The Chainlink

First collision in a while...

So, riding north tonight on Clark, I had my first collision in a long while. I was riding along the bike lane, minding my own business when I saw a passenger side door open up. I started to slow down and a guy popped out of the car. He closed the door pretty quickly but he didn't see or hear me coming. He jumped in front of me as I was getting ready to stop and we collided. He knocked me into the car parked on the right and I hit the rear view mirror. Luckily I was going slowly enough that we weren't hurt and the car I was hit up against had the kind of side view mirror that collapses and no damage was done.

At first, he went running away but apparently his conscious to the better of him and he came over to make sure I was ok. I was still standing and yelled at him to look next time. I was lit up like a Christmas tree...

Grrr, thanks for letting me rant for a minute.

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on December 13, 2012 at 8:44pm

Happy you are ok Kara.  I take Clark all the time and am always weary of a situation like yours happening.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on December 13, 2012 at 9:36pm

I'm glad you weren't hurt.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on December 13, 2012 at 9:47pm

Glad you're OK.  I've managed to say out of harm's way but I regularly have people getting out of cars in my path,  just as I'm sure most of you do, and 90% of the time it's painfully apparent that they are just overwhelmed by the whole process of getting out of a car and almost never even know that they've endangered anyone. I have made it a point not to crap all over the "dooring awareness" threads, because I deeply appreciate the concern and the enthusiasm for helping others, but based on what I see I don't think any educational attempt is going to have a meaningful effect.  Avoiding dooring is always going to be on us as long as we're sharing space with cars, regardless of who's technically right or wrong.

Permalink Reply by Tim S on December 13, 2012 at 11:14pm
I will often thank a driver that stops opening their door and waits for me to pass.

Happy to hear you were aware enough to notice the situation develope and prevent it from being worse than it could be.
Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on December 13, 2012 at 11:50pm

Yes, of course, I do encounter drivers that very obviously check for cyclists and wait-- almost never see that in my own part of town though. I tend to attribute it to living in an area where there's a high likelihood of encountering a cyclist in the street. Although it's possible they heard about a dooring death on the news and took it to heart.

Jeff Schneider said:

Usually, when a driver appears to be waiting for me to pass before opening their door, it turns out that they were talking on the phone or rummaging through a purse for something.  But occasionally I am heartened to see drivers really looking before opening the door.  So maybe, just maybe, there is a little hope that drivers can be educated.

h' said:

Glad you're OK.  I've managed to say out of harm's way but I regularly have people getting out of cars in my path,  just as I'm sure most of you do, and 90% of the time it's painfully apparent that they are just overwhelmed by the whole process of getting out of a car and almost never even know that they've endangered anyone. I have made it a point not to crap all over the "dooring awareness" threads, because I deeply appreciate the concern and the enthusiasm for helping others, but based on what I see I don't think any educational attempt is going to have a meaningful effect.  Avoiding dooring is always going to be on us as long as we're sharing space with cars, regardless of who's technically right or wrong.

Permalink Reply by Kara on December 14, 2012 at 12:04am

Thanks all for the good thoughts, I appreciate it. It never hit the front of my mind to be wary of a dooring from the passenger side in the middle of the street.

It did happen so fast. I was busy assessing damage to me and the car I was forced into. I am not sure what I would have done if anything was hurt. The car was long gone and the guy was being very fishy and I imagine he would have ran off. That is the thing that I am most afraid of on the road is a hit and run...

Permalink Reply by We all have an inner Beast... on December 14, 2012 at 12:51am

Glad that you are okay, Kara.

As for issues like that, I yell "Hey !" or "Hello !" while they are opening to get out or trying to get in. If they are on the phone or "busy" letting their mind wander, it usually gets their attention back to their task at hand. I then say thank you as I ease past them. I used to have my neon yellow Fox 40 whistle in my mouth whenever I rode (it helped me to NOT say something that everyone would regret), but stopped using it when I started riding "harder" and I started whitsling while breathing heavy and hard. (LOL !)

Every now and again I get a total jerk that wants to talk some smack, but they realize that I have slowed down to avoid either of us coming into physical contact with each other. (At least that is what I think is going through their head, while I am slowly rolling towards them on my "Beast")

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