The Chainlink

Ever been doored?

Car doors suddenly opening are the scourge of urban cycling. They are unpredictable, strike suddenly and can cause serious damage with tragic results.

If it’s ever happened to you, your personal story of a dooring crash could help Active Trans in a new effort to raise public awareness about this type of crash.

Please share your stories by e-mailing them to doored@activetrans.org.

Thanks much,
Ethan Spotts, Marketing & Communications Director, Active Trans

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Davo on December 2, 2010 at 9:42am
Thats why I pass taxis on the left. You never know when they are going to swirve to get a fair and they usually pull to the right. They already have stickers on the inside that say not to open the traffic side door. And, as we have seen fromprevious posts, passengers have a hard time following that rule.
Permalink Reply by cutifly on December 2, 2010 at 10:52am
Just to reiterate that she only took off my basket and I did not stop as I did damage to HER car-door and I still could not stop laughing while riding off. Everyday is like a video game and I call it door city. Now if you want to talk about being pole-jangled, I can brag about flying off my tallbike and even bending it so bad it is now un-ridable and I am retired for a few months until I have the inspiration to chop another. Back to my crusier which is so fast compared to my giant greenbike that when I do get doored most certainly I will want some visits in the hospital from those who still care for me in the bike community. Don't worry, after I am done laughing at you for a minute or two before you start going into shock and I'll make sure the EMT comes right away. I also now how to handle critical situations, so your odds of a full recovery are increased to a reasonable level. Please Please pay attention, no one else gives a crap about you.
Permalink Reply by Davo on December 2, 2010 at 1:21pm
sorry to hear about your tall bike
Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on December 2, 2010 at 2:43pm
From Dan Persky, Active Trans advocacy and education director:

Doorings are not classified by IDOT. They are not tracked by IDOT. IDOT's explanation is that no moving motor vehicle is involved (the car is stationary in a dooring). We of course disagree. We think the moving vehicle is the bicycle.

And that's why we want to learn more, so we can get this changed with IDOT.

Thanks,
Ethan, Active Trans
Cameron Puetz said:
Ethan

Out of curiosity, what are doorings classified as?


Active Transportation Alliance said:
Currently, a dooring does not count as a bicycle crash.
Permalink Reply by Jason W on December 2, 2010 at 2:59pm
So we are not classified a moving vehicle? Same rules, same rights my ass...

And remember if you are ever doored, aim to collide with the person, not the door or moving traffic. They are softer to hit, and they will no doubt learn their lesson.
Permalink Reply by cutifly on December 2, 2010 at 5:08pm
As usual people getting in their car as well as coming out can be potential for collision and the ER. Now If people don't bother to see if I am coming up from behind and I have only little room to go around, I scream 'DOOR' really loud and freak the hell out of them. I do try to act reasonable about this as it is also immature and obnoxious. This is a very recent tactic applied to regular bike riding now and no one will remember what I look like because I usually dress very sloppy anyway. I think the look on someones face when you scare the crap out of them has really got mean something more long term than a polite chat explaining why someone needs to look behind them before they effen open up on you. Maybe I can yell Active Trans sponsers me, "DOOR!"
Permalink Reply by Mark Kenseth on December 11, 2010 at 2:24pm

Have you searched for "dooring" stories on this forum?  For example: http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/2211490:Topic:1185?id=2211...

 

While riding alongside cars lately, I've been thinking how car doors should slide open like mini-vans.

However, the front door is still a problem, so why not like this one:

Imagine if the Delorean had caught on, not the stainless steel (super heavy) aspect, but the door opening style:

...or this car. 

I believe shared biking lanes would be a safer if sliding and/or upper-opening doors were the norm.

Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on December 11, 2010 at 2:36pm

Delorean-style doors?  Oh hell no.  Would you really want to get hit by a door, and then possibly lifted off the ground by it? 

 

Minivan-style sliding doors are an interesting idea.  I wonder if there's a safety reason (like the door getting stuck in the track) for this not catching on.
Mark Kenseth said:

Have you searched for "dooring" stories on this forum?  For example: http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/2211490:Topic:1185?id=2211...

 

While riding alongside cars lately, I've been thinking how car doors should slide open like mini-vans.

However, the front door is still a problem, so why not like this one:

Imagine if the Delorean had caught on, not the stainless steel (super heavy) aspect, but the door opening style:

...or this car. 

I believe shared biking lanes would be a safer if sliding and/or upper-opening doors were the norm.

Permalink Reply by Mark Kenseth on December 11, 2010 at 9:10pm

Yah.  I was wondering about the trajectory arch of the opening door for the Delorean.  That would be bad.  But maybe you could just stop the door with your foot, and say, "Hold on, Marty."

Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:

Delorean-style doors?  Oh hell no.  Would you really want to get hit by a door, and then possibly lifted off the ground by it? 

 

Minivan-style sliding doors are an interesting idea.  I wonder if there's a safety reason (like the door getting stuck in the track) for this not catching on.
Mark Kenseth said:

Imagine if the Delorean had caught on, not the stainless steel (super heavy) aspect, but the door opening style:

Permalink Reply by S on December 11, 2010 at 9:55pm



Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:

Delorean-style doors?  Oh hell no.  Would you really want to get hit by a door, and then possibly lifted off the ground by it? 

 

Minivan-style sliding doors are an interesting idea.  I wonder if there's a safety reason (like the door getting stuck in the track) for this not catching on.

I think sliding doors are more complicated and make for more expensive car doors that may break more often.  Plus, I think you'd boxy side for sliding doors to work.  Not sure how the front doors would slide.  It looks like there's been a few cars with doors that slide vertically down into the underbody.
Instead of gull-wing doors, a scissor doors arrangement would be cool.  It pivots forward and doesn't move outward much or at all which would prevent dooring.  It'd make getting out a bit more difficult especially if the door were damage in an accident though.
Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on December 12, 2010 at 3:17am

This was a very popular modification in New Orleans a few years ago.


Instead of gull-wing doors, a scissor doors arrangement would be cool.  It pivots forward and doesn't move outward much or at all which would prevent dooring.  It'd make getting out a bit more difficult especially if the door were damage in an accident though.
Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on December 12, 2010 at 1:47pm

Ideally this would eliminate all doorings, though not much good in the winter.

 

I've bee doored once by a person in a cab sitting in the middle of state street who I'm thinking just asked the cabbie if they could get out where they were as I was passing between.

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