I just got doored biking along a busy road. I think I yelled "FUCK - don't you look before opening your door!" while I fell to the ground.

I was surprisingly calm afterwards - especially considering that I would have been driven over if there were traffic. I only yelled at the guy when he protested that he saw the cyclist ahead of me. I said something like "You just doored me - you can't even deny that you didn't look".

What are you supposed to do when you get doored?

Bike-chain-whip the hood of the car.

Even steven.

Thank your lucky stars you didn't get doored into traffic, you would have cost the poor guy $110.

Yeah, that's right. That's the fine for killing a bicyclist with your door in Toronto.

Yeah - the damage to his door is hopefully worth more.

I guess he learned a lesson - a lesson that so would not have been worth my life.

I guess I was supposed to stay at the scene. Anyone think I can still report it?

Doubtful, did you take down his license? You might at least lose him some points. You should have stayed on the scene though, yeah.

Alright - I'm gonna file an incident report so at least the stats can be recorded.

Dude, not only do I feel your pain, but a passenger of mine back in college days was guilty of doing the same. The dude cruising by on his 10-speed totally bit the pavement HARD after meeting the open door of my '77 Trans-Am, and man was I pissed (at my clueless passenger who opened the door without looking). But the cyclist bounced right back up and said "my fault, sorry" and then rode away... I've always been teh extra careful ever since.

I've still got a 3"inch scar on my forearm from a very similar incident, where in I was the rider. Karma, perhaps.

Most important thing, when you KNOW you're going to get the door prize - swerve into it. It might save your life. Most people panic and try to swerve away form the door, right into the next lane or even worse, oncoming traffic. The person that opened the door on you deserves to get some smackage, you're going to be less hurt hitting a body against a door than another car that isn't parked.

Originally posted by: arigato Most important thing, when you KNOW you're going to get the door prize - swerve into it. It might save your life. Most people panic and try to swerve away form the door, right into the next lane or even worse, oncoming traffic. The person that opened the door on you deserves to get some smackage, you're going to be less hurt hitting a body against a door than another car that isn't parked.

Unless you fly over the door into another door that's opening. Now THAT's going "door to door."

:rimshot:

I guess the unique situation with my incident was that the rider hit the door on a passenger's side next to the row of parked cars - we stopped briefly in traffic so my friend could get out, and the cyclist apparently thought he could squeeze between the parked cars and the ones stopped in traffic. So he was trapped and man... I mean he totally went over the top of his bars, and I could see blood on his chin when he got back up, but I guess he felt it was his fault for trying to squeeze in between.

Still, I woulda been a hella lot more pissed had I been in the same situation. Then again... it was on campus, and anyone on a bike shouldn't have been going that fast regardless I reckon. But I still felt pretty responsible.

That's a pretty complicated rider, dude. Throw some grandma-fucking & preteen scarification/ fellatio in there and you have an aristocrats joke.

That's fucked up.

As a motorist on the road for more than 14 years, I don't think I've ever even come close to dooring anyone.

TURN YOUR DAMN MELON AROUND A FEW DEGREES AND LOOK FERCHRISSAKES (see what I did there?)

Glad to hear you're not dead though.

I was nearly on the other end of the deal once. I was going just slow enough that I was able to yank up on the handlebars and drive the front wheel into the door frame.

Now... I was 12, and it was a BMX bike so, not all that intimdating.

To be fair, the motorist at fault never even knew of his culpability in my own personal injury, whereas the cyclist who suffered at my own door's expense could easily have blamed me and my passenger for negligence. I feel bad about it, even though the cyclist was clearly physically capable of still operating his bicycle. Overall the situation provided me with an increased amount of awareness that may have been lost on me otherwise.

In the end, for me personally, it's not so much a question of responsibility as it is a question of awareness. I'm happy to say I've never experienced a similar situation since then, but that makes it none the easier to deal with what actually happened.

I'd honestly prefer a city filled with cyclists as opposed to the current daily transportation system.

Another way to ensure that motorists pay very close attention to you is with a frozen waterbottle. With enough adrenaline and some luck you could take off the side mirror of a golf gti. If you're inclined that way.

Originally posted by: arigato Most important thing, when you KNOW you're going to get the door prize - swerve into it. It might save your life. Most people panic and try to swerve away form the door, right into the next lane or even worse, oncoming traffic. The person that opened the door on you deserves to get some smackage, you're going to be less hurt hitting a body against a door than another car that isn't parked.

Speaking of dooropeners. Last week i was in a big city and in the center of town you have 2 lanes and then bikelane and then a parkinglane. So a woman opened her door without watching and a policebike was driving in the bikelane just besides the parkinglane and smacked right into the door. It was kind a funny because he smacked right on his face and was knockout for a few seconds.

Yowch! I guess the cop was none too happy, eh?

I saw somebody do that on my street in Toronto, a dumb tough guy guido type threw the door of his red sports car open and some beater shitbox came flying down the street and tore the door clean off, and kept on going. The poor distraught guido kept yelling MY FUCKING CAR! MY CAR! MY FUCKING CAR! And it quickly became apparent that he and his 2 friends were so shocked that none of them checked the license plate.

Glad you're alright. I thankfully haven't been doored yet, despite some close calls. knock on wood

This happens a surprising amount in Chicago and comes up on lots of forums on what to do....Basically, the guy in the car is at fault. You are responsible for your car when it is parked and moving. A lot of the reactions i see on boards is embarrassment or feeling at fault on the biker's side...which is the wrong reaction. If you were following all your local laws - helmet, light, lane position, etc. It's no different than if he opened his door into your moving car.

If it happens to anyone else, make sure to get all their info and get the police to come and file a report!!! His insurance should cover any/all expenses including any medical expenses and replacing or repairing your bicycle. Take your bike to a reputable shop and tell them you need a quote on damages for an insurance claim. They will look over your bike and give you a written quote to file. Some damage to crashed bikes can't be seen just by a quick looking over (cracks in welding, fork damage, ovalized headtube, bent/stressed frame, etc.)

WEAR YOUR HELMET EVERYONE

There's no doubt that this guy was fully at fault. I was already passing his car. He doored the front-right part of my bike, so I didn't have a chance to drive into his door. Fortunately, I'm big enough and have enough momentum that I didn't really get pushed into traffic. I did roll into the traffic lane when I hit the ground, but even that was more a matter of it being impossible to control my bike after being hit. No flying over the handlebars for me.

The cops, one of whom seemed drunk, gave me a slip of paper that I have to bring to some inaccesible part of the city - nice.

Originally posted by: arigato I saw somebody do that on my street in Toronto,

I saw someone door a streetcar right in front of your place a few months ago. A drunk dude was getting out of a cab on the traffic side. It was a vomet comet and everyone was so mad at the streetcar driver, who couldn't have been at fault, that I hung around to make sure he wasn't attacked. Poor guy was on his second week on that run.

Evading the minefield of drunkards on that stretch of Queen at 3am, is something of an athletic event.

Especially on the weekend. It's best to simply join in.

glad to hear you are alright blacksanta

definately report it, hope all continues to mend itself quickly

Hi Walt! Yeah, I'm fine.

I did spend hours travelling to the collision reporting center, at the suggestion of the officers who came to my apartment last night. Apparently, I was misdirected. The inaccessible collision center I walked to in the rain doesn't deal with bicycle related accidents (which makes the "inaccessible" part make sense). I feel like I'm getting the runaround and that almost pisses me off enough to make me want to keep running.

The officer I talked to tonight was very nice and surprisingly apologetic for such a gruff looking person. He said he was embarrassed that I had been sent there - he was so nice it almost makes me suspicious. He said I should call the unit commander at my local police division and complain about them sending me to the wrong location. That sounds fun, but I think I may have had enough of police officers for a while.

The officer seemed insistent tonight that the guy should be charged. I don't know that I feel that to be true, but I do think I should maybe advocate for cycling. I'm confused about what to do next.

I'd follow the cop's suggestion - make your complaint, find the right office, and press charges. If you want to join an advocacy group, there's no shortage of them, that's for sure.

Toronto Cyclists Union sounds pretty good, as does Advocacy For Respect For Cyclists (ARC).

So...where does the blame fall when (e.g.) a bicyclist is going >25mph within inches of a parked car when the door opens? Could be the driver looked, the bicyclist was nowhere to be seen, and then BAM!

Speaking as a bicyclist myself, I give parked cars at least 3 feet of distance if I am going any faster than jogging speed. If I don't have three feet to spare, I don't feel safe going fast.