, what happens? Are you out of luck. Is it worth it to be insured? Or if its the other persons fault, do they pay? esp, if you have evidence of the value of your bike? Anyone with input on this one? If no one replies ehre, I'll post this as a separate question or discussion.
C

rmwun54

I haven't had that happened to me personally, but I had have a car make a right turn into a driveway of a parking lot right in front of me. I was riding along at a good pace when all of a sudden as I passed an intersection and a driveway was coming up this car made a right turn right when I was in the path. I hit the passenger door and rolled off the car. There were a lot of witnesses that were yelling at the driver telling him of his idiotic driving. I was alright and my bike just needed a rim true that was it. So I let it go at that.

Tourister

I had the same thing happen a few years ago.. I was riding down the street and had a front driverside door open right in front of me... I hit the door hard, bent it forward about 2 feet. I went over the top of the door and landed in the street.. My bike a Hardrock ended up with a really bent out of shape front wheel. I had a couple of cracked ribs... Anyway the guy was threatening to sue me etc for hitting his car.. About two days later his insurance company called me and offered me a couple of thousand to sign a release and offered to pay for all repairs to my bike... They appoliized for there client and the threats he was making... Said he didn't understand
the law.. Bike and I ended up better then new....

NCNC

The police were involved right? And filed a report of their own? Did you hae insurnace of your own?

Chris L

I've never been doored, but I've had a few people make some quite deliberate attempts over the years. The only realistic way to avoid it is to ride sufficiently wide of parked cars for it to be impossible. This is exactly what I do, and have done for over 100,000km.

slvoid

The done time I was doored, the driver started yelling at me till I mentioned the words "cops", "liability", and "insurance", at which point he apologized, no harm done during that one. I've learned to look into the windows of cars and make a decision from there. Also, be prepared to throw yourself towards the car if you get doored to prevent yourself from falling into the flow of traffic, it might save your life.

Juha

Count me in. I almost managed to steer clear of a BMW door, but only almost. It hit me on the left pedal (I was passing on the right side, along a separated bike path, right next to the street). I did not have much speed but tumbled over anyway. I was OK, my bike was OK, but the door had a big dent on it, visible even from the outside (I am glad to report this). The woman who opened the door got so scared she stayed inside and closed the door, leaving her husband / boyfriend deal with it.

The guy got out from the car and started yelling about the dent. I pointed out to him that both he and his clueless companion could use a lesson in situational awareness: his car was parked on a no-parking, no-stopping zone, partially on a designated tram stop and she opened door directly to the passing bike lane, not looking over her shoulder to make sure there was no traffic on the lane. If a dent on a door was what they needed to learn this lesson, I was all too happy to deliver it. If they required additional information, I suggested we ask the police to come over and explain things really slow. There would be a reasonable lecturing fee involved, to be paid by Mr. My-BMW-Is-Wrecked.

The conversation pretty much ended there, except the lady opened her window a tiny bit and shouted "Sorry!" as I was leaving the scene. Sorry? Yeah, whatever.

--J

catatonic

i get plenty of the driver pulls out of a parralell parking space right out in front of me. Fortunately I'm paranoid enough about that kind of thing that I start braking automatically when I see any car with people in it in a paralell parking spot.

The other I get are people trying to get onto the road nearly t-boning me while trying to just fly right out of parking lots....I also got used to the areas that will happen and slow down there too.

I'm seriously considering getting some kind of air horn for my bike.

Cobra

Ahh yes... Trunked... I have a better one..

When I first got my first bike (without training-wheels), I was a youngster.. Hell I hardly have any memories from that time of the life..

So anyhoo, my parents kept telling me not to look away, always look infront of me. I was riding up and down the street, went to my friends and as I was leaving his mom said to keep my eyes ahead of me.
Well sure enough, as im about 20 feet from her house, I slam in the back of a PARKED car. I got a bloody nose and a bloody lip. As if that wasnt a hard-headed enough thing to do.. I wouldnt let my friends mom bring me to her house to clean her up, I walked my biked all the way home.

Boy I got tons of stories..

Joat

This is where all those years on a unicycle really help...
I had a door open on me, and using skills picked up from unicycling, managed to hit the door with my feet, instead of my bike.
Final Score:
Bike - No damage
Door - replaced

Yes thats right kids, I'm so old, we didn't have two wheels when I started biking.

Urbanmonk

When I was about the same age, I was riding my handmade Schwinn as fast as I could when a car stopped along the side of the road and opened the door abruptly. My handlebars slammed the door of the 78 Chevy Monte Carlo and sent me up and through the air, barely missing my buddy who was riding in front of me. I bounced all over the rode, and surprisingly didn't fracture my skull (a time before helmets were even a thought). The driver didn't even ask if I was alright--the SOB!

stevetone

In Wisconsin, according to the rules of the road:

A bicyclist passing a stopped or moving vehicle is also requuired to give at least 3 feet of clearance when passing. [346.80(2)(c)]

In light of this, if you slam into an open car door I doubt very much if you could make a strong legal case, and you would probably get a citation if the police are involved.

As far as insurance goes, the last thing I would want to do is to file a claim with my insurance company for anything under a grand or two. If you do, you will likely pay it back many times over with higher insurance premiums...

Joat

Well, in my case, the driver agreed that he was an idiot, and we parted friends.
Thats an extremely generous rule for passing. I don't know how the roads look there, but there is no way you can give parked cars 3 feet of clearance here in Buffalo.

prabbit

From the Minneapolis City Website.


Opening Car Doors
(approximately 5 percent of bicycle-related accidents)
Causes: Someone opens a parked car door in front of an overtaking bike. Typically, the motorist fails to check for traffic before emerging. This is, by the way, illegal and the collision is the motorists' fault.

How to avoid: Never ride closer than three feet to a parked car.

stevetone

As John Forester of Efficient Cycling (https://www.johnforester.com) would point out, there are times when the cyclist must "take the lane". Overtaking automobile traffic must give 3 feet clearance when passing as well.

Although, I would agree that it is sometimes easier said than done

Joat

hehe, oh I take the lane, but you have to understand the conditions here.
Really really really lousy road surface
Narrow lanes, with lots of potholes tossed in.
more than our fair share of bad drivers.

Also, mostly commenting on my commute, which is busy suburban, where parking on the road is the norm.

Country riding is much easier of course.

Dahon.Steve

This is nonsense. If you file papers in small claims court against the motorist's insurance company, you can bet your life they will offer a cash award settelement. Furthermore, you can claim you were riding further than 3 feet from the car but extrenous circumstances (a bus) forced you a couple of inches closer. Can the motorist prove you were less than 3 feet form his car? NO. It's his word against yours and there is no insurance company out there will take this in front a jury. I estimate a jury trial of this nature in Manhattan would cost the insurance company 20 - 30 K in legal fees just to defend. Unless you were asking for a million dollars, no insurance company will even waste their time and simply pay cash ( a couple of grand) for your pain and suffering.

In New Jersey, we have "no fault" so the insurance of the driver must pay for ALL accidents with pedestrians. You're insane if you leave all bloody after an accident with a motor vehicle and not collect insurance information.

About 15 years ago, I was doored by a car. I filed papers in small claims court against the driver. The insurance company did NOT want to represent the motorist as legal fees would easily exceed the settlement. (Lawyers bill at hundreds per hour!) As a result, the insurance company gave me a tax free check in 1992 for $1,500.00 dollars (maybe a little more, I'm starting to forget)

Folks. Always and I mean always get the insurance information and call the police when an accident like this happens. File a police report right then and there. The original poster just lost a couple of grand (maybe more!) for his pain and suffering. It amazes me how may cyclists on this forum walk away from accidents with motorist all bloody and broken without filing a police report.

Carry a cell phone! PLEASE!

closetbiker

One of the basic rules when riding a bike on a street is to always ride at least a doors length away from a car. One should also look through car windows in cars that have recently parked because they may have a driver in it about to get out.

Our motor vehilcle act says:

When opening door prohibited
203 (1) A person must not open the door of a motor vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so.

(2) A person must not leave a door open on the side of a vehicle available to moving traffic for longer than is necessary to load or unload passengers.

People still do this anyway, and cyclists get doored far too often. I have copies of newspaper stories in a dozen areas from around the world where cyclists have been killed from being "doored"

This is not a small problem.

ewitz

In Ontario it is offense under the Highway Traffic Act to unsafely open a door.

brokenrobot

In NYC, dooring is a violation of both local and state laws...
https://transalt.org/features/doored.html

-chris

NCNC

i live in toronto, where they are tryign to make biking a total way of life downtown, I heard recently that we ahve a exteremly hefty fine for peopel that door prize cycilists.

I hear whatyoure saying with the whole ride 3 feet away from the door, which I do. Occasionally though, if anyone has read any of my other poss, this is where I encounter streetcars tracks. Occasioanlly, not very often but occasionally, I have to take my lane so centred that me and my thick knobby tires get stuck in the streetcar tracks, if I've had to take it suddenly and without the proper angle so as nott to. Its rather annoying. But I'd have to say my biggest fear is getting doorprized, having had a couple of courier friends with the scars to show.

madpogue 

This assumes, of course, that the "stopped or moving vehicle" is stopped or moving legally. A car stopped in a no-stopping zone isn't. Neither is a car of which the door occupies a bike lane. "Bike lane" means just that; no motorized vehicles or parts thereof, ever.